jadewolf
Well-known member
Fin Whales off Long Beach, California.
First time taking the Z9 whale watching. And it's been since before the pandemic since the last time I went whale watching at all, so it's possible I'm just out of practice. But this was probably the first time I've had the Z9's autofocus struggle significantly.
Afternoon sunlight on the water had it hunting for focus a lot. I definitely missed some better shots of surfacing whales while the focus got lost. Was primarily using Wide-Area Large, but would switch to 3D tracking or single-point and not see much improvement in the hunting either. Would have it prefocused where I expected the whale to surface, but as soon as the whale began to appear and I went to snap, the focus would jump. It would usually catch the whale once more of it was above the surface and then the focus was pretty true, but the hunting usually caused me to miss the blow as they exhaled.
To be fair, fin whales aren't very showy subjects and are only up for a few seconds to breathe before dipping back under. They don't usually show their flukes, even when diving, they aren't acrobatic like humpbacks, and they don't spend a lot of time at the surface like greys.
I'll probably go back out in a month or so when the greys come through, so we'll see if I can do better with the Z9 then.
It's always a joy to see these guys, though. Fin whales are the second largest whales on earth and are just incredible to see up close.
I like the first photo out of this set best, I think. Getting the anchored container ship in the background highlights the sort of things these animals have to deal with in their environment, with boat strikes being one of the leading man-made causes of death for whales today.
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First time taking the Z9 whale watching. And it's been since before the pandemic since the last time I went whale watching at all, so it's possible I'm just out of practice. But this was probably the first time I've had the Z9's autofocus struggle significantly.
Afternoon sunlight on the water had it hunting for focus a lot. I definitely missed some better shots of surfacing whales while the focus got lost. Was primarily using Wide-Area Large, but would switch to 3D tracking or single-point and not see much improvement in the hunting either. Would have it prefocused where I expected the whale to surface, but as soon as the whale began to appear and I went to snap, the focus would jump. It would usually catch the whale once more of it was above the surface and then the focus was pretty true, but the hunting usually caused me to miss the blow as they exhaled.
To be fair, fin whales aren't very showy subjects and are only up for a few seconds to breathe before dipping back under. They don't usually show their flukes, even when diving, they aren't acrobatic like humpbacks, and they don't spend a lot of time at the surface like greys.
I'll probably go back out in a month or so when the greys come through, so we'll see if I can do better with the Z9 then.
It's always a joy to see these guys, though. Fin whales are the second largest whales on earth and are just incredible to see up close.
I like the first photo out of this set best, I think. Getting the anchored container ship in the background highlights the sort of things these animals have to deal with in their environment, with boat strikes being one of the leading man-made causes of death for whales today.
