Superfast Falcon and Kite shots with the OM1
The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal in the world, and is able to dive at speeds of up to 240mph. It’s a quite a small bird, so a long 600mm focal length is needed. Trying to follow something travelling that small and fast through a 600mm telephoto, and capturing key moments is impossible for me except via blind chance (spray and pray).
The test results from my first trip to the HCT with the new OM1 camera were very encouraging (see previous album). They made me wonder if I could use the camera with a clever little gadget called a “dot sight” to get previously difficult or impossible shots of Falcons and Kites. The dot sight makes finding the Falcon with a telephoto lens much easier, but the focusing system then needs to be super responsive and super accurate.
The Sony A9 or A1 cameras are not fast enough and the big Sony lenses are not manoeuvrable enough to achieve this. But the OM1 is both small and super quick. And it worked. I was able to get images of the Falcon capturing its lure on the wing – something I’ve not managed in over a dozen attempts before. In addition I got some amazing shots of Kites chasing vertically after catapulted pieces of chicken – more shots than in all previous visits put together. All in all an amazing result for the OM1 – the best camera for this kind of bird photography in the world!
Photographs in this album include: image titles to be added.
For camera settings, techniques and equipment used in shoots like this, see the Technique posts on mcaughtry.photo.