{
  "id": 16480104,
  "title": "Still a great camera, Sony A9's power and precision capture a kingfisher with freshly caught fish",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/25/still-a-great-camera-sony-a9s-power-and-precision-capture-a",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-25T09:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Digital Camera World",
    "slug": "digital-camera-world",
    "url": "https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/photography/nature-and-wildlife-photography/still-a-great-camera-sony-a9s-power-and-precision-capture-a-kingfisher-with-freshly-caught-fish"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Amateur photographer Dave Newman captured a stunning image of a kingfisher emerging from water with a freshly caught fish, published in Digital Camera World magazine. In this scene, the bird freezes in mid-air, showcasing its hunting precision and power. Dave Newman used a Sony A9 camera with a Sony FE 400mm GM f/2.8 OSS lens and settings of 1/8,000 sec at f/2.8, ISO 800, and -0.3 exposure compensation to freeze the water droplets and the bird's motion.\n\nThe photo's impact comes from the kingfisher's head tilted slightly to the side, which adds an engaging element to the image. The fast shutter speed allowed every droplet of water to be frozen, creating an interesting shape; however, the ISO had to be increased to 800, resulting in minimal noise that was later corrected in software. The wide-open aperture of f/2.8 ensured the bird was the focus, while the background consisted of soft, muted colors.\n\nAlthough the trade-off of using a fast shutter speed was an increased ISO, the resulting image highlights the bird's hunting skill and timing, as well as the dramatic beauty of its everyday survival instincts. While a narrower aperture could have achieved more depth of field, it would have impacted either the shutter speed or the ISO. The vertical composition could also have emphasized the bird's upward movement, but shooting in landscape orientation proved to be the better option to capture the bird in the frame.",
  "summary": "Released in 2017, the A9's sticky subject tracking and blistering burst rate helped Dave Newman bag his \"best-ever\" kingfisher shot",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}