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Photographing A Harpy Eagle + Canon 800mm f/5.6 lens review and Live View Focusing Technique
Harpy Eagles are the AH-64 Apache gunship helicopters of the jungle:
- Stalking the Shadows – Harpy eagles fly below the canopy in the dense shadowy forest hunting for sloths and monkeys.
- High-Speed Flight – A harpy eagle can reach speeds of over 50mph while attacking prey in a dive.
- Vertical Flight Capabilities – They have short, broad wings and can fly almost straight up, too, so it can attack prey from below as well as above.
- Advanced Target Acquisition – A Harpy eagle can turn its head upside down to get a better look at its potential meal. They also have excellent vision and can see something less than 1 inch (2 centimeters) in size from almost 220 yards (200 meters) away.
- Serious Weapons – Harpy Eagles have huge talons. Their rear talons can reach over 5 inches long – the same size as a grizzly bear’s claws!
- How rare are harpy eagles? I don’t really know but they are pretty damn rare and seeing a chick in the wild is almost impossible.
Canon 800mm f/5.6 IS USM Super Telephoto Lens (Photograph and Live View Focusing Technique)
I have a Canon 800mm f/5.6 and take it everywhere with me. The lens weighs almost 10 lbs so it can be a little difficult hiking with it in the jungle but it’s totally worth it when I get a good shot.
Here is why I love my 800 (Photograph and Live View Focusing Technique):
- Largest Lens That Canon Makes: That’s cool.
- Fluorite Lens Elements: This lens is really really sharp. I think that it could be the sharpest lens that I have ever used. The reason for this is two fluorite lens elements, one UD element, and one Super-UD-glass element. This makes for outstanding correction of chromatic aberrations and extreme contrast and sharpness.
- Magnesium Alloy Construction – I constantly bang my cameras and lenses into trees while walking in the jungle. This lens takes all the punishment and keeps ongoing. One time I slipped and fell and slammed the lens onto some rocks and it didn’t break. It also has weather-resistant gaskets that really come in handy in the rain.
- Image Stabilization: The lens is image stabilized, providing up to 4 stops of correction for camera shake. Now, even though I shoot from a tripod the image stabilization help steady the image when shooting at extremely high magnifications like when I shoot with a crop sensor (1280mm) or with a 2x Teleconverter (2560mm)
Photographing The Rings On Saturn: This lens is so awesome you can take a picture of the rings on Saturn with it. Also, on a clear night you can see the banded clouds on Jupiter and some of its moons.
Photography Technique:
A lot of people ask me about the camera settings that I use. Here is what I do:
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- Aperture Priority: Aperture priority, often abbreviated A or Av (for aperture value) on a camera mode dial, is a setting on some cameras that allows the user to choose a specific aperture value while the camera selects a shutter speed to match, thereby ensuring proper exposure.
- Aperture – I use the camera in Aperture Priority mode. I set and leave the aperture value. I set the Av to f/5.6 and never move it. I do this because I want to get as much light as possible into the camera. The lighter the camera gets the quicker the shutter speed can be. The quicker the shutter speed is the less chance of a blurry image.
Also…
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- ISO – I set and leave the ISO – I normally set the ISO to 800 when I start shooting. In very basic terms, ISO is the level of sensitivity of your camera to available light. The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive it is to the light, while a higher ISO number increases the sensitivity of your camera. I increase the ISO in order to reduce the shutter speed. Again, the quicker the shutter speed is the less chance of a blurry image.
- Shutter Speed – When you are shooting in Aperture priority the camera automatically chooses the shutter speed. To make sure that the settings are correct I use something called the reciprocal rule. The basics of this rule state that if you’re hand-holding your camera, your shutter speed should not be slower than the reciprocal of your effective focal length in order to avoid “camera shake,” i.e. the blur that results from any slight movement of the camera during the capture of the image. I shoot off a tripod but I use long focal length lenses that are susceptible to any little shake or vibration so I still think that this is a pretty good rule of thumb.
Live View Focusing
I also use something called “Live View Focusing” to get perfect focus and sharp images:
- Live View and Zoom: I set the lens to manual focus and switch the camera into live view mode. I then zoom into the image and manually focus on the eye or beak of the bird.
- Focus on the catch light: For super sharp focus I focus on the reflection (sometimes called “Catchlight”) in the eye of the bird.
- Timer Mode: I switch the camera’s shutter release mode into the two-second timer. This way I won’t be touching the camera when the photo is taken. This reduces camera shake and vibration. You can also use a cable release to take the photo as well. Using this technique can make the images a lot sharper. It’s good to note that this focusing technique can also be used for macro photography. I use it all the time when I’m taking pictures of bugs.
