Grizzly bear spring cub
by Mark ~ October 16th, 2009. Filed under: Destinations, nature photography, wildlife.
Grizzly cub
Another high ISO image here, ISO 2500, not necessarily used for a high action moment, but simply because of fairly low light. Shot at 400mm at f4, even at ISO 2500 my shutter speed was only 1/200 sec. This cute little guy was also scratching quite a bit. At 100%, you can see the reason why – tiny black flies buzzing all around – so, no – they are not dust spots. 
It is another reason why, despite the loss of the crop factor, the D700 trumped my D2X performance nearly every single time. At ISO2500, a D2X file would simply have been unusable and scrapped. Here – I didn’t even use any noise cleanup in post processing with the D700.
This is a cute little spring cub. We saw both spring cubs and yearlings around Katmai. Of course the spring cubs rarely strayed far from mom, and attracted a blast of shutter fire in moments like these. It wasn’t often where they seemed quite content to pose and just look like rolly polly fluff balls. This aside from the fact of being covered in sand, salmon guts, and black flies – but cute nonetheless. Take one look at the claws even on the cubs, and they don’t look so huggable anymore.
Hope no one is tired of bears yet. 
October 17th, 2009 at
Mark, here’s one vote for certainly not being tired of bear photos! If you didn’t tell it was at ISO 2500 I’d never have known. The Nikon 200-400mm certainly seemed to do the job for you. At 400mm it appears to be tack sharp, at least in the center, I can’t tell about the edges in this shot.
The cubs cute–except for the salmon guts and black flies parts.
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Mark Reply:
October 17th, 2009 at
Earl – there are flies on the edges that are sharp, just hard to see them here.
The 200-400 was an ideal lens here, even if a bit short on reach at times.
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October 17th, 2009 at
Nice! You can see how people forget the nice cuddly bears can rip you open without effort… (I used to live in black bear country, where people would go feed the bears at the dump for fun. I think that practice has been outlawed now, though…)
Are you a little sensitized to dust spots now? ;^D
I need to try some high-ISO shots with the 5Dii to see how it holds up – I haven’t even tried ISO 2500. The D700 seems to handle it with ease!
- Jack
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October 17th, 2009 at
Cute!
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October 17th, 2009 at
Oh my gosh…..that is just adorable. Too cute!
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October 17th, 2009 at
Hey Mark,
Yes, the cubs tend to grab the attention from the photographers, don’t they? They sure are pretty darned cute.
I really agree with comments about the high ISO .. my D300s, while not comparable to the D700, was much better than my D2x would’ve been .. but I often wished I’d bought the D700 over the D300s, just for more shutter speed and less noise. Now, next year when I’m hiking in the backcountry and can’t get close to anything that moves, I’ll be glad I have the crop f actor of the D300s.
Any thoughts on how the files of the d700 compare to the D2x at low ISO of a similar subject, etc? I like the D300s, but I do think the D2x files are a little nicer, straight out of the camera.
Cheers
Carl
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Mark Reply:
October 17th, 2009 at
Hey Carl,
At low ISOs, although they are close, I still prefer the D700 files simply because of the expanded dynamic range, a bit more “fidelity” if there is such a measure with pixels. In an evenly lit situation – perhaps not much difference at all. But in more contrasty, dynamic light – the edge goes to the D700.
Still, I was shooting with both cameras, and the D2X is still plenty capable of some awesome stuff as you know.
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October 17th, 2009 at
Hey Jack,
In reference to the 5D MkII … I was out with a fellow this September, shooting for a week, and he has the MkII .. he said the high ISO is awesome on it, very usable at 2500.
Cheers
Carl
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Jack Johnson Reply:
October 17th, 2009 at
Hey, Carl –
Cool – I’ll have to try it out… Can’t let the Nikonians have all the fun! ;^D
- Jack
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October 17th, 2009 at
I think this lil’ guy was posing for you. He’s adorable, but I’d be more than happy to keep my distance with those lovely claws, and um…the flies. I’m amazed at the clarity with the high ISO.
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Mark Reply:
October 17th, 2009 at
Thanks Amber. I wish I had used ISO2500 for so many earlier shots. I would have saved a lot due to sharpness issues.
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October 17th, 2009 at
I am convinced that you had all these animals hynotized. The expressions are priceless and here is another that is head and shoulders above most bear photos I have seen. Admittedly, I am not a bear photo expert. Still, your pictures all show so much of the animals’ “personality”. The richness of detail in this photo is quite impressive. The 200-400mm certainly does an outstanding job.
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Mark Reply:
October 17th, 2009 at
Thank you Anita for the kind words. Their personalities do begin to show the more time you spend with them – behavior traits, expressions…
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October 17th, 2009 at
Fantastic shot, Mark. I thought that this little fella was quite cute, cuddly, and all teddy bear-like, until I looked at those daggers that he had on his paws. It appears that they come fully equipped! Ouch!!! As for the salmon guts and black flies, you can keep ‘em! How did you deal with all of the flies. I’m sure that they were interested on you as well.
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Mark Reply:
October 17th, 2009 at
Hey Paul, thanks. The flies became annoying at times, so a little bug spray was necessary on occasion. I was really hoping that September in Alaska would have had some freezes by then to kill them off, but no such luck.
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October 17th, 2009 at
Incredible shots Mark, we can talk techs all day but it was your eye that nailed these shots, and no camera can replace that !!
Beautiful work !!
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October 18th, 2009 at
Never tire of bears and particularly when captured like this. Beautiful image, Mark. And even moreso given the high ISO. I’m a Canon shooter and have been using the crop cameras (30D/50D) particularly because I have done a lot of birds in the past. But more and more, I am thinking about a 5DII or 1D3.
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October 19th, 2009 at
oh Mark – he’s adorable (from a distance so you dont notice the guts)! Great capture.
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October 19th, 2009 at
Tire of bears? Surely you jest! Loving these shots & completely envying you your certainly wonderful experiences!
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October 19th, 2009 at
Thanks a lot folks.
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October 21st, 2009 at
This guy is so CUTE!!! Those eyes……..
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October 22nd, 2009 at
I never get tired of bears! Especially those adorable cubs!! Keep ‘em coming!
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