Thank you! No, I would have loved to have captured that jet on the Hasselblad but I needed longer lens options and a faster frame rate. Shooting that on the X2DII would have looted me to just a couple of frames, always a hard call to make. The perfect lens for that shoot was the RF200-800 on the R5II, the lens just continues to amaze me.
JIII's t-shirt arrived on Friday, thank you so much!!
Thanks Joe! The light was really sweet! The Challenger was scheduled to depart around 11 which would have been OK, but nowhere near what we had when it was moved up to 7:00. That is a 2001 Challenger 604, it is immaculate. Charter rates run around $12,000 per flight hour..........
Douglas L wrote:
I watched the video and "consulted" with ChatGPT, I think I will have the Tamron 35-150 f2-2.8 on one camera, and the Sony 300 f2.8 or the new Sony 100-400 F4.5 on another. I will get rubber lens hoods to press the lens as close to the fence as possible so the mesh is less visible in the frame. I will go to on Friday to scout for shooting locations for average Joe Blow.
Well, I went to DC this morning to scout for a location outside the ticketed area where I may get close to a fence to shoot from. There is none. There is another layer of fences almost a block away before the catch fence. So much for photographing the race with the landmarks in the background. 😆
Wish I could give you my credential Douglas. Anything in DC is pretty much ruined by the need for an over the top level of security unfortunately. "This is why we can't have nice things!".......................
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Wish I could give you my credential Douglas. Anything in DC is pretty much ruined by the need for an over the top level of security unfortunately. "This is why we can't have nice things!".......................
Thanks for the thought, Jim.
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JWilsonphoto wrote:
On a brighter note "Wings Over Houston" is shaping up nicely, and it might even be under 1,000 degrees by then...........
Is the F-4 still scheduled to fly at the show? Now there is higher than 50% chance I will be going Belgium for the airshow next month.
This question reminds me when I took over maintenance production scheduling for our F-4s. The fully in-commission (FMC, the M is for mission) rate for the Air Guard was 80%, the USAF rate was 75%, we were below 60%. The Deputy Chief of Maintenance (DCM) had brought in 6 additional F-4s thinking that would give us an advantage to have more flyable F-4s, it only decreased our FMC rate. We didn't get more maintenance people to work on them, therefore, we had manning for 15 aircraft yet we had over 21 on our flightline. Three of the 6 additional jets sat on the back row for cannibalization. Cannibalization creates twice the workload. The F-4 required the most man-hours to maintain of any USAF fighter. It took me 6 months to get the unit FMC rate up to Air Guard standard. The DCM was rotated out and I got the new DCM to return the 6 additional jets to their units.
With all that said, those F-4 guys at Ellington trying to keep that jet flying are fighting a loosing battle. Spare parts are scarce and expensive, they have a volunteer group who is probably over worked. I remember that F-4 when it was part of our inventory when I was the production controller and I do not remember it being a high flyer. Seeing it fly once or twice a year is probably a miracle. F-4s were maintenance hogs. As a crew chief, we loved working on them, but we did like seeing them fly!
Great insight Ray! They are doing everything they can to be able to fly the F-4 at the show, but you more than most anyone know the challenge they are dealing with.
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