In July 2026, the Patrouille de France arrives from the United States and makes a stopover in Montreal and Quebec City for the last time with its Alpha Jet twin-engine jets. These aircraft will be replaced by Pilatus PC-21s starting in 2030.
Photographing the flyover of Quebec City requires choosing between a close-up of the Alpha Jets—aircraft we will never see again—or a wide-angle shot showing the contrails in the colors of France as the pilots fly over the Quebec Bridge.
The Alpha Jets are moving quickly over the St. Lawrence River. The photographer cannot change lenses to capture both a close-up and a super-wide-angle shot in a single pass. He must choose…
A telephoto lens is ideal for capturing the details of aircraft as they fly by. The Canon EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS II USM will do the trick. Set to ISO 200 and mounted on a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera, it allows for significant cropping without any loss of quality when zooming in. The excellent light conditions allow for a fast shutter speed.
But every choice involves a trade-off. So, I have to forgo a high-quality super-wide-angle shot taken from the base of the bridge. It would have shown the entire metal structure along with the planes flying by. But the planes would have been too small to be identified.
The Quebec Bridge cannot be overlooked, as it is the world’s largest cantilever structure. Furthermore, the structure—which is over a century old—collapsed twice during its construction.
The telephoto lens will allow for a decent photo of the Patrouille de France and the Quebec Bridge in the distance, but nothing more. Viewers will have to settle for a scene full of compromises where neither the planes nor the bridge are clearly visible. However, it did allow for some impressive close-ups of the Alpha Jets, as shown in the first photo.
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