Egret At Barefoot Landing

[Speed]

Went to Myrtle Beach the weekend of the 7th - 9th, and while there I went to Barefoot Landing. I dropped off the lovely wife and daughter and my mother, then I got out the D200 with the 80-200mm f2.8 and went looking for birds.

The first thing I found was another Nikon shooter. He had a D2H and an 80-400mm VR, which he let me try.

The first bird I shot, I only got one frame of it, and it was gone. I think it's a Bittern, but I'm not sure.

The next shot was taken with the 80-400mm VR on my D200. The third shot is a crop of the second shot.

The last shot is the Egret again, only we thought it was getting ready to take off. Neither of us noticed the slight tilt to the head.....

[Speed]

The last shot is the Egret again, only we thought it was getting ready to take off. Neither of us noticed the slight tilt to the head.....

So, thinking the egret was getting ready to fly off, I set the D200 to shoot to Continuous High, read 5 fps. What Moose Peterson refers to as Astro Blast. Imagine my surprise when it's head shot into the water. I pressed the shutter release as soon as I saw it move, and as the photo's show, it's head was already in the water when the first frame was captured. So what you see here, are the egret pulling it's head out of the water, at five frames per second.

[Speed]

Here are the last two frames of the egret pulling it's head out of the water. I fired six frames of it catching lunch.

The guy beside me, (did I mention he was shooting a D2H?) commented that he was shooting single frame while my camera was buzzing.

:-D

The final frame is a crop showing the egret's lunch.

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE my D200?

[drg]

Wonderful egret pictures. I'd say that Nikon is treating you well!

[Kokopeli]

Fantastic series Speed. It looks like the D200 is worth it's price.

And 5fps?? Not too shabby!

[Old Timer]

Nice series Speed. The D200 is high on my list but as you know form your own experience delayed gratification has its merits.

[julsoph]

Love the shot with the fish!!!

Emily

[Speed]

Wonderful egret pictures. I'd say that Nikon is treating you well!

Oh yes, the D200 is treating me very well. I am loving it. What is killing me, is shooting 200+ photo's in a weekend, and it takes me a week to sort through them!

:-O

Thanks for the comments!

[Speed]

Fantastic series Speed. It looks like the D200 is worth it's price.

And 5fps?? Not too shabby!

It is worth every penny my friend!

"And 5fps?? Not too shabby!"

My F5 will shoot 7.4 fps with AA batteries (it will shoot 8 fps with the NiMH battery pack), but a 36 exposure roll goes quick at that rate. Five fps is quick enough for me, and as you see, it catches the action. IF the photographer does his part.

;-)

Thank you for the kind words my friend!

[Old Timer]

Oh yes, the D200 is treating me very well. I am loving it. What is killing me, is shooting 200+ photo's in a weekend, and it takes me a week to sort through them!

:-O

Thanks for the comments!

You will develop a system for doing it very quickly. With ball games I would shot 300 or 400 a night than come in and go through them and get 100 or so of them up on my web site for sale by the next morning. Takes some getting use to but you'll do it.

[Speed]

Nice series Speed. The D200 is high on my list but as you know form your own experience delayed gratification has its merits.

I know. I wanted one for some time, and actually got it sooner than I expected. (Got to LOVE my wife!!!)

:-D

It IS worth the wait my friend! Thank you for the comments buddy!

[Speed]

Thank you Emily!

I'm glad you liked it.

:-D

[Speed]

You will develop a system for doing it very quickly. With ball games I would shot 300 or 400 a night than come in and go through them and get 100 or so of them up on my web site for sale by the next morning. Takes some getting use to but you'll do it.

I'm sure hoping so. When I get my Media Machine, I expect that processing will speed up considerably. For now I'm using my work computer in the morning/afternoon before/after work. I have a Pentium III, 733 MH processor, with 256 MB of RAM. The Media Machine has a Pentium 4, 3.2 GH processor and a gig of SRAM. I expect things to go a LOT faster.

:-D

[paulnj]

The top image is a least bittern.

[Speed]

The top image is a least bittern.

So I was right about it being a bittern!

:-D