In August 2025, I had the rather incredible opportunity to capture a 1945 Spitfire from the air, flying in close formation in a Piper Saratoga. I've always loved the Spitfire as an aircraft - it played a crucial role in WWII and my Great Uncle used to fly them for the RAF.
I of course had to take my camera along to capture the thrilling ride. In this article I discuss the gear I used, how I setup my camera and take a look at the photographs I got shooting this incredible 1945 Spitfire air-to-air.
It was such a thrilling experience, I'd highly recommend it. Seeing the Spitfire in the air, in it's natural habitat, was something I'll remember for a very long time.
Looking through the Piper Saratoga formation aircraft window towards the Spitfire. I love the perspective of this capture, and the bottom side of the window being level gives a lovely framing composition.
What gear did I take?
I was only allowed to take my camera with one lens due to weight constraints, so I had to pick between my three Sigma lenses - the 14-24mm Art, the 24-70mm Art & the 70-200mm Sport. I ruled out the 14-24mm simply because it is far too wide... leaving the 24-70mm and the 70-200mm.
I ended up opting for the Sigma 24-70mm Art for the following reasons:
1) It covers a great focal length (wide to 70mm), which given we would be in close formation felt right.
2) It has a nice and wide apeture of f2.8, enabling me to keep the ISO low and get separation of the Spitfire
3) My camera is the Sony A7 Riv - with a huge 61MP. Given how sharp the Sigma lens is, I have huge cropping potential if 70mm wasn't long enough.
4) The Sigma lens is more compact and lighter, meaning handling it in a small cabin would be much easier.
Finally, I used a circular polariser (CPL) on my 24-70mm. For my use case of landscape photography, it almost always serves a purpose, and that is true for shooting a Spitfire air-to-air.
What was my technical setup & settings?
Setting up the camera before shooting is crucial for success due to the action being fast paced and the flight time only being 10-15 minutes in close formation with the Spitfire. This leaves little time to fiddle around before take off.
The weather was mainly sunshine with scattered showers, so I knew that I could change shutter speed from 1/100s to 1/2000s and the aperture would be able to cover me without the ISO needing to go muchhigher than 100.
Here were my settings:
- Mode: Shutter Priority. Means you only need to change one setting and everything else will 'just work'.
- ISO: Auto. I'm always willing to allow some noise if it means 'getting the shot'.
- Aperture: Changes with the Shutter Priority.
- Metering: Highlights. This protects from blowing out the highlights in the clouds.
- Shooting: Burst (High speed).
I wanted to ensure the propeller of the Spitfire always had motion - I found for the Spitfire this was best between 1/100s and 1/200s. However, this shutter speed can introduce shake as it is quite slow given all of the motion - so I did use burst mode to ensure I would get at least one sharp capture.
When it did get bumpy (which did happen!) I would just decrease the shutter speed to make it faster, anywhere up to 1/2000s to ensure the photographs were sharp.
Let's review some Photographs...
Here is the gallery of images - I hope you enjoy browsing them.
You'll notice that the more movement in the propeller the slower the shutter speed - for example the first picture has a shutter speed of 1/100s at 44mm, ISO100 at f/8.
Spitfire in flight over british countryside.
Spitfire in flight over british countryside.
Spitfire in flight over british countryside.
Spitfire in flight over british countryside.
Spitfire in flight against beautiful blue skies.
Spitfire in flight over british countryside.
Spitfire from a formation aircraft window
Spitfire in flight over british countryside and town.
Spitfire in flight over british countryside.
