OAFB Air Show

F16 Viper West

Yesterday was a beautiful day for an air show. I decided it was time I attended this annual event at Offutt. I had never attended the air show at Offutt Air Force Base becuase it is usually held when it is 110 degrees in the shade and about 110,000 people show up. Well the people showed but at least the weather was perfect; 75 degrees, partly cloudy with a slight breeze.

Security was tight and camera bags were not allowed. Therefore I was limited to only the gear I could carry in my hands and load in vest pockets. I brought the Pentax K10 and the K7 dslr bodies and only three lenses; DA*300mm, FA43mm Limited, and DA12-24. I used the DA*300mm almost exclusively. Its auto focus on the K7 (much faster than the K10) was fast enough to track the planes in flight and 300mm was just about right to get a full frame as the planes came in close. However, there were a few times with the really large planes that a little less reach would have been nice too. Also, since the 300mm is a fixed focal length telephoto prime, it is relatively fast and light. Even so, my shoulders were pretty tired after lugging a camera over each shoulder all day.

I chose to shoot at iso400 without a polarizer so I could keep the shutter speed as fast as possible at around f8. The shutter speed at f8 for most shots was over 1/1000. I don’t know if that was the best combination of settings but I figured at that speed and aperture I could stop the action and focus would not be that critical. I tried slowing things down a bit for prop planes in an effort to get a little blur on the propellers. That worked reasonably well too since they flew much slower than the jets.

IMO, the B2 bomber was a spectacular sight in a long list of very impressive demos. However, the Blue Angels closed the day with an absolutely awesome show. I managed to scrounge up a VIP pass near the end of the day so I was able to get a great POV on the blue angels – directly at center point of their demonstration. Being right at center point made it a little easier to time the shutter release for the split second they were overhead. Yes Scott, I have some other well-connected friends AND you missed a good show.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the day. You can view my complete gallery at Pbase if interested.