Sequences of salmon leaping Buchanty Spout. Most Taken on 01 October 2026. Camera: Canon R5 mk2. Lens on 01 Oct: Canon EF 70-200 mm f2.8 IS L II. Camera on tripod. Fired by remote release. Set to ‘Pre-Continuous’ at 30 frames per second (fps). AF set to Servo Flexible Zone, with area confined to try to cover the jump ‘arena’. Set to ‘animal detect’. EV comp set to +1. Shutter priority mode at 1/2000 sec.
Shooting at 30 fps, the longest sequences covered around 30 frames, so the longest jumps lasted about one second.
First position was adjacent to the falls, so side-on view of the fish. All jumps right to left across the field of view. Focal length was 70-90 mm. Some cropping involved.
Pre-Continuous function means that you don’t miss a thing. The moment the fish starts to emerge is captured.
A 10/10 scoring salmon to start with…
A lot of fish take off at a bad angle. Instead of heading straight up, they head for the ‘back wall’. They slam into it and fall back into the pool. It might be something about the underwater structure in the pool that causes the misalignment?
Not many doublers this trip…
A cock fish hits the wall. They must do a fair bit of damage to themselves, as you can hear the slap above the roar of the falls.
A cock sea trout…
Another goes into the wall…
A reasonably fresh hen…
The next 2 get it right.
Watch the focus switch from the water close-in to the fish, between frames 4 and 5.
Goes too soon and gives it too much air…
10/10…
Took off too soon…
Hen sea trout…
Another wall-banger…
Brownie?
Some sequences were after a switch of position to upstream, looking downstream, over the lip of the falls. This one used manual focus, pre-focused on a point beyond the lip, so the fish gradually comes through the focal plane…
A doubler, with the second one going way too high, way too early.
A gnarly cock gets it right…
A big hen gets her timing wrong…
An upstream view, using autofocus…
That’s a no…
Manual focus from upstream…
An early take-off and big air, but I think he made it.
Another no…
Another doubler, with one hitting the wall…
Another upstream shot using manual focus…
Went too early…
Another male trout…
An autofocus shot from upstream. AF snaps on between frames 1 and 2 – and doesn’t get folled by the overhanging leaves…
And one from 14 October. A return trip with different lenses and ideas on different approaches to focusing was rather let down by a lack of fish. Only one sequence worth keeping, taken with RF 45 mm f1.2. I mostly used the EF 135 mm f2. The conclusion was that adding more focal length, and so reducing the field of view at close range, reduces success rate with AF tracking. The 45 mm lens didn’t do any better, so it may be that a larger field of view results in the camera struggling to pick out relaitvely distant objects. Maybe 70-90 mm is the sweet zone for AF?
Two examples of when the autoficus managed to snap onto the target and achieve focus between frames 1 and 2 – in 1/30 sec!
