Crow chasing a red kite carrying a pike's head in its talons.
April 2018
Nikon D7200, Nikon 200-500mm ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/1600s, 500mm
this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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Wow, did everything just align for you, or was there some method you could share to getting such a great shot? To get the light suggests only one good direction to be pointing in, to get the detail they must have been quite close, and to get the kite to be turning to show its "catch" off and the crow likewise to get the light on its feathers so well ... I'm very jealous.
Thank you.
No method really. I used to take my camera almost everywhere I thought I might see wildlife. Now days I'm a little pickier, especially if the light is poor. Occasionally I'll see something and think "if only I had my camera" but not that often. I've taken 100s of thousands of photos and almost all are garbage as photography goes, but it's nice to have a record of what you've seen. and it's good practice for when the moment arrives.
In this case I was walking the dogs by our local river. It was early evening, the sun was low in the sky and with only a little cloud the light was warm and strong. I was watching the kite skirting over the reeds. They used to be very rare here, so I was pleased to see it. Kites are good to photograph in flight as they are big, contrasty and relatively slow moving, and they like to turn with their primaries well spread. I saw it dive into the reeds and then come out with a big fish carcass that fell apart as it took off. leaving it with the head. The crow came out of the willows on the opposite bank and chased it for a good few minutes before the kite dropped the head in the river, so no one got it in the end. They were at the right height for the sun to be almost level with them, which really helped pick the feathers out on the crow. I'd say they were 50ft away at closest. The difference good light made here was being able to push the shutter speed and aperture. That lens is noticeably sharper at f/7.1 than f/5.6 and 1/1600s was really useful in pinning the shot. I probably took 50 shots and it was just one of those moments where they almost all had something of interest in them. Right place, right time.
Thank you in turn for the insights. I also adore Red Kites, and these days it's rare I don't see one in the sky somewhere on any walk I do (Reading, Berkshire). Even so, if I've my camera with me and the kite is more than a small black shadow, up it goes!
I've currently an F11 600mm Canon lens - so your aperture and speed are things I can currently only dream of ... though there is a new lens on order.
No worries :), I lived in Reading in the mid 90's and never saw one, now I can go to my sister's near Windsor and see multiple kites in her garden. I've now seen them as far east as the north Norfolk coast but I think they have been introduced in that area.
F11 is going to make things trickier for sure. What lens are you looking for?
Yes, it's amazing how they've spread: they clearly just needed the chance.
As to the lens, Canon are just bringing out an RF 200mm-800mm F6.3-9.
It was described as "moderately expensive" (hah! Though I do know the lens they were likely thinking of as truly expensive at some x4 the cost) but I love bird photography, so have a deposit down.
That is an interesting lens, 800mm on the long end at f/9 is a pretty reasonable compromise for that extra 200mm over the typical super telephoto zoom lenses at 600mm f/6.3. I will be very interested to see how you get on with it over the next year, especially how much you shoot it at 800mm. Did you consider any other models e.g. The sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM?
It should be interesting, I just hope the weight won't be an issue. A bit more light, a bit more reach when I want it, but also able to zoom down to 200mm when that bird I dearly want to photo has decided to hope really close and yes I've lost shots that way).
I do suspect at 800mm will prove rather hard to bring to bear on anything but a contentedly perched bird.
The Sigma range for Canon all need EF-RF converters, which are said to be good, but I suspect lose something. Indeed, I seem to remember looking closely at them many moons ago, and deciding they didn't meet my needs. That said, perhaps I should have returned to looking at them once more.
Canon get some serious stick for not letting companies like Sigma use the RF interface directly. However, I chose Canon before I knew about that issue, so am stuck with it unless I want to start from scratch.
I didn't realise the sigma needed an adaptor for cannon, I can understand why you would see that as a potential issue.
When I bought my first digital camera I spent months trying to decide which brand to go for. In the end I picked Nikon because of the backwards and sideways compatibility of the lenses. I'm too heavily invested in it now to change, but in the early days I might have considered it.
I must admit to enjoying the comments section on DPreview when I looked up your new lens. I'd forgotten what an enjoyable shitshow the fanboy posts are like; arguments over mtf charts and youtube reviews, that was 20 mins well spent lol.
Not sure I saw the same line of comments, but the one I started with guessed at no weather proofing, which wasn't a good start at truth. I feel I'm now committed so will take the normal fanboy choice of defending my choice to the death (errr ... maybe not).
Too invested to change - oh yes: 16mm, 35mm, 50mm, 100mm macro - v. nice, and a cheapie zoom I never use as it has no AF/MF switch, and the aforementioned 600mm. I do wonder if I should have gone the zoom route rather than prime, but choosing "today's lens" helps settle my mind in the right mode. So, a zoom is definitely an experiment.