Volkel; Long Lens Testing and some Nuclear protesters at the Air Base

Redskin301

Active Member
During this video the new Nikon Z6 II camera was tested with the long tele lens settings. The setup which was used here was the Nikon Z6 II + FTZ + TC14 + Nikkor 200-400mm f4.0. Also the camera was used at DX, therefore the taxi shots are made at 400mm x 1.5 crop factor (DX) x 1.4x (Tele Converter) = 840mm. This is quite long and it was also a challenge to get the setup stable. A large industrial tripod was used with the Manfrotto N12 fluid head for stability. On the lens the stabilizer was switched off, because the tripod is very stable. If switched on, the stabilizer would work against stability due to the steady tripod. During shooting the electronic VR on the Z6 II was on in some shots and also off in some shots. The best results were also here with the VR switched off. The results for this first attempt were quite stunning as I could zoom in very far on the F-16s during taxiing. Also I learned that underexposing with -3 stops on the camera is behaving the same as using an ND8 filter on the lens. I will definitely use this technique for propeller planes and helicopters as I would like to have longer shutter speeds here. Also with the continuous focus buttons on the lens which are present on the Nikkor 200-400 VR II, I could enable the subject tracking in AFF modus. The square of the tracker is becoming green when the subject is locked as long as you push this buttons! The Nikon is doing quite well here in this situation. All in all I learned a lot about my new camera during a nice day at Volkel. Nice detail is that there was also an anti-nuclear protest at Volkel during this day. In the video you can see that people were waving the peace flag when the F-16s taxied towards the runway. Just a nice detail is that I managed to catch the Dutch MiG killer (J-063) with the peace flag on the background! Just a funny detail. Hope you all enjoyed my video and thanks for watching. If you have questions or remarks about the used techniques, feel free to add a comment below!

 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
Thank you for sharing this great video, the result is very steady and stable!
Its nice to see again the engine-run testcells, and its funny to see that the peace protesters are still loyal visitors and enjoying the show.
 

Redskin301

Active Member
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  • #3
Thank you for sharing this great video, the result is very steady and stable!
Its nice to see again the engine-run testcells, and its funny to see that the peace protesters are still loyal visitors and enjoying the show.
Yes, it was funny to see these guys making the protest. I had also some discussions with them. It their good right to demonstrate, they kept it peacefully as it should. They protested against nuclear weapons which should be unofficially be present at Volkel. I understand them, I am also against nukes, but as a person who is closer to the world of military aviation I know these weapons are needed to keep the world a little bit stable. In the ideal world they should not be necessary! Thank you for the kind words :)
 
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