Bat photos from a decent digiatl camera?

Is it possible to get in flight photos of bats with a fairly decent
digital camera? I have a Sony DSC-F717 and wondered if it were possible,
we are lucky enough to have a lot of bats around our place here. Thanks.


--
Best regards,
Chris.

Chris Wilson wrote in
:

Is it possible to get in flight photos of bats with a fairly decent
digital camera? I have a Sony DSC-F717 and wondered if it were possible,
we are lucky enough to have a lot of bats around our place here. Thanks.


Actually tried this not too long ago, with the exact camera you have.
Well, okay, not the EXACT one, but one of the same model...

Biggest stumbling block is the shutter lag. Bats move so fast that
they can be in and out of the framing area within 1/4 second, so trying to
aim and trip the shutter is impossible - the lag is too long.

You might have some luck with one of two techniques, though:

One: Set the camera on manual focus at the proper distance for the
bats, and f8 aperture for the greatest depth of field. Set the shutter for
30 seconds. Follow the bats with a flashlight until they get into the field
of view of the camera, then trip an external flash unit. The brief flash of
the strobe will expose the image (at the proper ISO, will take some
experimenting). Flashes vary in power and you may end up overexposing the
image, so try a lot of different settings, even diffusing the flash if
needed. Try to aim for some dark area, preferably sky, so you don't get
bounceback from the flash off a wall or something. With a 30 second
exposure, you might be able to get multiple flashes in that time, or you
can simply cover the lens for the remaining time if you suspect you got a
good capture.

Two: Set the camera manually, again, but with the on-camera flash on,
f8 at 1/125 or thereabouts (doesn't matter too much, but low enough that
you will not get enough ambient light to expose your surroundings). Entice
the bats as they fly past by tossing mealworms into the air, though in a
pinch I've had them follow stones. The bats will often cut into a sharp
spiral to follow the path of the mealworm, and if you're good on your
timing, you've tripped the shutter and are following the path while waiting
for that lag to time out and the flash to go off. With a lot of luck,
you'll capture the bat.

The experiments a friend and I performed, totally unplanned,
consisted of being under a bridge that was laden with bats, and simply
shooting at random during the hectic activity. One frame only caught a bat,
and in very poor conditions, so the only way we even knew it was a bat and
not a concrete brace was that we had other images to compare to. On the
other hand, I caught slightly better images with a 35mm camera and the
shutter locked open, using a flashlight and external flash (method one).
Easy to waste a lot of frames, believe me ;-).

As you may already know, the night-vision settings are too slow to be
of any use for bats. However, experiment with them a little bit, since the
IR emitter will produce reflections from the eyes of many animals, and you
might find something nearby you had no idea was even there. Got some
treefrog pics this way.

Good luck!


- Al.

--
To reply, insert dash in address to match domain below
Online photo gallery at www.wading-in.net

"Al Denelsbeck" wrote in message
. 8...
Chris Wilson wrote in
:

Is it possible to get in flight photos of bats with a fairly decent
digital camera? I have a Sony DSC-F717 and wondered if it were possible,
we are lucky enough to have a lot of bats around our place here. Thanks.


Actually tried this not too long ago, with the exact camera you have.
Well, okay, not the EXACT one, but one of the same model...

Biggest stumbling block is the shutter lag. Bats move so fast that
they can be in and out of the framing area within 1/4 second, so trying to
aim and trip the shutter is impossible - the lag is too long.

You might have some luck with one of two techniques, though:

One: Set the camera on manual focus at the proper distance for the
bats, and f8 aperture for the greatest depth of field. Set the shutter for
30 seconds. Follow the bats with a flashlight until they get into the
field
of view of the camera, then trip an external flash unit. The brief flash
of
the strobe will expose the image (at the proper ISO, will take some
experimenting). Flashes vary in power and you may end up overexposing the
image, so try a lot of different settings, even diffusing the flash if
needed. Try to aim for some dark area, preferably sky, so you don't get
bounceback from the flash off a wall or something. With a 30 second
exposure, you might be able to get multiple flashes in that time, or you
can simply cover the lens for the remaining time if you suspect you got a
good capture.

Two: Set the camera manually, again, but with the on-camera flash on,
f8 at 1/125 or thereabouts (doesn't matter too much, but low enough that
you will not get enough ambient light to expose your surroundings). Entice
the bats as they fly past by tossing mealworms into the air, though in a
pinch I've had them follow stones. The bats will often cut into a sharp
spiral to follow the path of the mealworm, and if you're good on your
timing, you've tripped the shutter and are following the path while
waiting
for that lag to time out and the flash to go off. With a lot of luck,
you'll capture the bat.

The experiments a friend and I performed, totally unplanned,
consisted of being under a bridge that was laden with bats, and simply
shooting at random during the hectic activity. One frame only caught a
bat,
and in very poor conditions, so the only way we even knew it was a bat and
not a concrete brace was that we had other images to compare to. On the
other hand, I caught slightly better images with a 35mm camera and the
shutter locked open, using a flashlight and external flash (method one).
Easy to waste a lot of frames, believe me ;-).

As you may already know, the night-vision settings are too slow to be
of any use for bats. However, experiment with them a little bit, since the
IR emitter will produce reflections from the eyes of many animals, and you
might find something nearby you had no idea was even there. Got some
treefrog pics this way.

Good luck!


- Al.

The only suggestion I would add to Al's comprehensive reply is to use his
'technique 1' but add an infra red beam into the equation. The beam sould be
sited at a point where the bats are frequently crossing. The IR trip should
be connected to the flashes so as the bat cuts the beam, the exposure is
made. This way, there is no flashlight being recorded and no hit and miss
focussing problems.


There are a few examples of this on my website (under construction)

www.andyharmer.com

Regards

Andy




--
To reply, insert dash in address to match domain below
Online photo gallery at www.wading-in.net