Finally...

[pxl8]

After many attempts I finally managed to get a hoverfly in flight. I spent a lot of time practising manual focusing at speed, usually on hoverflies that had settled. Then it was a case of waiting for one to come into the available focus range, track and focus, cross my fingers and fire away.

Paid off in the end :D

[Ikinaa]

Cool shot...

What's the size of the hoverfly? like a bee? 1-1.5 cm?

Patience you got, my friend...

[Agger]

Lovely pictures:cool: very nice I know how difficult it is to get something like this, many wasted hours go into capturing shots like these, well done

[Leorooster]

Well done. It is indeed very difficult to catch an in-flight hover fly.

[pxl8]

Think I've got the hang of this now.. just shot a dozen or so frames with about 80% in focus :eek:

Here's some of the best...

[Ballen Photo]

These look really GOOD! :D
-Bruce

[WepWaWep]

Bravo! What else can I say?

[Bald Eagle]

Excellent work, and great patience as well. it paid off very well. great shots.

[altranet0]

possibly the best hover fly shots i've seen. very nice buddy

[Dragonslayer]

Very nice work here and it looks like you studied them and learned how they behave and made correct adjustments in your shooting style here, Nice series of shot here and great work with the exposure here and capturing some wonderful shots.

[pxl8]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

I have to say that the working distance and range of the 75-300 with a 36mm tube helped my efforts greatly. For each attempt I started with the focus ring in the middle and changed focal length to get close near to the right focal distance. Fine tuning the focus was then a matter of tracking the blurred fly as I tweaked.

Andy

[BearLeeAlive]

Those look great. I have never seen one 'hover' for more than a second or so, not long enough for me to get a shot.

[pxl8]

Those look great. I have never seen one 'hover' for more than a second or so, not long enough for me to get a shot.

I know what you mean, every time I see one hovering fairly static it's moved by the time I've lifted the camera. But they tend to drift from one place to the next. The track and tweak method I was using works best if I get focus as they pause again. I can get one shot off, tweak, shoot, tweak, shoot... where'd he go? :lol:

[remo]

Great shots. I'm sure it takes a lot of practice.

[dancinec]

Great series of shots. Perhaps the hoverflies in the UK move more slowly than those in the colonies.

[chemicalbro]

fantastic shots.......... i've tried a few times to catch a hoverfly on the wing.i can sympathise with your predicament.............. the fact that you even got 1 of these remotely in focus is amazing,,,,,,,, but a dozen ....damn :)

[amitnike]

am speeech lessss.. awesome shots