[derekkite]

Last summer I attempted capturing bats photographically, with some success. This was the best of hundreds of shots with bats and thousands with nothing.

It was an iterative process, over a period of a few weeks I learned much about flash lighting and the patterns of the bats. I'm fine with the lighting, I have more flashes, have set up the connections and have a couple ideas to try for capture. But the lens. This shot was with an A 50 1.4 at f8. I tried a 35mm macro and it wasn't sharp enough, maybe my copy. I am considering going a bit longer, but need suggestions. What lens between 50mm and 100mm is very sharp edge to edge? I have a 90mm Tamron that is very sharp, but I think it may be a bit too long. Manual is fine; I set the focus point and aperture. Essentially I create a cube in space limited by the field of view and depth of field. The 50mm focused at 10 ft at f8 was pretty good. A smaller aperture didn't work last year due to the limits of the light available. With more flash units available I could go to f11 or the smallest before diffraction starts. I can also add flash extenders for a longer lens.

Ideas?



Blog post describing my setup.

[crewl1]

Most of the 50 f1.7 variants are considered sharper than the f1.4 versions however by f8 they all seem to even out.
Since your 90mm macro is already too long I won't suggest the DFA100.
Perhaps a 50mm macro will be best?

[Burgian]

In 45 years of Nikon and Pentax photography, I've never used a lens that was this sharp edge to edge and throughout its aperture range. If it isn't too long for your purposes, you can't do any better.

[romay]

Maybe FA-77 limited?

[Paul the Sunman]

DA 70 is sharper edge to edge than the FA 77, and may be a better focal length anyway.

[derekkite]

70mm sigma macro?

[Na Horuk]

I think the problem here isn't sharpness of the lens, but light. Flash that bat

[philbaum]

Interesting photography - thanks for sharing.

I've done a lot of headshots and promo shots for theatre work. All with manual flashes - especially like the YongNuo.

My suggestion, is get a second camera to cover more of the flight path and double your chances. Also i might spread the flashes out, easy to do if set to trigger on another flash's lighting.

Is there equipment for motion triggering? Might not be quick enough?

[derekkite]

Interesting photography - thanks for sharing.

I've done a lot of headshots and promo shots for theatre work. All with manual flashes - especially like the YongNuo.

My suggestion, is get a second camera to cover more of the flight path and double your chances. Also i might spread the flashes out, easy to do if set to trigger on another flash's lighting.

Is there equipment for motion triggering? Might not be quick enough?

After I posted this I thought the same thing, use another body. I am going to try something like a 10 second exposure continuous shooting, and trigger the flash either manually or using an infrared trigger. A second body with a different lens, covering closer in or a wider view.

My problem is that 50 is quite wide, 90 is too narrow.

[Conqueror]

DA* 55
DFA 100

both devastatingly sharp and within that range... IMO the 55 is quite a special lens (its not my favourite focal length, but its quality and all round features are undeniable!).

I remember this. I agree with the idea of more light, definitely more light. Added a couple of Yongnou 560III's this year, B&H has for $71. Built in receiver so also got a pair of Yongnou 603NII triggers ( trust me, get the Nikon version) for $36.

The have a multimode, sort of repetitive strobe flash that might be useful. I'd be tempted to gang 3 or 4 together at reduced power and blaze away.

[Nicolas06]

I am not sure to undersntand why you need a lense that soooo sharp.

For practical purposes through, I'd say most tele prime should be good and sharp even on border at their optimal apperture that is typicall f/4 or f/5.6 You can sometime get better border at f/8 but the center also start to drop.

So whatever like any old 50mm lense manual or autofocus would be ok. the 50mm macro, the DA70, the FA77, the sigma 70 macro would be candidate. The 85mm would be good too.

But this is marginal variations here. To me it seems focussing, the amount of light, the isos, eventual cropping is what reduce the amount of detail you get.

Then I'am not sure the solution lie in a marginally sharper lense.

Would it be cricital and the only solution, this is a 645Z you need or at least a D810 with proper lenses. Really more 645Z to see a real bump in sharpness. You would get at least 50% more lp/lw not just a marginal 5-10% difference between lenses. But really I think you didn't fully describe why you need the ultimate sharpness and why you think the lense is the key factor in your opinion.

[derekkite]

I am not sure to undersntand why you need a lense that soooo sharp.

For practical purposes through, I'd say most tele prime should be good and sharp even on border at their optimal apperture that is typicall f/4 or f/5.6 You can sometime get better border at f/8 but the center also start to drop.

So whatever like any old 50mm lense manual or autofocus would be ok. the 50mm macro, the DA70, the FA77, the sigma 70 macro would be candidate. The 85mm would be good too.

But this is marginal variations here. To me it seems focussing, the amount of light, the isos, eventual cropping is what reduce the amount of detail you get.

Then I'am not sure the solution lie in a marginally sharper lense.

Would it be cricital and the only solution, this is a 645Z you need or at least a D810 with proper lenses. Really more 645Z to see a real bump in sharpness. You would get at least 50% more lp/lw not just a marginal 5-10% difference between lenses. But really I think you didn't fully describe why you need the ultimate sharpness and why you think the lense is the key factor in your opinion.

Because I had captures that were not sharp due to the lens, and hence were throwaways. With a 50mm lens it is cropped substantially; any softness is magnified.

I'll watch for the sigma 70mm and the 55mm.

[Digitalis]

I hate to say this but you don't need a sharper lens, you need to be using the correct technique.

I know of photographers who work with nocturnal animals, and the equipment they work with is very different from daylight wildlife photography. Photographing Nocturnal animals especially ones that fly is very difficult. A common technique for nighttime bat photography is to use sound triggers - bats use echolocation signals to track their prey, these ultrasonic calls they use to "see" increase in frequency and amplitude when they close in on their prey. Photographers use microphones that are sensitive to ultrasonic frequencies, they set them up so when a certain frequency and amplitude threshold is passed, the signal will trigger the camera* which in turn trigger their flash units to allow them to capture the bats while hunting.

Another technique for capturing images of nocturnal animals is to use camera traps which use laser triggering - when a bat (or anything else) breaks the laser beam it will fire the camera shutter - however this technique is difficult to use as laser beams are very narrow and it can be very difficult to place them in the path of the animals - it is hard to predict where bats will fly, they don't fly the way birds do: they tend to move erratically.

You could also use a focus trap, when you can see a bat passing through a pre-defined area where you have your lighting set up, you can trigger your camera manually - using flash units with modelling lights would be a good idea for this - moths are attracted to light and this will increase the probability of you capturing an image. Any lens can be used for catch focus work as most 50mm lenses when stopped down to f/5.6-f/8 perform identically**. Using a longer lens will reduce the chance that you will catch an image of a bat with this technique - any wide lens could be used, most wide angle lenses perform reasonably well at small apertures.

* Using multiple cameras at different angles slaved to the same triggering circuit is also common to increase the number of viable images.
** I own 181 50mm lenses, there are some 50mm lenses that don't perform well no matter how much you stop them down, there are also some 50mm lenses that are capable of exceptionally high resolution compared to their peers, but the truth remains - f/8 and be there.

DA 70 is sharper edge to edge than the FA 77

The FA77 has higher peak resolution.

[SKYGZR]

Cool Pic..none the less..