Eurasian Eagle-owl

This summer I have been able to photograph the Eurasian Eagle-owl twice on the west coast of Norway. This is the biggest owl in Europe, and is for many people a mysterious and rare owl, since it is nocturnal.

The usual challenges of night photography are slow shutter speeds, noisy high ISOs, problems with AF and controlling the flash units. But this summer I had less problems after my transition to Nikon. The Nikon D3S camera is totally superior with its high ISO (1600+) and the AF system works with significantly lower lighting than my previous Canon cameras. Another big advantage is the Nikon's flash system. I used two SB-900 flash units powered with SD-9 battery packs (with 8 AA batteries) each. I now have full control of my flash units through the SU-800 wireless speedlight commander unit. With the SU-800 I can fine tune each flash the way I want. As you can see in the images below this setup gave me more control of the lighting, and fast recycle times when shooting 5-6 pictures in a series.

Filmed with Nikon D3S

In flight, Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 VR II, 1/800 sec, f/4.0 and ISO 1600

Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 VR II, 1/100 sec, f/5.0 and ISO 1600

Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 VR II, 1/25 sec, f/3.2 and ISO 2500

Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 VR II, 1/125 sec, f/4.5 and ISO 1250

Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 VR II, 1/320 sec, f/2.8 and ISO 1600

Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 VR II, 1/60 sec, f/3.2 and ISO 2500

OJL

This post is also available in: Norwegian Bokmål