We had another great jaguar sighting today. this time, the cat was swimming in the river. We followed him for about a mile as he swam with the current along the shore, and then he crossed to the other side. Jaguars catch much of their prey -- caiman and capybaras -- in the water, so they have to be great swimmers. It's not easy to follow-focus on a moving animal from a small boat, which is also moving, especially when using a long lens. I would shoot in 2 or 4 frame bursts and then re-focus (using back button focus) and continue shooting. I had the Canon 1Dx Mark II set to continuous tracking AF, and I used a center cluster of 9 focus points. My settings were 1/1600, f/8, and 1250 ISO. I captured this image with a 500mm telephoto lens, and the cat was about 18 feet from the boat.
2 Comments
Nov 8, 2018, 8:48:15 AM
Jim - Thanks for that feedback, Bob. I get a lot of people writing me with thanks for including the technical details.
Nov 7, 2018, 11:41:14 PM
Bob Vestal - Glad that you and your group are having such wonderful shooting opportunities. Always appreciate the technical details such as the ones that you include with this very interesting shot.