Any tips?

[drea]

Spotted a few of these flying round the garden the other day. I shot dozens of empty frames because they kind of dart around a lot. AF was useless, this was manual focus about 8 feet from the camera.

Anyone got any tips to capture them sharply?

70-300@300, f5.6, 1/1000 sec.

[bilko2]

I might get shot down here but i would have thought using a flash may help

[poah]

yes a rings flash helps but you have to watch your shutter speed as it's most likely going to be above the camera's sync. my sigma DG super has fast sync function but never used it really.

best thing to do it take bigger insects. easier to capture in flight. 1/1500s f/6.7

[bilko2]

There you go drea!
Poah, you forgot to clone out the wire on the bee
Just kiding, that's brilliant.
edit>>
Just looking at that some more now, is it me or does it look like the little fellow has 2 eyes a nose and a little moustache?
I should go to bed.

>> Edited by bilko2 on Saturday 7th May 00:20

[drea]

poah said:

yes a rings flash helps but you have to watch your shutter speed as it's most likely going to be above the camera's sync.

Yup, the D70 only syncs to 1/500s (still pretty fast though).
I think the tricky part is the focusing. With the wide open aperture the focus has to be spot on.
I imagine for your shot (V. nice BTW ), you pre-focused on the flower and waited for the bee to come along.
My beasties (horsefly?) hover over the lawn, so there's no reference for focusing. They only stay in one place for a second or so too.

[CVP]

poah said:

Great image. How did you get this one, pre focus onthe flower or see the bee coming in and follow it in?

Chris

[poah]

luck out of about 200 shots (10 mins) I got 10 that were sharp.

[CVP]

poah said:

luck out of about 200 shots (10 mins) I got 10 that were sharp.

One of the great advantages of digital