Tag Archives: KSFO

I Thought I Wouldn’t See This Again

I have been figuring that the A340s would soon be gone. The original versions are certainly not young jets anymore and there are plenty of newer options for airlines. Consequently, they have been disappearing from service with many airlines. That does not mean that they have all gone though. Interestingly, the A340-300 is still actually a pretty efficient jet while the 600 series, while able to carry more and go further, are less efficient for many services. Still, I see plenty of routes now using 777s that used to have A340s.

Consequently, I was quite surprised to see the return of the Philippines A340 on the SFO route. The 777 is also on this route but they have a second rotation and the 340 is currently making this trip. I was really glad to see it show up again. It can’t be too long before these jets are on their way to the desert. Since it is a summer trip, it isn’t a great time to shoot it but the later arrival does reduce the heat haze. It will be cool if I get it again in better conditions but I am glad to have shot it already, just in case I don’t get another chance.

How Low Can You Go?

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The high ISO capabilities of modern cameras are a constant source of discussion whenever a new camera comes out. It was quite funny to see everyone get so excited about the multi-million ISO range on the Nikon D5 when it was announced, only to see that the high ranges were nothing more than moose with a bit of an image overlaid on them. Not a big surprise but still funny to see how much everyone was going nuts about it before the reality set in.

Consequently, I was interested to see what the new bodies I bought were really capable of. I have already posted a little about some of the shots I took as the light faded at SFO. I was shooting with a tripod and a gimbal mount to make things easier but I was also working within the ISO range of the camera. I went with auto ISO and exposure compensation while shooting in aperture priory and wide open to get what I could. However, I really wanted to see what was possible so I changed to manual mode, exposure compensation and auto ISO to see what could be done. Auto ISO is not going to use the extended ranges of ISO.

I don’t know about the Nikon cameras but the Canon cameras tend to have three extended range ISO settings at the high end. There is the highest ISO setting that it recognizes and then there are H1, H2 and H3. They don’t name them with the actual ISO settings but you know what they are based on what you see on the camera. The manufacturer does not label them as normal ISO settings because they do not stand behind them as a capability. There is a good reason for that. They are just like the highest Nikon settings. Useful if you have no option but not very good otherwise.

The same was true with my older bodies. They had a very high ISO range that was not great but it would do in a pinch. At the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta I shot an Aero Commander in the pitch black that flew over and I saw stuff in the shot I couldn’t see with the naked eye. This is with a camera that is ancient by modern standards. I expected a bit more with the latest generation. Certainly, there is more to be achieved with what we have now. However, post processing becomes a part of the story.

My first experience with these shots was in Lightroom. The shots did not look good at all. However, there was a clue in all of this. The first view in Lightroom is based on the JPEG that is baked into the raw file. It looked okay until it was rendering by Adobe at which point it looked a lot worse. This piqued my interest. Sure enough, at the extended ISO ranges, the shots looked pretty awful. Lots of purple backgrounds. These were not going to be any good. However, the initial preview had looked good., is this a case of Lightroom not being able to render the shots well? I figured I should try going to the source.

At various ISAP symposiums, the Canon guys have talked about how their software is the one that you should use since only Canon know how to decode their shots properly. They have the recipe for the secret sauce. Since Digital Photo Professional (DPP), Canon’s own software for decoding raw files, is so terrible to use, I never bother with it. The raw processing in Lightroom (and ACR since they are the same) is so much easier to use normally and works really well. DPP is just awful in comparison. However, we are now dealing with the extremes of capabilities of the camera. The embedded previews seemed better so maybe it is possible that DPP will be able to do a better job.

You can now be the judge. Here are some pairs of shots. They are the same shot in each case. The first is processed in Adobe Lightroom and the second is processed in DPP. I think it is clear that DPP is better able to work with the raw files when it comes to extreme ISO settings. The shots certainly have a more normal look to them. The Lightroom shots look really messed up by comparison. It doesn’t mean I will be using the extended ISO ranges on a regular basis. Jumping to DPP for processing is not helpful on a regular basis. However, if the need arises, I know that I can push the camera a lot further and use DPP to get something that is okay if not great. This could be handy at some point.

One of the Bigger Corporate Jets

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There are plenty of types of corporate jets. However, some organizations (or individuals) decide that what they really need is something a little larger. How about a Boeing 767-200? This one was shooting an approach to SFO. The owner is listed as Blue Sky Holdings. Who are they you wonder? Who can say? They do fly in and out of Moffett Field though and that is owned by quite a large company. Maybe there is a connection? Maybe not?

Either way, it was a cool thing to see pop into the viewfinder one afternoon. Sometimes, you just get lucky. I also like the registration that they have for the jet. N2767 is not bad for a 767-200. Apart from that, the jet is pretty anonymous. You certainly can’t guess anything about it from the outside. I wonder what it looks like inside?

After Dark! Testing the Low Light

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The real goal of my shoot after sunset was to see what is possible with the cameras. An awful lot is written these days about the incredible low light capabilities of the latest cameras. I am rather suspicious of some of the claims that are made so I was interested to see what could be done. I have seen reviews in which people describe shooting with ISO settings and claiming they are absolutely clean – no noise! I am imagining that there is a little bit of over enthusiasm in these claims. No one wants to write a review that says nothing much has changed for fear that they won’t get to review the next camera.

