[Pollinator] Tips for filming bumble bee flight, foraging, grooming in the wild

[Jeffrey D Karron]

Hi Everyone:

I recently produced a 9 minute Youtube video that uses extensive slow motion cinematography to capture several species of Bombus in flight, foraging for nectar on Pedicularis and Lithospermum, buzz pollinating Primula meadia flowers, grooming pollen and searching for nest sites.

Here is a link to the video in case you haven't seen it   https://youtu.be/fQsnPAWQqcI

Several researchers 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.

My students and 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.

Our 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 we 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 at uwm.edu
Www.karronlab.com<http://www.karronlab.com/>


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