Red Bull Air Race - London

[DeadKenny]

Not easily noticeable on the calendar as there's a number of things on this weekend.

Anyone going this weekend? Weather looks okay Saturday for qualifying but might be rain Sunday.

Haven't looked into it though. Can you just pop into London and find a good spot for free?

[Highlander]

This on in London, this w/e then? Where abouts? Over the Thames somewhere?
I'll be in London visiting relatives, and wouldn't mind having a look, if i get chance, and if there are places you can see it for free, as i doubt I'll be there long.

EDIT: ooh, it's around the O2 arena area. We often go to a chinese restaurant called Yi-Ban close to there. It has free car park, and is also right next to the DLR (Albert docks or something like that). I bet it'll be packed though!!

[F-F-F]

only annoying thing is last year it was free this year its £30 a ticket...

[1966]

Well it although the event was 'free' last year, you had to pay something like £50 for parking. Apparantly London is the only city on the tour where its not totally free.

[Highlander]

Another case of 'Rip-off Britain' again???

[Pheonix]

Surely thats just trying to stop people driving in. I'm presuming taking the train is fine?

[F-F-F]

last year it wasnt in London, it was out at longleat and was free although expensive to park.

[Highlander]

I guess the tickets are for sitting/standing in the O2 arena? And the flight path will be based around the arena? I don't think they can stop people standing on the banks of the Thames, can they??

[DeadKenny]

As I discovered when trying to find out about rights to cycle along the Thames, most of the Thames path is privately owned by individuals and businesses along the way so there might be some who decide to milk it, or maybe the O2 lot or whoever own that stretch :D.

Maybe okay from the south bank and a long lens.

[wizbowes]

I went today and really enjoyed it.

I was on the north statdium in the industrial wasteland by the Tate and Lyle plant at Silvertown. It was supposed to be a standing ticket but apparently health and safety insisted on a fully seated stadium so I got an upgrade. The O2 has both stadium and standing tickets too - looked like the standers had to stand on that side.

Didn't manage to get any decent pictures - my 135mm just didn't cut it. A 200 would have been fine - they do fly pretty close to you. Also the light on the north side was pretty bad - shooting into the the sun. If you're going tomorrow and have a choice go south to the O2 for better chances IMHO.

[dataloss]

I was the south side with a mate, we we travelled around all morning looking for viewing spots, finally we crossed over the thames on the free ferry and bused it down to the barrier following our noses to the thames path...

Needless to say climing up the bank led to great free viewing, of the entire course, the pub a bit further up was doing great trade with a jettie right out into the thames. you could walk further up for a closer view as we found out latter still seeing 90% of the course and all the viewing screens.

[Bearhorn]

I managed to stand on the riverside opposite the O2 Arena for free. The aeroplanes did come very close and the noise they made was incredible. An awesome spectacle.

It was the first time I had ever taken my camera to photograph fast moving objects and I was told by some of the experienced photographers near me that I had probably chosen the hardest event as aeroplanes (and especially the Red Bull aerobatic/stunt planes) move in unlimited planes - unlike cars which only move on one plane.

I will try and post some of my pictures later (once I figure out how to) for critiquing as they are not great. I was using an FZ8. My main problems were that it was very difficult to focus on the planes, even with high speed focus on, as they zipped around so quickly (that's if I could keep track of the planes in my viewfinder (tried both screen and EVF)). I could also not pan quickly enough to keep them in focus (lots of blurry photos of tailplanes :nuts: ).

Some of the experienced guys including a chap who had an absolutely enormous white Canon zoom lense (so big it even had a carry handle on it) told me that rather than panning, I should find a quick enough shutter speed (between 1/750-1/1000) to photograph the planes sharply but still get a little bit of propellor blur.

Anyway, I'll post a few of my photos later so people can tell me where I'm going wrong and how to do it properly :)

[chrisjm]

here are some pics i took... no idea if there 'good'

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/6255/img5177kf9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8845/img5591ig1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/1065/img5624bg7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/6320/img5933jr9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/4323/img5948uc2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Highlander]

Nice shots Chris.
Is that the spikes (sorry, don't know what they're called) of the Dome in #2? :eek: (EDIT: I thought the it was one of the gates for a minute, but on second look, he is not flying through them. I've seen planes clip the inflatable gates before!!).

I didn't make it in the end, the family decided London Zoo was a better place to go, with the kids.

[DamienB]

Some of the experienced guys including a chap who had an absolutely enormous white Canon zoom lense (so big it even had a carry handle on it) told me that rather than panning, I should find a quick enough shutter speed (between 1/750-1/1000) to photograph the planes sharply but still get a little bit of propellor blur.

Sounds like an "all the gear, no idea..." type of bloke to me.

If you want model aeroplanes suspended from a virtual ceiling, go ahead and shoot at high shutter speeds like that but if you want a sharp shot and some sense of motion, I wouldn't go above 1/400 and preferably much lower.

I didn't bother going - they chose the least interesting part of the Thames to stage it in. When you compare the photos that have come out with those in other European cities the race has been staged in you can see it was all about the ability to milk spectators rather than putting on an impressive visual event - it was free in other cities...

[Sam]

Sounds like an "all the gear, no idea..." type of bloke to me.

If you want model aeroplanes suspended from a virtual ceiling, go ahead and shoot at high shutter speeds like that but if you want a sharp shot and some sense of motion, I wouldn't go above 1/400 and preferably much lower.
...

LOL I was just about to post something similar. I try to keep shutter speed for props around the 1/250th (certainly tests out my panning technique!) to get a bit of prop blur.

[Bearhorn]

Judging by the photos I looked at on his camera, the chap with the massive zoom lens knew what he was doing as his photos were a bit good so a little uncharitable to say he had all the gear and no idea - all the gear and quite a few good ideas perhaps :D

Here are my photos - not the greatest. As I said above, this is the first time I have tried photographing things like aeroplanes in motion. I gave up on panning as these things just moved way too quickly (not to mention unpredictably) for me to even keep them in the viewfinder let alone keep them in focus while panning. I just picked a spot and waited for the aeroplanes to come by... Any comments and tips on how to take better photos next time from our aviation photography experts gratefully received :)

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/1599/p1010123jp5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1341/p1010128rb6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6310/p1010146mu2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/4972/p1010151zi0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/2923/p1010152wi4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/6972/p1010156kk3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)