San Francisco Fleet Week 2012 Air Show

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

Pentax K-7, Tokina-made Vivitar 400mm 1:6.3.

This was my first air show and I filled my 16GB memory card. Here are some of the better images.

1

2

3

4

5 (this shot is NOT a composite)

6 (this shot IS a composite)

7

8

9

This is a really great lens. I've used it before with great results but this was my first outing with it for intense use. I expected that, as is the case with my other ultra-longs, there would be excessive PF. One image had minor PF (a 747 shot along the white-body-to-black-window interface, shot at f22). Some glares on the cockpit glass has magenta fringes, but only minor and localized. In terms of editing, most of these had dust spots removed (my sensor was FILTHY) and sharpening (15% at a 20-pixel radius) with the unsharp mask. Some had automatic tone correction. A few had multiple layers to correct for a blue cast on the ground and planes (there was excessive blueness shooting into the sky, not surprisingly.) It was interesting to me how the different plane colors altered the sky's blue hues.

I was also surprised by some aspects of this lens' performance. At f6.3, the lens was very hard to focus accurately and the sharpest plane was a few feet deep with planes up to a mile or more away. At f8 and f11, this lens was incredibly sharp with a suitably deep DoF to capture entire planes in suitable detail. f16 yielded better sharpness while f22 was the only setting that resulted in PF.

Once I figured out how much past infinity this lens focuses at, the focusing became easier and the lens became VERY user friendly.

BurstMox · Expire: 2016-08-02

Nice photos!

I love the 6# (even if it's composite, it's very well done)...and also #4 is interesting IMHO.

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Great series!
I would not like to be onboard on plane #1 Laughing

Himself · Expire: 2013-05-30

Great series David!
I had, a few years back, a Spiratone 400/6.3 but I wasn't impressed with.
I might start looking for a Vivitar like yours.

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

Thank you, everyone,

Himself, here's a link to a photo of the lens:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36027023@N03/4841919360/in/photostream/

There's a LOT of variation in Vivitar 400mm build quality, apparently. The 5.6 (unsure of the maker) seems to have more CA than this model. I think other makers besides Tokina made 6.3 models, but I'm not sure if they're as good as this or not.

To give you a ROUGH price estimate, right now there are three or so on eBay. They're listed for $70-130 plus shipping. Seems to me I've seen them sell for as low as $30, though.

patrickh · Expire: 2011-11-18

Terrific series

patrickh

poilu · Expire: 2019-08-29

wow, superb capture! thanks for the detailed reviews of the lens

hoanpham · Expire: 2015-01-18

wow!
I had a chance to see an airshow, but missed it in last minutes.
Great captures.

I like the composite image alot.

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Amazing series! Congrats!

56 DIN · Expire: 2021-11-18

perfect series
i was reading not a composite spiral and could not imagine how they do it, but now it�s clear

wilco · Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 135

Thanks for sharing. Beautiful series!

danikatia · Expire: 2013-10-26

Nice series! Cool