So that’s how it’s done, folks. I hope that this article and video helped a little bit and gave you some ideas to try out and let me know how you like using the Live View Focusing Technique. I think that it’s pretty cool. I’m going to start making more videos and writing more articles so stay tuned. I put some more pictures that I took on the trip below. – Jeff
Trogon
Aracari in Tambopata
Slug Moth Caterpillar
Hunting Spider
Juvenile Cara Cara
Titi Monkey
Giant River Otter
Stink bug
Vulture
Yellow-crowned parrot
Spectacled Caiman
Hoatzin
By Jeff Cremer
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What our guest say
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- Valuation Excellent
- 5/5
Jacob Shama May 2024
Yaacov May 2024
secaBoulder May 2024
Cecilia D May 2024
Andrea Breanna Apr 2024
A user Apr 2024
Niko Dietsch Apr 2024
Yuting C Apr 2024
Yuting Chen Apr 2024
Víctor Moscoso Apr 2024
Ari S March 2024
Dreamer627120 March 2024
The lodge is located in the middle of the forest accessible only by boat. The experience was very unique and exciting. Service is great, and the fun part are the nature activities and tours the hotel offers for free. We had an amazing tour guide that had a lot of knowledge and was fun to spend time with. The rooms are totally open to the forest which is really cool the struggle is the there is no privacy at all in between the rooms, also food was pretty basic. All together a very unique experience. Read all
This hotel is the perfect blend of comfort and hospitality, with the natural experience. The hotel is reached by a hours boat ride from Puerto Maldonado, expertly organized and accomplished. Most staff are members of the local Esa Ejja community. The food is good and plentiful. Hot water is always available and lovely bedding features mosquito nets. There is of course no air conditioning (one side wall is open in rach room) and the electricity is off for a few hours at night affecting overhead fans, so I was glad to have brought a small battery powered fan for sleeping. But the best of the experience is the wildlife. Our expert guide Oscar Mishaja introduced us to nearly 100 bird species, along with caimans, river otters, poison dart frogs and capybara. A trip of a lifetime. Read all
Excellent experience overall— really kind and welcoming staff at every point of the journey. All transfers were well organized and smooth. Excellent and educational excursions all around the rainforest. Delicious food for every meal. We had wonderful guides- Freet and Alvaro. Enjoyed our time here! Read all
Unbelievable.... Magical Everything I have dreamed of since I was 8 years old but MORE Read all
We had a surreal experience at Refugio Amazonas. From the well organized transportation to the warm welcome, hospitality and the experience of living in nature - we loved it all. Huge shout out to our guide Boris who went out of his way to ensure we had a good experience and got to watch all kinds of wild life. The meals and cocktails were delicious. And even though this place is smack in the middle of the jungle there was super fast WiFi available. We made unforgettable memories. Read all
We had an amazing time in TRC. From the guide, tours, lounge staff, food and room, everything has exceeded our expectation and like an amazing dream came true. We highly recommend to directly book with the lounge website, so that you got a private guide for your group. Special thanks to our guide Saul, who made this experience extra special! We were so impressed by his knowledge about all the animals and the rainforest. Read all
We had an amazing time in TRC. From the guide, tours, lounge staff, food and room, everything has exceeded our expectation and like an amazing dream came true. This is the only lounge available in Tambopata national park, and this eco lounge takes environment seriously. We highly recommend to directly book with the lounge website, so that you got a private guide for your group. Special thanks to our guide Saul, who made this experience extra special! We were so impressed by his knowledge about all the animals and the rainforest. If you are a natural lover, you can’t miss this place Read all
Excellent and luxurious place, wonderful experience and our guide Boris was first class, he had a unique patience with my 8 year old son. An experience in the tropical rainforest that marks the life of its visitors. In addition to the scientific research that takes place in the place: a whole research center. Rooms: Very comfortable and luxuriou Read all
El mejor hotel para visitar la Amazonia peruana. Hotel eco turístico metido en medio de la selva, equipado para visitar y vivir la selva, su flora y fauna, en todas sus facetas. Todo incluido, con guías preparados y amables, resultó una experiencia increíble para mi familia. Dentro de las opciones no se debe perder el Canopy de 45 metros de altura para observar y escuchar la selva, así como el lago de las tres Chimbadas, lugar único para ver caimanes, nutrias gigantes, monos y aves exóticas. Recomiendo mínimo dos noches!!! Read all
Wunderbare lodge mit freundlichen Menschen. sehr persönliche guides, tolle Tourangebote und super kulinarische Verpflegung ! Wir wurden herzlichst von Caesar empfangen und unser guide JuanJo hat uns phantastische Dinge gezeigt. Wir können die lodge nur wärmstens empfehlen! Read all
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