Consequently, while I do expect some improvement in capabilities – particularly given I skip generations of cameras when buying my own – I am skeptical that they will be quite so dramatic. Even so, I did anticipate some improvements from my previous bodies and I did get this. I am not talking about noiseless shooting at ridiculous ISO settings. I am able to work in a far higher range though. It is worth noting that a blog post involves relatively low image sizes so the worst of the noise becomes less apparent. Full size images are a lot more harsh. (For this post I won’t focus on a previous issue of mine which is how printing is far more forgiving of noise than a screen is.)

A tricky issue with shooting as the light disappears is the use of exposure compensation. From having some positive exposure comp during the day, as the night comes on, I go through normal exposure to having a bit of negative exposure compensation. It is dark so the shots should be dark. It shouldn’t look like daylight. I ended up playing around with the settings a bit to see whether -1 to -2 should be used. -2 ended up being a bit too much. However, it is a bit of a guessing game depending on what you are shooting and how much light there is in the background.

One good thing about these bodies is their ability to handle some post processing. If the shots were a bit dark, boosting the exposure did not bring as much noise into the shot as I would have expected with my previous bodies. I was able to mess around with them a lot more without things going horribly wrong. I am not getting amazing shots (unless you are comparing them to what you could do in film or early digital days in which case this really should be considered amazing – that’s how spoilt we have become). The contrast at night is harsh so things will always be a bit difficult. However, you can get shots in some very difficult conditions. You won’t get detail in the images like you expect in normal lighting but that really would be phenomenal!

How Many Airliners in One Shot?

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Normally airliners stay quite a distance from each other. Getting more than one in a shot is the result of compression of the distance as they pass in different directions. What is more fun is to have each jet be replaced by two. SFO likes to have the parallel arrivals and similarly the departures are often involving two planes at a time. If you time it right and have the angles aligned properly, you can get four jets in one shot – two on approach and two taking off.

Hello Surprise Hornets

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SFO might get the occasional military movement but it is primarily civil traffic you see there. Roger and I were chatting when we noticed something small on the approach. Initially I assumed a business jet but then the shape became clearer and it was a Super Hornet. In fact, there were two with the second close in trail. From our location they were a bit far out but still an interesting pair of visitors to photograph.

A380 Gear Sequence

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The jets approaching SFO have their gear down long before they reach Coyote Point. However, if you look into the distance, you can see them lower the gear somewhere around the San Mateo Bridge. The A380 has a gear sequence that involves the outer gear coming down first followed by the body gear. I figured I would shoot at long range and then animate the sequence. Heat haze was not great but I think it shows the way things work. Maybe in the winter I will try this again and see if I can get a cleaner image.

Sunset Shooting at SFO

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A holiday weekend combined with an early closure of the office meant I had a bit of time to experiment with some things I wanted to try on the new cameras. Normally I don’t want to blow out a whole evening at a weekend but, with a bit of extra time, I decided to see what I could do with shooting aircraft in sunset and really low light conditions. There will be some other posts that look a how the cameras do in very low light/night conditions. However, to get there, I also got some sunset to play with.

At this time of year, sunset is not as good as it will be later. The sun goes too far north late in the day so, instead of getting good light on the jets, you end up with some backlighting. Even so, there are some good chances to get some more delicate light on the planes. You do get a bit too much contrast as the remaining light is on the nose and the fuselage sides are pretty shady but you can get some reasonable results.

I was interested to see how the camera dealt with the light. The use of exposure compensation becomes a bit variable in these conditions. The light starts to get nicely balanced but then you can end up with more brightness in the background with less on the subject. This can make things go a little dark. I found myself playing with the settings quite a bit as I explored how the camera reacted.

Generations of Gulfstreams

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When I am shooting at a major airport, I am always pleased to get some corporate jets. A steady stream of airliners – often from the same airline – is okay but variety spices things up and corporate jets can do that. (NetJets and FlexJet do undermine that variety a little but not too much.) On this occasion, I was treated to a selection of Savannah’s finest products. They didn’t arrival in age related order but I will forgive that.

The first to show up was a G650. Top of the line for Gulfstream, this is a cool looking jet. It is a totally clean sheet design for Gulfstream who have tended to tweak previous jets to bring new capabilities. It looks different and has great performance. (It is also spawning a new generation of smaller – relatively – jets that I look forward to seeing.)

Next were some G450s. A previous generation but still a good performer and something that sells well. The fuselage is clearly Gulfstream but the wings and engines and significant steps forward from their predecessors. Not cutting edge but still something the Gulfstream thinks has appeal.

The last was a G-III. This is really going back a bit. Not a G-IISP but not far off. The fuselage is familiar, the wing similar but the engines are the old Speys and they have none too subtle hushkits fitted to them in order to meet current noise regulations. This is certainly a vintage jet by corporate standards and I was pretty pleased to see one still flying. These are often found now lurking at airports with the signs of lack of use clear to see. Shame we didn’t have an original Gulfstream turboprop but they are rare beasts these days.

The 777-300ER is King

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The gradual demise of the 747 is a topic that I have brought up on here before. The plane that has been the replacement on a number of services is the Boeing 777-300ER. I was hanging out at Coyote Point recently and, while the majority of arrivals were short haul jets and regional jets, there were a lot of long haul arrivals mixed in there. I was surprised to see just how many 777-330ERs were in the mix now. The A380s were also making an appearance but it seems the 300ER really is a dominant force in the long haul market. This is going to change soon with the arrival of its in house replacement as well as the A350 but, for now, it seems the 300ER rules the roost.