Hi Everyone. I recently produced a 9 min video that uses extensive slow motion cinematography to capture several bumblebee species in flight, foraging,
grooming pollen, mating, and searching for nest sites, all filmed in a high quality
wet-mesic prairie that is a National Natural Monument.
Here is a link in case you haven’t seen it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQsnPAWQqcI
Several people have asked me to describe how I captured such high
resolution macro video at ¼ normal speed. Here is a brief summary, but feel
free to email me if you have additional questions. This same approach will work for most flying insects.
I shoot video with the Canon Full Frame R5 mirrorless camera.
This camera produces very high quality 4k video at 120 fps. Since I present
the video using the “US standard” 30 fps, this is ¼ normal speed.
Most closeups were shot at 400 mm with Canon’s RF 100-400 mm telephoto zoom
lens. I shoot with a telephoto lens, rather than a macro lens, so that I can
capture images of bees visiting flowers 3-4 meters away. The 4k video is so
detailed that I can further crop the image to provide an even narrower field
of view. So I typically do 30-50% video crops using Powerdirector 365
software to fill the frame with bee and flower.
My study site is ½ mile from Lake Michigan, and there is always at least a 10
mph wind. Fortunately the R5 camera has outstanding in-camera stabilization,
ensuring smooth telephoto video. We shoot most of our video handheld, but
sometimes use a monopod on very windy days.
One thing I do a bit differently than most people shooting slow motion video
is that we use a shutter speed of 1/1000th sec to minimize motion blur. Thats
why you can see the bumble bee wings flapping so clearly.
Sincerely,
Jeff Karron
Professor of Biology
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
karron@uwm.edu