A Quick Try with the Sigma 60-600 Sports and the Canon R6 MkII

[Tronhard]

As is usually the case, I went to my favourite haunt, the zoo, and dodged some heavy showers as I went between locations and shelters.  As always the images were hand-held in available light.

I went around the circuit in the opposite direction to normal, so came across giraffes getting their early morning feed, and was lucky enough to encounter a female with her young.

600mm, f/6.3, 1/640sec, ISO-1000

Next on the agenda were the three female lions that were hanging out together.  I was surprised that one of them looked quite aggressive, pacing along the water moat that separated humans from lions.  They all seemed quite intense in their gaze.  For the following images I must have inadvertently nudged the ISO from Auto to 100, because the shutter speeds dropped dramatically!

600mm, f.6.6, 1/80sec, ISO-100   369mm, f.6.3, 1/60sec, ISO-100

475mm, f/6.3, 1/60sec, ISO-100

Then I realized what they were getting excited about.  They had spotted a herd of Nyala antelope, including a couple of young, in the enclosure on the other side of the path.

244mm, f/5.6, 1/40sec, ISO-100   348mm, f/6.3, 1/30sec, ISO-100

Moving to the NZ bird section, I was able to shelter in an enclosure during a particular drenching and caught a glimpse of the super rare Takahe, of which there are barely 350 left in the world.  It is a lowland dweller in the glacial valleys from our South Island and efforts are being made to restore the numbers up north in Auckland on protected island reserves and ship breeding pairs down south.  Luckily I had realized about the ISO issue and got it back on Auto again!

475mm, f/6.3, 1/320sec, ISO-6400

The biggest exposure challenge of the day was in the very dark reptile hut, which is dimly lit from filtered overhead lighting. This was a big challenge, especially to get far enough back to focus, shooting through glass.  This is the Elegant Green Gecko (AKA, Auckland Green Gecko):

244mm, f/6.3, 1/400sec, ISO-2500

By now the rain was becoming more frequent, and I swung by the tiger enclosure in the hope of seeing one of these elusive creatures.  There are two, a male and female and they were put together during the week for breeding, but on this occasion they were in different zones.  This is, I believe, the female.  Taken obliquely through thick glass.

388mm, f/6.3, 1/40sec, ISO-100

At this point the heavens opened up, so I went home!

[ata]

Hello Trevor,

İt looks like you had a great day, the photos are beautiful.Good results as the lions are still, despite the low shutter speed.👍

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers, ATA

[Tronhard]

Hi ATA:

Thank you for your kind comments.  Yep, the ISO at 100 was a bit of a mistake, but the camera and a steady hand got me out of it.

[shadowsports]

@Trevor,

Per usual > your images could be in a store for sale 💰

[Tronhard]

Thank you Rick.  I like to shoot the same subjects in comparing the performance of different lens/body combinations.  So far still not pulsing issues, but I did get a couple where the camera could not focus on anything at all, and then I realized I was too close and breached the minimum focus distance.  In particularly heavy downpours the camera/lens combo had some focusing issues, but the rain was sheeting down, so not a condition I would normally choose to shoot in with a super telephoto!

[Tintype_18]

I see you are posting more outstanding zoo photos. My thought is you have "captive" subjects with each visit and photo shoot is different. We have a zoo in Chattanooga, Tennessee that is about 35-40 minutes away. Knoxville, Tennessee has another. Thanks for adding your settings for us amateurs.

[Tronhard]

Well, of course shooting animals in their natural habitats is different, I did that for decades around the world!

I would like to be out in the wild shooting these animals, but I am in NZ and can't travel because of my heart condition, and here there there are only birds in the wild, so the zoo is the go-to place if one wants something bigger and more exotic. 

That said, these animals in this environment present their own challenges.  Unlike many zoos these animals have relatively large enclosures that echo their natural environments, so they can often disappear into that.  They do not display to order and there are many times the don't put in an appearance - in the case of the tigers I didn't see one for over two months!  Then there are the human devices to keep them in or feed them, including fences, columns, grubby glass and food bags  - which I go out of my way to avoid, and that can be very challenging. Finally, there are other humans.  Human children, and some adults, are incredibly noisy and some animals just don't like that - the male orang is a particular point in case: when there are screaming kids he will back off and hide.