Challenging Scenario

[Donald Mackie]

So this past Saturday I had the first genuinely challenging situation for my Sony A7 iii. It was at the “Great Pacific Airshow” in Huntington Beach California. I shot wide open with a minimum ss at 1/400,  auto iso and spot focus. The good news is I came away with some really good pics. The bad news is, given the endless blue sky and blue ocean, I was guessing almost constantly as I couldn’t see a thing through the view finder. It simply was washed out. Too often by the time I could actually focus (and actually see) the jets were in another county. Like I said I managed to make some pretty good guesses and got some great shots but I was guessin’ more than I care to.  I think I understand the difference between the real time view of the Sony vs a Cannon or Nikon but switching cameras with a friend of mines Cannon showed that the ability to see and focus was majorly an easier proposition. 

Thoughts and or suggestions?

[LiveShots]

If the plane is the only thing in the sky then wide tracking may have been a better bet. It should pick up on whatever is nearest and moving and latch onto it.  Did you have LiveView switched on or off. 

[Donald Mackie]

1 minute ago, LiveShots said:

If the plane is the only thing in the sky then wide tracking may have been a better bet. It should pick up on whatever is nearest and moving and latch onto it.  Did you have LiveView switched on or off. 

Good thought. I primarily used center focus/AF-C but Wide might well have been a better choice. That said when that combo worked it worked extremely well save for the view finder being really difficult to see. I had LiveView on all day. Do you suppose I'd of been better off with it switched off?

[LiveShots]

It might be worth experimenting on a bright day to see if it’s better off. For Sports / Action I usually have it turned off.