Above, is a link to a video I recently shot at Pensacola Naval Air Station. This Navy Base is the home of the US Navy's flight demonstration team known as the Blue Angles. And Pensacola Naval Air Station is also considered the "Cradle of Naval Aviation.". The base used to house several of the US Navy's seaplanes as that aircraft preceded the use of aircraft carriers.
The Homecoming Airshow celebrates the Blue Angles end of their touring season where they perform in over 60 shows a year. And this show also precedes the holiday season and allows the pilots and support crews to be home during this time of year.
Of course there was a lot more to see than just the Navy's Blue Angles. The show is free to the public. And there is plenty of room for people to set up portable chairs. There is a festival-like feel to the entire event as there are food vendors, sponsor tents, and a PA system playing music.
This is the first time I've shot video of an airshow on Pensacola NAS. But, this is the 3rd time I've shot video of the Blue Angles. The 2 previous times was at the Pensacola Beach Airshow that is a big annual event along the Gulf Coast that draws over 100,000 people. And I caution people if you ever want to attend a Blue Angles Show on Pensacola Beach, that you should either make reservations to stay on the beach, or get to the beach early as traffic is intense.
Also, this video was the first time I shot an airshow with an over-the-shoulder rig. This allowed me to easily follow the action as I could twist my body to follow the flight paths of the aircraft and keep the camera relatively level. Tracking fast moving aircraft with a camera is perhaps the most difficult thing I have shot with my Sony FS5. And the over-the-shoulder rig makes it easier.
My equipment is a Sony PXW-FS5. It has a Super 35 Exmor CMOS sensor. And for most of the video I was shooting in 240 frames per second super slow motion at 1080p HD. I also shot in Pro Cine picture profile. And I color corrected in DaVinci Resolve with a Kodak LUT, (Look up table), to give the video a film-like look. I also shot in manual focus as auto focus would not be able to properly track such fast moving objects. I did this by switching off auto-focus, (duh), and manually focusing on an object that was an equal distance from my camera as was the flight path of the airshow aircraft.