jim_royer Posted July 26, 2006 Share #1 Posted July 26, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) We were on vacation last week, in Gloucester, MA and went whale watching one afternoon. We were fortunate in seeing humpback and fin whales and dolphins. However, I was trying to use the eye viewfinder with the screen that has the parallel lines, both horizontally and vertically. I had a heck of a time taking photos because by the time the whale surfaced, and I could find it in the viewfinder. it was either going down or gone completely. I finally started using just the LCD screen and keeping both eyes open and that seemed to work better. Has anyone had any experience with whale photography? After we returned to port, I realized I should have used manual focus because I'm sure the automatic focus was slowing down the shutter releasing. Any comments or suggestions? Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 26, 2006 Posted July 26, 2006 Hi jim_royer, Take a look here Whale photography with Digilux 2. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
stuny Posted July 26, 2006 Share #2 Posted July 26, 2006 Jim - Manual focus would definitely help, not to mention that what you see in the EVF lags reality by a fraction of a second. So, between the delayed shutter response while the camera adjusts, and the EVF delay, you missed the action. The D2 is a teriffic camera, but other than doing what you did (and perhaps putting an optical viewfinder on the hot shoe and using that), there's not much else you can do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wda Posted July 26, 2006 Share #3 Posted July 26, 2006 Jim, I fully endorse all that Stuart has said. It was definitely a case for preset manual focusing. Do post some of the pictures you took. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted July 26, 2006 Share #4 Posted July 26, 2006 It all depends how close you can get, too. I used my 135mm when off the Na Pali coast of Kauai a few years ago. All I got were dots in the distance! Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffshen Posted July 26, 2006 Share #5 Posted July 26, 2006 I don't think 90mm in 135 format can get a detailed view of whales.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
etanguero Posted July 26, 2006 Share #6 Posted July 26, 2006 I don't think 90mm in 135 format can get a detailed view of whales.... depends on how close they are ... and they came pretty close in patagonia a couple of years ago! eT Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
etanguero Posted July 26, 2006 Share #7 Posted July 26, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) For this situation with fast moving objects (with a difficult background as well) the Digilux 2 autofocus will fail ... as most of the other cameras will do either. So you should preset the focus on manual focus to a distance which is likely to the good one. You could even go further and use one of the hyperfocal charts to set the camera's focus to a distance the depth of field will be high / high enough. You might also want to preset the apperture for maximul results concerning the hyperfocal distances, therefore operating the camera on automatic timing but the rest manually. [i'd presume you had good light situation allowing short exposure times] eT Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dugby Posted July 27, 2006 Share #8 Posted July 27, 2006 If I recall correctly, on the Leica D2 Specs webpage, it states that - 1) Auto Focus delays the shot by about 600msec (0.6 sec) and 2) Manual Focus delays the shot by 94msec (0.094 sec) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffshen Posted July 27, 2006 Share #9 Posted July 27, 2006 depends on how close they are ... and they came pretty close in patagonia a couple of years ago! eT I thought... if it's close enough for 90mm 135 to shoot a whale... it's time to run... well~ the only time I get a very close whale view is when I was on the Alaska cruise... And it looks ok on a 90mm lens, but I only had 50mm at that time... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
etanguero Posted July 27, 2006 Share #10 Posted July 27, 2006 I thought...if it's close enough for 90mm 135 to shoot a whale... it's time to run... swim I'd say ... as on ground the whale won't be such a problem to you (allthough the whale would have a problem) I was close to the whales in Patagonia at Peninsula Valdez being on a boat. eT Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_royer Posted July 27, 2006 Author Share #11 Posted July 27, 2006 Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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