paradisio

paradisio 10, originally uploaded by gugs.

This bird picture has been shot in Belgium, in Parc Paradisio no very far from a city called Ath. They organize demonstrations with birds of prey, and this has been shot during such a demonstration. Camera was a D200, the lens was a 70-200VR 2.8. Interesting here is that the autofocus mode was group dynamic (a number of sensors activated) around a sensor on the right side to get the bird in focus and the rest out of focus (large aperture used). The DOF (depth of field) is very limited and the camera has been able to track the bird in "continuous" mode. This requires some technique, because if you don't acquire the target properly when the bird starts flying, all your pictures will be out of focus. The very fast ultrasonic focus motor in the lens is of course helping here.