A quick burst of activity

The lions of Werribee Open Range Zoo aren’t always particularly active. It may be partly because they get fed regularly, it may be because they don’t get to hunt. I like to photograph them, anyway, because there is a fascination in a 100kg predator with agility, strength, and an impressive arsenal of claws and fangs.

This is part of an ongoing review of the Sony A1 camera, in this case affirming the ability of the camera to capture a sequence of images in focus at high speed.

This juvenile lion (still showing traces of her baby spots on her belly and legs) felt like a bit of activity and burst into a run. I wasn’t expecting that, so please forgive the mis-framing of the first few images. It’s impressive to see her bounding along, and if you look closely you can see the dirt she has kicked into the air.

This sequence shot with the Sony 135mm GM lens on a Sony A1, at ISO 100 f/1.8 at shutter speeds from 1/1000 to 1/800. These are consecutive images shot at 20 frames per second, so you can tell that she was moving quickly. These images are not cropped, but they are scaled to allow the page to display quickly.