I enjoy the colour and spectacle of airshows. I attended a wonderful exhibition at Tyabb in southern Victoria. It was the last public event in the state before everything closed down due to COVID-19.
I brought my Nikon F3, 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D and a roll of Kodak Portra 800. Exposure compensation was set at +1.0 to avoid the grainy effect of this film if underexposed. Too much light is never a problem with Portra 800, it just gets better!
The F3 registers 80% of the light from the central section of the viewfinder. This helps avoid exposure errors caused by bright skies but pilot error (forgetting to hold the exposure lock button after metering the ground) still gave me a few underexposed shots. I should shoot on manual rather than Aperture Preferred on bright days.
Classic cars were on display at the entrance, including splendid Jaguars and Rolls-Royces
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The Tyabb show was opened by the Navy Band. As a trombonist and Bandmaster myself I appreciated the excellent musicianship of this group.
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Many of the aircraft were WWII fighters, mostly in original colours. Some were painted in elaborate custom designs.
For the acrobatics displays I carried my new D500 with the magnificent 200-500 f/5.6VR. For walking around the static displays I preferred to use film where I only have to frame, focus and shoot. It’s quite a different experience and I like the look of my prints.
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