About
My name is André de Wit. My hobby is aviation photography and I took this hobby up 30 + years ago on June 28, 1988.
I learned photography at an early age from my father, when i got my first camera which was an Agfa Mini. After a few years I got my first 35mm camera. It was my dads old Kodak camera and with that camera I learned about aperture and shutterspeed settings and what the effects where on the depth of field. At that time I was around 12 years old. By the time i was 15 years old I als was allowed to take photos with my dads SLR camera, a Praktika SLR with a few screw-on lenses.
As far as I can remember, my dad used to take me to the nearby military airfield of Eindhoven/Welschap. By the time I was around 9 years old, my dad took me to my first airshow. After visiting this RNLAF Open day at DE PEEL Air Force Base (AFB), I was hooked to plane spotting. By the time I was 13 years old, I used to go a lot to Eindhoven AFB to see the based fighter jets and to record their registration numbers in a small notebook. Also I went to Volkel AFB whenever I stayed over at my aunts and uncles house, which was relatively close to that airbase. I always went with my oldest nephew to this airfield.
By the time I ws 17 years old, I was allowed by my father to take his SLR to make some photos at the 75th anniversary of the RNLAF at Deelen AFB. At this airshow I started to combine my spotting activities with photography and I discovered a new dimension of plane spotting. Only 2 years later I got the opportunity to buy a set of Pentax lenses from a collegue at the company I was working for at that time. Beying these second hand lenses meant ofcourse that I needed a SLR camerabody on which these lenses would fit and I bought my first own SLR camera. This camera was a Ricoh KR-5 and soon I was able to get me another KR-5 body. I also traded in my 50-200mm lens for a 70-300mm Sigma lens.
After some years of using these SLR's it became time to get a new body and I got myself a Ricoh XR-X3PF body, which was already a big improvement for me. I kept using this camera till 2009 when I won an Olympus E-420 DSLR camera, just in time for the 2009 RNLAF Open days at Volkel AFB. Just a week or so before the airshow i got myself an Olympus Zuiko ED 40-150mm lens and shot my very first digital photos. Only 8 months later I bought an Olympus Zuiko ED 70-300mm lens and an adapterring for the Cinon 500mm manual mirror lens. In 2012 or 2013 I bought also an Opteka 650-1300mm manual telephoto lens.
I'm using till date still my old and trusted E-420 body and lens kit, both for my airplane spotting and for holiday/travel photography. In June 2019 I bought a secondhand Olumpus OMD-EM10 Mk.II with only 5000 actuations on it. I received it just in time for the RNLAF open days 2019. In September 2020 I was able to buy me an Olympus M.Zuiko ED 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3 IS. By end of May 2021 I bought a secondhand Olympus OMD E-M1 Mark II with a new HLD-9 battery gripand with only 11000 actuations clockedon it. At the same time i also reduced my amount of lenses by buying a secondhand good Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-150mm f/4.0-5.6 and shelfed my old and trusty Olympus E-420 and it's 4/3 lenses. This combo will only get out as a spare camera, if need would be arise. By now I have sold my Olympus ED 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 and the old Cinon 500mm manual mirror lens together with a Olympus ED 14-42mm kit lens. Matter af act, I traded these lenses in for the Olympus 100-400mm. :P
I hope you will enjoy my website an if you have questions, remarks or just interested in some of my work, please fill out the contact form and i will get back to you as soon as possible.