At 9:30 pm 9 Aug 2018 and apartment fire started and destroyed and apartment block near us. I took these images from our lot. Surprisingly, there were no serious injuries.

K-3, hand held at ridiculously low shutter speeds (1/8"), wide open, Green mode ISO 3200.

[blues_hawk]

Scary stuff. Looks like the whole thing is going.

[Photogoof]

Yes, very scary.

[SJM]

Oh my..

[reh321]

At 9:30 pm 9 Aug 2018 and apartment fire started and destroyed and apartment block near us. I took these images from our lot. Surprisingly, there were no serious injuries.

K-3, hand held at ridiculously low shutter speeds (1/8"), wide open, Green mode ISO 3200.

What nobody has mentioned yet is that these are good images of the action - don't leave much to the imagination.

[Canada_Rockies]

Scary stuff. Looks like the whole thing is going.

Yes, very scary.

Oh my..

What nobody has mentioned yet is that these are good images of the action - don't leave much to the imagination.

The latest investigation suggests that a BBQ tank exploded and started the fire. There is no roof left, but the walls are surprisingly intact. All the windows are gone, covered with plywood.

There was one death, that I suspect was the barbecue operator, but no one else was seriously injured, which says an awful lot for our volunteer fire department (population is ~4,000). I just came back from a long day in the cop shop, and the roof just isn't there at all. The rafters are burnt off in places.

Thanks for the compliment reh321. They were taken hand held with what is probably the worst lens I have for that situation, the DA 55-300 because it was on the camera. Focal length for both was 135mm; the FA 100/2.8 would have given me more shutter speed.

TIPS: I did "spray and pray" with the camera in Green mode. I normally limit ISO to 800, but green mode cranks things up when I don't have the light or the time to adjust things. 1/20@f/4.5, ISO 3200 both is what the K-3 came up with.

My drive default is Hi Speed Continuous and I burst 5-8 shots per press. The first shot often shows motion the third doesn't.

Practice your stance for stability. Use anything you have at hand to lean against. I was standing on the tool box in the back of our 4WD pickup truck to gain some altitude (about 5 feet), with my right hip bone braced against the back of the cab.

I use the first joint of my finger to release, with the pad of the index finger on the camera body past the release. Releasing this way does not move the camera at all because any tendency to jab just doesn't happen. I just straighten the finger to release the shutter.

Breathe in then half out, hold and release.

I find the battery grip adds to the inertia of the camera as well.

Practice, practice, practice and practice some more.

With digital particularly, just keep shooting. The first shot in the sequence was #4412, the last $4537. These two were #4499 and #4537 on the card. There are other in focus shots, but the snorkel with the blue lights on it made the shots for me.