Dragonflies and Damselflies

Nemorino

EOS R5
Aug 29, 2020
831
3,254
Broad-bodied darter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libellula_depressa
When a female enters a male's territory the male will fly up and grab the female. Mating occurs on the wing and the pair are in tandem for only a brief period, often less than a minute. The pair separate and the female will find a suitable location for ovipositing, usually a stretch of open water with submerged vegetation. The female oviposits in flight, hovering above the water and dipping the tip of her abdomen in.
Like this:
Libellula depressa mating.jpg

and 90 seconds later
Libellula depressa ovi.jpg

R5 + RF100-400 @ 1/3200, f/9, ISO 6400 (first), 1250 (second).
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,344
22,520
Got the Emperor Dragonfly in flight out of my system for the season! The big guy was in flight rather than hovering. I got some 300 shots at 20 fps and discarded 95% of them though nearly all in perfect focus with the R5 and 100-500mm. I got just about as good individual shots with the 5DSR + 100-400mm II in the past, saved a huge amount of time then because I would have only 4 or 5 shots of a hovering one at the end of the day! So, here are a few plus the now usual gif, with it turning towards me at the end.

309A0821-DxO_Emperor_Dragonfly_flying_banking-lssm.jpg309A0824-DxO_Emeperor_Dragonfly_flying_banking-lsm.jpg309A0969-DxO_Emperor_Dragonfly_flying-lssm.jpgEmperor_Dragonfly_flying_turning.gif
 
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Jul 29, 2012
17,654
6,350
Canada
Great shots, Alan!
a025.gif
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,344
22,520
Very nice!

It makes me wonder how the R7 with EFCS at 15fps will do, it might do a bit better at freezing the wingtips compared to the R5 e-shutter. Having said that, the e-shutter has done much better than I expected in the shots above.
These are relatively small crops, the movement of the wings is of low amplitude, and so only a small area of the sensor is read for the used image. This will greatly decrease the rolling shutter effect as the time window for the effective image area is shortened.
 
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