[crewl1]

Photographs found in his camera revealed that White was watching the bear for at least eight minutes near a river before the attack.

Hiker photographs bear just before fatal grizzly attack - CNN.com
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-08-25/grizzy-bear-maul-denali-alaska/57322384/1

[ChooseAName]

I don't know if this is bad or what, but when I heard about this, I found myself wondering what gear he had. (probably would've benefited him to have had a longer lens)

[Lowell Goudge]

one would think from the exif data, and image size on the frame, they could tell how far away he was. Obviously too close, but was he stupid close, or just unlucky?

[crewl1]

The hiker was backpacking alone along the Toklat River on Friday afternoon when he came within 50 yards of the bear, far closer than the quarter-mile of separation required by park rules, officials said.

Had to be horribly scary when he realized he was going to be killed, I feel bad for his family.

The thing is, according to the park training even if he found it by accident you are supposed to slowly back away - but instead he stayed to get the perfect shot.

[ducdao]

My condoleances to the hiker family and also the bear...yes the bear killed the human but what do you expect as that's his animal instinct when it probably felt threatened by the camera pointing at him and he is within his natural territory.

This is sad for both the hiker and the animal.

[crewl1]

According to the report the bear was hungry too.

[lammie200]

one would think from the exif data, and image size on the frame, they could tell how far away he was. Obviously too close, but was he stupid close, or just unlucky?

Apparently he was 50 yards away, as opposed to the park regulation of being a quarter mile away. This incident and the one where the bride drowned in a river wearing her wedding dress take things to a new Darwin Awards low. Very unfortunate.

[jogiba]

Some idiot posted "I guess he didn't have a zoom lens." Most long lenses are prime lenses and the 200-600mm F5.6 FA Pentax is about as long as most AF zoom lens get from a camera company. The biggest APO camera lens made that I know of is a 564 lb 1700mm F4.0 Zeiss.

[crewl1]

Some idiot posted "I guess he didn't have a zoom lens." Most long lenses are prime lenses and the 200-600mm F5.6 FA Pentax is about as long as most AF zoom lens get from a camera company. The biggest APO camera lens made that I know of is a 564 lb 1700mm F4.0 Zeiss.

Me thinks this is definitely one situation where a Pentax Q plus telephoto K lens would come in handy.

[Lowell Goudge]

Apparently he was 50 yards away, as opposed to the park regulation of being a quarter mile away. This incident and the one where the bride drowned in a river wearing her wedding dress take things to a new Darwin Awards low. Very unfortunate.

years ago (don't know if true or not) a park ranger told me a story of someone using food to lure a black bear into the car beside his wife so he could get a photo of it.

i guess the old saying is right. Intelligence is a constant, the population is growing

[Vylen]

Apparently he was 50 yards away, as opposed to the park regulation of being a quarter mile away. This incident and the one where the bride drowned in a river wearing her wedding dress take things to a new Darwin Awards low. Very unfortunate.

I personally wouldn't categorise this as the same as the bride drowning - the latter is really an unfortunate accident in a somewhat common scenario. There are a fair amount of in-the-river photos but very few deaths it would seem.

[jogiba]

Me thinks this is definitely one situation where a Pentax Q plus telephoto K lens would come in handy.

I agree, with 5.5x crop factor and still have 12.4mp to work with sure beats cropping an image from a larger sensor to get a very high magnification.

[kxr4trids]

what? nothing about K-x shutter slap yet?

[crewl1]

I agree, with 5.5x crop factor and still have 12.4mp to work with sure beats cropping an image from a larger sensor to get a very high magnification.

Not to mention getting a nice head start when that bear comes chasing you.

[lammie200]

I personally wouldn't categorise this as the same as the bride drowning - the latter is really an unfortunate accident in a somewhat common scenario. There are a fair amount of in-the-river photos but very few deaths it would seem.

I think both were unfortunate accidents. However, swimming necessitates swimwear, not bridal wear. Not the safest of all judgements for wading into a river and deciding to go into deeper water. Getting close to a bear that is foraging for food. Again, not the safest judgement. I do feel sorry for those involved, but both rank high on the idiot meter for me.

P.S. This is coming from a man that spent an extra hour up on his roof yesterday because the wind blew over my ladder while I was up there. Thanks to a neighbor for seeing my predicament!