Merops nubicus (Carmine Bee Eater)

Merops nubicus (common name: Carmine bee eater)

Bee eaters are always on the move and, especially in a zoo they will fly in all directions, usually towards you or away from you. This poses a real problem to the AF system of any camera since the focusing pane changes all the time. Moreover, since they are really small birds, shooting from a distance is not a clever thought unless you have enough Mpixels on your sensor to allow for some serious cropping. The other way to go is to wait till the bird sits still for a second and then give it a try. This one decided to sit still on a branch which was too close for most lenses but not for the macro lens I had on my camera.

Photo by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

(Top photo)
Camera: Nikon D2X
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/160 sec - f/14, Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS2, levels adjusted, Smart sharpening added and resized.

(Bottom photo)
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: Nikkor AF 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 D-VR
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/250 sec - f/13, Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS2, levels adjusted, Smart sharpening added and resized.