Sony A9 III Butterfly in Flight

[AlphaWorld]

For some reason I've been trying to photograph butterflies in flight at the Butterfly House at Melbourne Zoo.

The A7RIV - perfect for butterflies at rest, but in-flight - no chance with me behind the camera

The A1 - a better camera, and maybe if I worked hard at a strategy for getting focus onto the butterfly, maybe?

The A7RV - has an Insect AF mode! I have managed some not awful shots, limited by the lenses I had at the time, but showing promise.

The A9 III - now we're getting serious. Insect AF mode, combined with ludicrous speed, and add in the 300 GM - if I can't do it with this, I'm takin' my bat and ball and goin' home!

This is a 100 per cent crop of 1500 x 1000 (from 6000 x 4000). No post process sharpening. Image has been processed, including Adobe AI de-noise (basically removing chroma noise from the background). For anyone wondering about the sharpness of the 300 GM near the corners, this is from the lower right corner of frame.

Shot at f/4, 1/2000, ISO 6400 (hence the chroma noise!)

 

[Alan Clark]

To photograph insects in flight I use ISO12800, small aperture to maximise dof, 10 frames per second, fingers crossed, and let the camera decide the shutter speed. Only a few shots will be any good, but it does not matter that most of your shots are rejects. When I want to photograph insects flying in my garden I set up my camera on a tripod pointed at a flower that attracts insects then wait for something to come near, then shoot with a cable release. I do not try to fill the frame with the subject as it is possible to crop severely with modern cameras, as you have shown. This increases the depth of field and therefore the success rate.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

A lot depends on the butterfly species, as some are slow and steady, others very erratic. I wouldn't use less than 1/2500th though, and smaller ones are nigh impossible to capture, regardless of shutter speed. Here's one from 4 years ago. No exif as I grabbed this from my FB page, but I know it was 1/2500th, f8, shot on a Nikon D7500 and Tamron 150 600 G2. No need for 120fps...

 

[MyDogsOwner]

Timely post as I was going to go to our Butterfly House with the AR7IV to see what it could do. But, we got 6 inches of snow, so I decided to stay home due to road conditions. Now, I am even more curious. Thanks for the tips mentioned here as they will be helpful!

 

[iamdlewis]

The A1 - a better camera, and maybe if I worked hard at a strategy for getting focus onto the butterfly, maybe?

The strategy I used to get a long series of moths having combat after just spending over an hour photographing Tree Swallows in flight was: Wonder if I can photograph those moths over there in flight.

• ILCE-1
• Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS (SEL100400GM)
• 282.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 640

For actual effort I found the 100-400GM to be better than the 200-600G

• ILCE-1
• Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS (SEL100400GM)
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 1600

 

[spudhead]

Well nobody told me or the a9 2022 Monserrat Spain even harder are hawk moth

• ILCE-9
• Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS (SEL70200G)
• 109.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/2000 sec
• ISO 1600

• ILCE-9
• Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS (SEL70200G)
• 200.0 mm
• ƒ/9
• 1/5000 sec
• ISO 4000

 

[spudhead]

Well nobody told me or the a9 2022 Monserrat Spain even harder are hawk moth View attachment 55744View attachment 55745

yes that is a 2016 70-200 f4 lens and a 2017 a9

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Which camera Kev?

Updated the post but Nikon D7500

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

We're watching you...

Well it was 4 years ago, as it says on the pic..

 

[DavidN]

We had a Hummingbird Hawk Moth visit our garden quite regularly last summer and managed to get a few shots - one attached.

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter
• 840.0 mm
• ƒ/9
• 1/4000 sec
• ISO 3200