Dragonflies and Damselflies

[Click]

Beautiful shots, kodakrome. I especially like the first one.

 

[kodakrome]

Beautiful shots, kodakrome. I especially like the first one.

Thanks, Click!

 

[Erik X]

I got the usual catch today, a not very sharp yellow-spotted emerald in flight, a few four-spotted chasers and a black-tailed skimmer. And guess what kind of background the skimmer had found today.. a nice one? Nooo

 

[Click]

Great shots, Erik. I especially like the first one. Well done.

 

[Pape]

One with messy straws

 

[AlanF]

One with messy straws View attachment 185303

It's a good one of a black-tailed skimmer. They always seem to hide on messy surfaces. Nice and sharp!

 

[Erik X]

A four-spotted chaser I got today..

 

[Click]

Beautiful. Nicely done, Erik.

 

[Erik X]

More of the same sort

 

[AlanF]

Managed to get some banded demoiselles in flight with the old 5DSR and 100-400mm II. Erik knows how difficult these shots are. These little beauts flitter around like fast butterflies and don't hover like dragonflies and are small. But, the 5DSR set to AF with the 9 centre points does give some keepers - the dof is just a few mm.

 

[Click]

Erik and Alan,

Very nice shots, guys.

 

[Erik X]

Managed to get some banded demoiselles in flight...

Well done, I've never managed to get those in flight.. it needs some superhuman abilities I guess
How did you keep the AF from locking on the background?

 

[Pape]

could try 50mm lens and finding place where they swarm and just spray around
preventing camera locking backround can use camera setting where it doesnt start hunt focus if too much away from focus . and prefocus more near where actual shoot is ?

 

[AlanF]

Well done, I've never managed to get those in flight.. it needs some superhuman abilities I guess
How did you keep the AF from locking on the background?

The background was relative diffuse, a river with some lily leaves. The AF should focus on the nearest object and I kept concentrating on getting them in the middle of the viewfinder. Most of the discarded images were just out of focus, varying from not being tack sharp to blur. As we know, even static shots aren’t easy to get in sharp focus overall.

 

[AlanF]

could try 50mm lens and finding place where they swarm and just spray around
preventing camera locking backround can use camera setting where it doesnt start hunt focus if too much away from focus . and prefocus more near where actual shoot is ?

I know you are joking, but random spray and pray would be very inefficient as there were never more than 2 in the field if view. 400mm on FF is optimal for me. A longer focal length would make it to difficult for me to keep in the viewfinder, and a shorter focal length would give smaller images. Yes, I did prefocus. The 100-400mm II has blisteringly fast AF. The Sigma 150-600 I don’t think would have worked. The 5DIV would have given me more keepers but at lower resolution.

 

[AlanF]

I am checking out gear for our big trip and tried my other 100-400mm II on the 5DIV, having spent yesterday FoCal'ing all combinations of 2 lenses x 2 1.4xTCs + 2 bodies. I have to admit the reproducibility of AF of the 5DIV is simply outstanding with shot after shot absolutely spot on. Here are a female banded demoiselle, a male banded demoiselle and a female emperor draginfly ovipositing.

 

[Pape]

Bit soft flying one RP ,70-300mm 300mm 1/4000s f13 IS0 6400

 

[AlanF]

Bit soft flying one RP ,70-300mm 300mm 1/4000s f13 IView attachment 185375S0 6400

That's a very good attempt. How did you set up the RP AF for it? How many failures for 1 success?

 

[Pape]

That's a very good attempt. How did you set up the RP AF for it? How many failures for 1 success?

just 1 shoot, zone af . I rarely see flying dragonflies near me so havent got chanses shoot more. trying stay places where isnt mosquitos so not densely dragonflies either.


looks llike only wingtip got to focus .lucky shot i guess.

 

[AlanF]

just 1 shoot, zone af . I rarely see flying dragonflies near me so havent got chanses shoot more. trying stay places where isnt mosquitos so not densely dragonflies either.

I am impressed. Was it hovering or was flying past? I am very interested to find out how well the mirrorless do for nature shots. That was a very good shot as it is very difficult to get a whole dragonfly sharp.