dinanm3atl

Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/photos/dinanm3atl/, on Flickr

love_boeing

Anyone has a comprehensive guide to identify the type of aircraft? Airbus xxxx or boeing xxx. Just started working in Changi airport and i see planes taking off and landing every minute. I also pass by Changi Beach everyday and always wanted to stroll and take good shots of planes. Newbie here and I really been wanting to learn......

Also, for aviation photographers.. any recommendation what type of camera & lens is most suitable?

Thanks all

LufthansaFlyer

First off, welcome to FT and to the plane spotting hobby!

I loved shooting at Changi, some fantastic vantage points from the beach and as well as the terminal (next to the mcdonalds inside the main terminal was ideal!). However, Changi has terrible glass to shoot through since it is tinted a heavy green so your photos from inside will have a green hue that would have to be fixed using software in some cases. Hopefully your job gets you on the tarmac.

As far as identifiers go, your best bet is actually practice. Just look planes all the time and you'll get a feeling for what you're looking at. Most aircraft have the model of the plane near the door where passengers board, or near the rear, beneath the last few windows on the fuselage. After a few times of seeing each type, you'll start to know them.

Perhaps start by visiting Boeing and Airbus' websites and look at their models, then go to the airline's websites that frequent Changi (like Singapore, etc), and go to their 'fleet' section. You'll see all their models in their color scheme which can help you as well.



As far photography, that is a wide, wide, wide open kind of question!

For starters, answer these:

1. Can you carry a large camera (DSLR type), or does it need to be a small pocket-sized kind.

2. Where will most of your photos come from as far as distance?

3. What is your experience with cameras?

4. Do you want to mess with perfecting your photos after you take them (using things like Photoshop), or do you want the photos to be ready to go as soon as you take them?

dinanm3atl

Waiting for the IMSA race at CoTA to start this flew almost directly overhead.

_MS_1521 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/dinanm3atl/, on Flickr

Madone59

AC 788 sporting new livery in traffic at EWR

KENNECTED

At LaGuardia waiting to take off

cnk

My 6-year old son is a big aviation geek. In fact, he takes a close second place in our family.

He wants to get better at telling airliners apart. He asked if I could buy a poster for his room showing the different planes. I've looked around and haven't found anything particularly great. Any recommendations?

I was also looking for a quick reference guide that he could take on our upcoming trip to Asia. I found this on Amazon, but if anybody has a better recommendation, please let me know.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003FV843G

Thanks!

JVPhoto

Would love to know if you find a poster or something as well. My nephew will be 3 this year and I want to start him early.

cnk

Thanks. Not even sure if this is the right forum to post this though. I figure anybody who's a planespotter might have kids with similar interests though.

Doing some Google searches, I've seen posters like this one linked below, but I could do without the Embraers, Tupolevs, Sukhois, Antonovs, and RJs. I'd really like to focus on the major Boeings and Airbusses (737,757,767,777,787,747,319,320,321,330,340,350,3 80)

http://s8.postimg.cc/pbldgyu6t/AN_calendar.jpg

Flyertalk has pretty much come through for me on pretty much every thing I've ever asked about over the past 15 years, so I'm guessing somebody will have an awesome suggestion shortly.

JVPhoto

DC-10 "painting" Pico Blanco during the Soberanes Fire

Productivity

So families of airframes generally have some unique similarities. Start looking at them and you can then start working your way through the variations within the family.

B737 - hamster pouch style engine
B747 - short double deck
B747-8 - short double deck, chevrons on the engine
B757 - not a unique feature, but narrow body that looks extremely long
B777 - bladed tail cone
B787 - twin engine with chevrons

A320 - not a unique feature, but same size as 737 without hamster pouch engines
A340 - single deck quad engine (not many others around)
A380 - full length double deck

That leaves you with the A330, B767 and A350 to identify. The A350 is significantly larger than the other two. Then with a bit of practice you can split the A330 from the 767.

The other trick is look at the APU exhausts (very end of the tail cone). They are all basically unique and look quite different - it's an easy tell. You would think designs would settle but there is significant variation here.

goodeats21

Caught a special CX livery at ORD last weekend:The Spirit of Hong Kong

Madone59

Rolling out at ORD

Madone59

Parked at KVCV

Telecasterman

Climbing out from Rwy 33. You can see the City of Hamburg on the left, the port and River Elbe. Also the Airbus Factory and runway at Finkenwerder Airport