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The Nikon D7200

by | Nov 6, 2024 | Camera, Optical Enhancement, Spotting

Is the D7200 good enough?

The Nikon D7200 is now a ten year old camera, is it still good enough for aviation photography? In my opinion it definately is and it offers quite a few surprises, especially when it comes to taking aircraft photographs. If you don’t want to go for the latest D7500 or the upscalled D500, the D7200 is a reasonably priced option on the scond user or refurbished market. You can buy a D7200 kit with an 18-140mm lense fully renewed on Amazon for a reasonable price.

The image quality is excellent, as is the auto focus. And with a battery life of over 1100 shots, there’s enough capacity for a full days shooting at an air show. The camera is no slouch, running at a full 6 frames per second. The camera can shoot in NEF or JPG, if your shooting JPG – the buffer can handle 100 shots or 16 seconds of continuos shooting.

There are a couple of other nice features, the additional 1.3 crop mode can effectively double the focal lenth of your lense. And the in built flash is great for inside shots, for a nearly 10 year old camera the ISO performance is outstanding. The image below was taken using the 1.3 crop mode, it was taken from the same location as the header photograph using a standard Nikkor 18-200mm lense. Both images at the same focal lenth, exposure, apature and ISO settings – it wasn’t a great day and my photographic skills leave somethong to be desired.

Anyway, I’d say that the Nikon D7200 is a more than capable camera for aviation photography – it is certainly in my bag.

 

I’d say that the Nikon D7200 is more than adequate for most photography needs, with it’s 6 frames a second, large buffer and the additional 1.3 crop factore I think that it is great. It is in my bag and it will remain there for the forseeable future.

 

Support this site.

It does take some time and effort to create these downloads, also there are a number of costs associated with running the site. So if you can consider supporting this site with a donation it would be helpful, if you find the site useful then why not treat me to a doughnut – or even a doughnut and a coffee if you’re feeling really flush.

Or if you are thinking of ordering something from Amazon then you could click the link to get there, it doesn’t actually cost you anything. And it will help me to pay for the site hosting, which is getting more expensive like everything else.

But regardless of whether you donate or not, I hope that the contents of the files are of some use, also bear in mind that the files are as dated in the bar graph on the down load page – I will try and produce a new data set every month or more frequently if time allows.

Please note these files are provided for personal use, if you want to use them for any other purpose or if you want to make them available through your own site – get in touch first.

 

 

The Crop Factor

by | Nov 6, 2024 | Camera, Optical Enhancement, Spotting

What is the Crop Factor?

The crop factor is effectively a focal length multiplier, but that isn’t as described. It basically relates to the ratio of the diagonals of the sensors within the camera, the standard full frame sensor is the same size as 35mm film. With most other sensors being smaller by what we term the crop factor, using Nikon as an example. \the diagonal of the crop sensor DX format, will fit into the diagonal of the FX sensor 1.5 times.

There is an excellent description here with some very good image examples. It is worth checking out this page, to gain a better understanding. If you would like to check out your camera and lense combination, there are a number of crop factor calculator sites.

What does it mean to the photographer, well in ordinary terms not that much. Pretty much what you see through the viewfinder is what you get. Where it becomes problematic is when you use cfop format lenses on full frame camera’s, as the image can be dark at the corners.

What are the benefits?

In essence the 1.5 crop factor a Nikon camera is applied to the focal lenth of the lense, making a 200mm lense apear to be a 300mm lense. This is due to the camera discarding a larger portion of the image, when compared in area of the DX sensor is less than half that of the FX sensor. This provides what is effectively an increas in focal lenth, it is also worth noting the crop sensor cameras and lenses are less costly than full frame cameras.

What are the drawbacks?

For a given resolution say 24Mp, the photo sites on the sensor are much smaller. Which means it is generally less sensitive to light and less tolerant of movement, although with image stabilisation this is not so much of a problem in modern cameras. The differenced between the capabilities of DX and FX formats, has over the years narrowed. Both formats are capable of producing outstanding images in the right hand.

A recommendation!

Im not in a position to say buy one or the other, I use both formats in my Nikon DSLR’s. I would however say, that the DX format cameras have done the job equally as well as the FX format cameras. I would suggest that buying a camera like these is a big ticket item, do your homework before parting with the cash. Also, there are a number of photographic companies that hire cameras in both formats. It is worth hiring the equipment to test, although with the more advanced models there can be a steep learning curve.

