Bumblebee in Flight

[GvilleRick]

I tried out the Insect tracking option on my a7RV and Sony 200-600 lens today. It worked pretty well.

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/1250 sec
• ISO 400

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/1250 sec
• ISO 400

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Excellent shots

 

[BryLogan]

Nice shots. This is not a subject I’m conversant with, so excuse what may be an ignorant question: I’m surprised that 1/1250 of a second was not fast enough to freeze the bee’s wing beat. What shutter speed is needed if you wanted a stop action shot?

 

[GvilleRick]

Excellent shots

Thank you. I was happy with the shots considering that it was a spur of the moment thing. I was on my way back to the car and saw a couple of bees hovering and switched to Insect tracking to try it out. I left the settings to what I had been using for shooting birds and took a dozen or so shots. Most with the bee in the frame were similar to these.

Nice shots. This is not a subject I’m conversant with, so excuse what may be an ignorant question: I’m surprised that 1/1250 of a second was not fast enough to freeze the bee’s wing beat. What shutter speed is needed if you wanted a stop action shot?

I saw where someone posted that the bees flap their wings about 230 times a second and that 1/1000 would capture about a quarter of the stroke so you would need a shutter speed of 1/4000 or faster or use a flash to stop the wings. I do like the slight blur showing movement. I do plan to try shooting again to see how different settings will work. I tried getting similar shots with my Pentax gear over the years and would get maybe one good shot out of 20.

 

[-ST-]

This source suggests a minimum of 1/1600 sec.

How to Photograph Bees – Nature TTL

In this nature photography tutorial learn techniques and tips for photographing macro photos of bees. A great spring and summer subject.

www.naturettl.com

 

[Brownie]

I do like the slight blur showing movement.

Agreed. You don't want the poor little fella' dropping out of the sky!

The reflectivity in the eye is amazing. Very well done.

 

[GvilleRick]

Here are a few quick shots form this afternoon at 1/4000 with my 70-200 and 1.4TC and 100-400 with 1.4TC. I just edited the JPGs from the camera to crop.

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II + 1.4X Teleconverter
• 280.0 mm
• ƒ/4
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 250

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II + 1.4X Teleconverter
• 280.0 mm
• ƒ/4
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 1000

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter
• 449.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 4000

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter
• 560.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 1250

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter
• 560.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 3200

 

[BryLogan]

Awesome. I do think I prefer the blurred wings over the static ones. Incredible captures nevertheless!

 

[GvilleRick]

Awesome. I do think I prefer the blurred wings over the static ones. Incredible captures nevertheless!

Thank you. I am really impressed with the AI features of the AF on the a7RV. The second set of photos was taken in my back yard this afternoon before I had to head to work. I just went out and waited until I saw a bee fly by and then pointed in the direction and it tracked the bee. Out of 20 or so shots there was only one where the bee was out of focus. Here is the last shot processed from RAW with DeNoise AI and Lightroom to compare with the JPG from the previous post.

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter
• 560.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 4000

 

[GvilleRick]

While at a zoo today I saw more bumblebees and took a few shots ranging from 1/250 to 1/8000 while using my Sony 70-200 GM OSS2 with 1.4xTC. Here was a shot at 1/8000, 272mm, f/4, ISO 800.

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II + 1.4X Teleconverter
• 272.0 mm
• ƒ/4
• 1/8000 sec
• ISO 800

 

[GvilleRick]

A few more shots from my back yard this morning. I set up Insect Tracking AF and had DMF turned on. I got the best results manually focusing to get the bee to start to focus then hit AF to lock on. All of these are with the a7RV and 100-400 GM lens. Processed with Lightroom and DxO 3.

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/8000 sec
• ISO 3200

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/8000 sec
• ISO 2500

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/8000 sec
• ISO 800

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/8000 sec
• ISO 1250

Really tight crop to show the detail possible.

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/8000 sec
• ISO 2000

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 279.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/8000 sec
• ISO 800

 

[AlphaWorld]

It really works! I particularly like the shot with the bee’s shadow on the wood.

 

[Roland]

Not easy to do. Thanks for the tip with DMF setting. I tried with my macro lens when the fly closer to the flowers to adjust the focus but with not much luck. Time to bring out the 70-200.

 

[GvilleRick]

A few more from yesterday. This time I shot them flying over the azaleas and got some shots of a honeybee as well.

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/2000 sec
• ISO 320

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 500

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 2000

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 1600

 

[GvilleRick]

A few more bumblebee shots from this afternoon.

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 1000

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 1000

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/2500 sec
• ISO 4000

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 800

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 800

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/1250 sec
• ISO 800

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/1250 sec
• ISO 1250