This article shares a complete 15 frame Pro Capture H image run of a dragonfly landing at 1120 mm equivalent field-of-view. All photographs were captured handheld using an E-M1X fitted with an M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS and M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter fully extended.

One of the benefits of photographing action using a fast frame rate of 60 frames per second is the ability to capture a good range of incremental subject movements. This allows us to get a better selection of potentially useable photographs. It also allows us to examine body and wing positions in more detail.

When using Pro Capture H with an Olympus camera there is also a challenge since the first frame of the image run locks focus and exposure. This means that depending on the angle at which the subject is approaching the camera, and the original focusing point used, some images may not be in focus.

The 15 consecutive photographs of a dragonfly landing that follow illustrate both the benefits and challenges of using Pro Capture H. To give the photographs some context is it important that I state that my original focusing point was the tip of the leaf that appears in the series of images. Full frame captures are displayed to give readers a good idea on how this series of photographs was planned and composed.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

As you examine the first two images in this dragonfly landing series you’ll notice that the subject dragonfly is out of focus. As the dragonfly banks in towards the tip of the leaf it enters into my pre-focused zone.

This series of 15 consecutive images of a dragonfly landing was captured in a total of 1/4 of a second. I used my standard Pro Capture H settings with Pre Shutter Frames and Frame Limiter both set at 15. This means that all of the photographs in this article were stored in temporary memory and were not written to my memory card until I fully depressed my shutter release.

In this case, I fully depressed my shutter release once the dragonfly had actually landed on the tip of the leaf… i.e. the last frame in the series. No additional photographs were created after I fully depressed my shutter release.

As stated in many previous articles, each of us should buy and use whatever camera gear best meets our specific needs. Every piece of camera gear comes with advantages and trade-offs.

Being able to capture this series of 15 consecutive images of a dragonfly landing at 1120 mm efov handheld was made possible because of the Pro Capture H technology, size/weight, and equivalent field-of-view of my camera gear. From my perspective having this capability is exponentially more important for my style of photography than having a bit more sensor performance or resolution from a larger sensor camera system.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process. This is the 1,044th article published on this website since its original inception.

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