 

Support this site.

It does take some time and effort to create these downloads, also there are a number of costs associated with running the site. So if you can consider supporting this site with a donation it would be helpful, if you find the site useful then why not treat me to a doughnut – or even a doughnut and a coffee if you’re feeling really flush.

Or if you are thinking of ordering something from Amazon then you could click the link to get there, it doesn’t actually cost you anything. And it will help me to pay for the site hosting, which is getting more expensive like everything else.

But regardless of whether you donate or not, I hope that the contents of the files are of some use, also bear in mind that the files are as dated in the bar graph on the down load page – I will try and produce a new data set every month or more frequently if time allows.

Please note these files are provided for personal use, if you want to use them for any other purpose or if you want to make them available through your own site – get in touch first.

 

 

Surprising Development

by | Nov 6, 2024 | Application, Camera, Database, Downloads, Online Logging, Optical Enhancement, Radio, Software Reviews, Spotting

Unexpected Development.

I have decided to update the Plane Spotting Guide, it has come as a surprise to see that this was the most popular download of the last three months. The original guide was quite terse, with just a few pointers – I’ve enlarged it. Adding a few more sections and quite a few links that I hope will be useful.

 The whole guide has been updated, hopefully it will be of some use in its revised form.

 

Support this site.

It does take some time and effort to create these downloads, also there are a number of costs associated with running the site. So if you can consider supporting this site with a donation it would be helpful, if you find the site useful then why not treat me to a doughnut – or even a doughnut and a coffee if you’re feeling really flush.

Or if you are thinking of ordering something from Amazon then you could click the link to get there, it doesn’t actually cost you anything. And it will help me to pay for the site hosting, which is getting more expensive like everything else.

But regardless of whether you donate or not, I hope that the contents of the files are of some use, also bear in mind that the files are as dated in the bar graph on the down load page – I will try and produce a new data set every month or more frequently if time allows.

Please note these files are provided for personal use, if you want to use them for any other purpose or if you want to make them available through your own site – get in touch first.

 

 

Register Downloads – 24/10/2024

by | Nov 5, 2024 | Camera, Spotting, Visible Markings

So no sooner had I updated the last set of files and the Australian data set was updated, that is released again by the Austalian Government Civil Aviation Safety Authority. That is why there has been a slight delay in publishing them, as usual there have been more records added by all the respective authorities.

The total record count now sits at 732,954 records, quite a number. I’m sure that there will be another update soon, so keep watching the blog. I’ll be following with an update of the spotting guide, as surprisingly it has proved to be the most popular download and to be truthful I’m not sure why.

The updated files are;

  • The Australian Civil Aircraft Register
  • The Canadian Civil Aircraft Register
  • The Current United States Civil Aircraft Register
  • The De-Registered United States Civil Aircraft Register

There should be a November update soon, as usual this depends on the Australians. A final thought is that I’d like to possibly convert these to a Portable Document Format (PDF), these can be opened with adobe. It is however a little bit more work, as such I’m considering making these downloads available to only people registered with the site – any feed back would be welcome.

 

Support this site.

It does take some time and effort to create these downloads, also there are a number of costs associated with running the site. So if you can consider supporting this site with a donation it would be helpful, if you find the site useful then why not treat me to a doughnut – or even a doughnut and a coffee if you’re feeling really flush.

Or if you are thinking of ordering something from Amazon then you could click the link to get there, it doesn’t actually cost you anything. And it will help me to pay for the site hosting, which is getting more expensive like everything else.

But regardless of whether you donate or not, I hope that the contents of the files are of some use, also bear in mind that the files are as dated in the bar graph on the down load page – I will try and produce a new data set every month or more frequently if time allows.

Please note these files are provided for personal use, if you want to use them for any other purpose or if you want to make them available through your own site – get in touch first.

 

 

Spotter Evolution – Beginning.

by | Oct 29, 2022 | Camera, Optical Enhancement, Radio, Spotting, Spotting News

A conversation with a fellow spotter raised a couple of questions about plane spotting, like when it started and why do people do it? The second is probably easier to answer than the first, as in – for the most part people enjoy watching aircraft and other aspects of the hobby. There are probably not that many spotters who have made their fortune from spotting, some have I’m sure but I’m also pretty sure that these people were spotters before they monetised their interest or hobby.

