Butterflies in Flight Part 1 (Dainty Swallowtail)

JeanPierre Martel wrote:

vass wrote:

My question is about the EXIF. I'm taking the photo above as an example but I could have chosen any other ones.

The EXIF says that the photo was taken at 1/3200. This is likely since the butterfly seems 'frozen', suspended in the air.

The aperture is F/6,3. Since the whole butterfly is in focus, with a focal length of 210mm, that's likely when it's at a distance of about 4 meters or more. OK that's fine. No problem.

But you were able to get an ISO as low as 800 when the speed was that fast. Was this butterfly shot during a very, very bright day or is there a mistake in the EXIF ?

When I shot at butterfly, I'm using an aperture of F/5,6 (about the same as yours). My focal length is always 60mm since the M.Zuiko 60mm is my favourite one for butterflies.

But to get a low ISO, my speed has to be as low as 1/125 sec while you were able to shoot at 1/3200 sec (25 times faster). I have to say that I shot butterfly inside greenhouses during winter while you live in Australia, during summertime. So your sun is a lot more powerful than mine.

So while I admire your skill and envy these wonderful shots, I just want to be sure that I can trust the EXIF that I'm seeing.

The EXIF is correct on everything but 1hr off on the time taken due to me never changing the camera time for daylight savings. Normal late afternoon sun behind me. Was actually a day half cloudy and sunny at times but obviously the sun was out for this one.