Which lens should I use at a Blue Angels airshow?

Question

I'm renting a lens to shoot the Blue Angels with a Nikon D700 on a monopod next month. For you Nikon shooters, which would you recommend for this:

• 400mm f/2.8G ED VR
• 200-400mm f/4G ED VR II?
• is there a lens you'd rather use?

Answer

The 200-400 gives you a lot more flexibility. But it might not be short enough depending on what you want to do and how far away you're going to be.
When shooting airshows I usually use a 70-200 f/2.8 with 2x teleconverter, and a second camera with a 28-70 f/2.8. For takeoff/landing shots, depending on aircraft and location, even 140mm can be too long (though it should be fine for fighter jets).
Of course if distances are a lot longer than I'm used to here (and from my one visit to a US airshow they seem to be) even 400mm might be a tad short for some shots you want to have.

Check more discussion of this question.