Hoverfly

[Tormentil]

Tried me hand at capturing a hoverfly in flight yesterday. Found it not easy to keep it in focus (manual focusing), however feel pleased with a first attempt.

[ollyk]

Originally Posted by Tormentil

Tried me hand at capturing a hoverfly in flight yesterday. Found it not easy to keep it in focus (manual focusing), however feel pleased with a first attempt.

very nice! Yes, they are tricky blighters but worth the effort in my opinion!

Have you noticed how defensive they get when you invade their 'hover spot'?

What gear were you using?

[Tormentil]

EOS350D and Tamron 70-300 in macro mode. Tried hand holding me Bigma but results were horrible. I'll use me tripod next time as it "patrols" the same area of the garden everyday.

[Toby]

flash will help if you were not doing so - with a smaller aperture the flash becomes the effective lighting and as it only lasts about 1/10000 sec it freezes the wing beat - still difficult focusing. Forget tripods though unless you know they will hover at an exact spot which is unlikely.

one of my reasonable efforts:

[Tormentil]

Thanks Toby, as it was a brilliant sunny day, it never occurred to me to use flash. I only have the "popup" flash, will that suffice ?

[Tormentil]

Had another go today using the "popup" flash on the camera. Think I ought to save a few pennies for a dedicated flash, me thinks.



Is it an Eristalis pertinax ?