Fuji Any Fuji (X-H1) aviation photo gurus hang around here?

[gordo]

Plans are for me to attend my first airshow in over 5 years, and the first with Fuji stuff.

Will be using the X-H1 + 100-400 and the 16-55.

Plan on AF-S and single point when using the 16-55. Aperture will vary depending upon wide shot or zoomed-in.

100-400 will mostly be at f/8.

Shutter speeds will also vary - 1/125s to 1/250s for prop birds and helos depending on how stable I am, and most likely 1/1000s + for the fast movers depending upon how bright it is on airshow day.

Not sure if Fuji's tracking modes are going to do OK. I know from tracking birds and helos locally, it doesn't work as well as the Canon 7D2II + 100-400LmkII.

Anyone here spend time shooting aviation stuff with the X-H1 + 100-400 and care to share knowledge?

 

[Irene McC]

Whoa... I just did a site search for 'aviation' and see that nobody replied to you here.
Of course the airshow has come and gone - how did you fare?

 

[gordo]

Whoa... I just did a site search for 'aviation' and see that nobody replied to you here.
Of course the airshow has come and gone - how did you fare?

Hi Irene - welcome to the site.

Posted the images here probably nothing you haven't seen at the other site. Also, if you haven't seen it yet, another aviation thread here as well.

WRT to X-H1, not the best airshow / mil aviation camera. Lowest rate of usable images I've had at an event since the film manual focus days. My D700 a decade ago performed better, but I was short on glass (70-200 + TC). The Canon 7DmkII + 100-400LmkII was a champ, and I regret letting that combo go.

EVF lag and blackout was a little irritating. I didn't stay for the entire show and still burned through 5 batteries. The camera got really really hot, even with turning it off and shading it in my body shadow between performances. Had to wait for the buffer to clear multiple times, lost images to that. AF acquisition and tracking gave me fits, the cause of most of the high number of non-usable images, and two entire performances with no usable shots. I did have a few shots I found with obvious errors on my part - a few bad exposures and a few with motion blur from camera movement.

When things worked, I was fine with the IQ. Biggest issue with IQ was the venue location - due to the airbase layout most performances were with hazy gray/ blue sky, ugly/ no background, and backlit. Exploring other options for locations close enough to set up off base on the other side of the airfield for better lighting and backgrounds. But there will be shots I can't get as some performances will be showing me their tail for most of the performance. And most of the people I've talked to at the off-base sites are using 600mm, and/ or lined up for approach shots at one end of the airfield or the other. Might have to address focal length.

Fuji needs to seriously up their game on the X-H2. AF performance needs substantial upgrade IMHO. As does the data throughput and buffer size. EVF needs work. Heating issue needs to be addressed. And hopefully they don't reduce the size, make the EVF eyepoint lower or the viewport opening smaller, remove physical controls, and move to the articulating screen for the video peeps.

I hope I don't have to look at a move back to Canon or Nikon. The cost could remove me from shooting any more mil aviation/ airshow stuff. Even relatively recent gear, used, is not inexpensive. And I really don't want to step back several generations or more in tech just to be able to afford the gear.

edit to clarify and word a thing a little better