If you go looking for when Plane Spotting (Or probably more correctly) Aircraft Spotting actaully bagan, you can find numerous threads on the older aviation forums – these usually deteriorate into a bun fight during the course of the thread.

Mostly with references to spotters of other things, with Trains, Busses, Cars and even Birds all being denigrated by Aircraft Spotters. And yet I have met a number of Aircraft Spotters who collected information on some or all of the above, after all it is a hobby and as such pretty much on a par with any other hobby.

When did it all start is much more of a quandry, looking through the online archives of publications – the earliest mentions of the hobby that I can find seem to date from the very early 1950’s. Although other sources seem to date it from the 1940’s, however I’m aware of at least one spotter from the early 1930’s – so I’m guessing that it is still all open to confirmation.

A number of sources point to the formation of the Observer Corps as sowing the seeds of the hobby, with the pastime gaining traction after WWII. Although the Observer Corps can rightfully claim that it’s inception goes back to WWI, where the War Office used whatever resources that it could – these included both Army and Naval peronnel along with Special Constables, Lighthouse Keepers and even Boy Scouts to man observation posts and report aircraft movements.

The earliest log that I’m aware of is dated the 12th of December 1935, but I’m sure that it won’t be the earliest log that there is. Most peoples logs probably don’t survive them by long, only in a few instances will there be enough foresight to ensure that the collection of logs survives and goes to somewhere with the resource to hold the it.

The average person during the inter war years is unlikely to have had very much spare time or money to indulge in a hobby like aircraft or any other type of spotting, so at best these people may have stretched to a notebook and pencil – few would have had binoculars or a camera. However after WWII much changed, more free time and more disposable income would lead to more people with time to indulge in a hobby.

Along with the above came a veritable treasure trove of equipment availability, courtesy of Government Surplus – in the form of Binoculars, Radio Recievers and trained people admittedly mostly ex-forces but many turned their training towards their new hobby – Aircraft Spotting.

Smart Phone Spotting.

by | Jun 30, 2022 | Application, Camera, Equipment Reviews., Online Logging, Optical Enhancement, Software Reviews, Spotting

In this post, where I talk about a smartphone – you can substitue deviced like the iPhone, iPad or and Android tablet. Most people will have one of these devices that they can use, so lets get to what you can do with them in the spotting world.

The primary use for a smartphone is communication, but they are capable of so much more. Sit in a cafe or on public transport and you will see people using them to consume digital media in some format, or they will be creating content of some sort.

So how does this relate to plane spotting, well there are a number of ways of using such a device to assist if you have Mobile Data or WiFi access.. Using free App’s like flightradar24 gives access to aircraft ID’s on a continuos basis, an aircraft flying overhead can be in most cases positively identified and would allow you to capture quite a lot of information.

Typically this App will show things like the registration of the aircraft, owner or operator, flight origin and destination. There are a number of dynamic physical reports, altitude, course, speed along with elapsed time and remaining time for the flight. All available for free. There are a number of other Apps that do the same thing, the main difference between them all is the display – and again most of them can be downloaded free.

Recording Information.

As I’ve already said, a pencil and notebook is all that you need to get started. But with a smartphone there are many more options, simply download one of the free Apps, I use Google Keep this allows you to quickly add notes, voice memo’s, check lists and pictures – they are all kept in one App. This makes accessing the information very easy, but you should note that there are many Apps that have similar functionallity. As most of them are free to try I’d suggest that you try a few.

Using the Camera.

In general the cameras on these devices are good quality, I have used mine to take some very good shots over the years – but generally when I’m very close to the aircraft. The photograph above was taken on a smartphone camera, around six years ago. So if you can be within a few meters of an aircraft, the results will be more than adequate using your phone camera.

Some cameras come with multiple sensors and lens configuration, these provide optical zoom sometimes allowing you to zoom into your area of interest. I have found the digital zoom on a number of phone cameras to produce images that to me were not good enough, you may have more luck – experiment.

Addon Smartphone Lenses.

I have not experimented with the addon lenses for phone cameras , I actually still use a dedicated camera for my photography most of the time. But I have seen some excellent results, although in most cases a tripod was used – don’t let this deter you if you feel that that is the way to go.

Online Logs.

It is possible to log directly into some of the online logging apps, however a word of caution here – even the paid for sites tend to severely restrict what you can download from the site once you get home. But effectively you can use your smartphone to log directly into one of these, which does mean that you have your personal log available wherever you have mobile data or WiFi.

Anyway, Happy Spotting!