Cheetah on the Serengeti Plains
Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 03:40PM 
Cheetah on the Serengeti Plains
Canon 5D Mark II, 600mm f/4, 1/800 @ f/4, ISO 50
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. March 2010
As many readers of this blog may already know, 1) I don't shoot with Canon gear any longer, and 2) didn't even take a digital camera with me to Tanzania last month. So let me explain the image above. We were out on a morning game drive, and we came across this cheetah mother on the open plains. One of my generous travelers, Ben, quickly loaned me his 600mm lens on a 5D Mark II camera body, as he had a great opportunity to photograph the above female as she was moving her week-old cubs by her mouth. The 600mm was waaaaaaay too much lens for this, as she was passing only a few meters in front of our vehicle. The 'real' shot of this type of behavior was with his 100-400mm lens, and I just took his 600mm lens in the hope that she would get up on a termite mound at some point. Well, she certainly did it for me, and I ripped off a couple of quick shots. I haven't written about this before, but none of my 6x24cm panorama film worked out. It is a long and heartbreaking story for me, but the short story is that there must have been some damage to the helical focusing mechanism during transport to Africa. So at the end of my 3 weeks of safari in Tanzania I only ended up with 1 photograph that I will be able to show. I kind of have to laugh about it, because I know that I am out on safari so often that it doesn't really matter. It would massively upset me if I only go on safari once in a lifetime.
So here you have it: a cheetah on a termite mound, taken with somebody else's camera. I do have a ton of video from the safari, though. Maybe I should learn how to use Final Cut Pro.
Cheetah, Serengeti, Tanzania, safari in Photo of the Day
Reader Comments (11)
Great shot Andy. My favorite African animal is the cheetah and I secretly hope to return once with you on safari and nail an image of a mother cheetah standing on a termite mound with a couple of cubs tucked under her at sunset. That's probably a cliche shot but I haven't taken it yet. :) So sorry to hear about the film camera failure. But you have the right perspective. As Steve Kossack always said about his photos - "I can make more".
Fantastic shot Andy! Sorry to hear your panoramics didn't work out. Will you fix it and try again?
Thanks, guys. I am not sure if I am going to try more panoramas. My camera is a pretty darned good camera, but I may opt for a Fuji 6x17 outfit on my next attempt. Who know, maybe medium format digital is next.
Heya Andy
That's heartbreaking about the camera. I was so looking forward to seeing images from it.
The above is a great shot.
Andy, I'd love to see some of the video once you've edited. Re: the cheetah image, How do you think the 5D mkII faired in comparison to image quality/noise on the old 1Ds MkIII you had in the past?
Andy,
I have been visiting your blog everyday in hope that I would see some images taken with your 6x24 pano. I am sorry that it did not work out for you and your correct in saying that if it was your first visit it would be a devastating experience. I do have to say that the one shot you came back with is a keeper. Not many people can go to Africa and come back with just ONE impressive image.
Look forward to your HD videos!
So...what are you shooting with now? I know you tried Sony, but get the feeling you went back to Nikon.
Mark, I shoot with Nikon gear. I only had some Sony equipment on loan for my Namibia trip in May of 2009. I have a small Nikon kit for my wildlife trips: D700 and D300 cameras, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR and a 200-400mm f/4 lens. 1.4x teleconverter if needed. I do have a few other lenses, but I don't really need them on my wildlife safaris.
Andy, any particular reason why you don't shoot with Canon gear any longer?
Bummer Andy was looking forward to seeing the panos.... Cracking shot with borrowed gear.
Sure hope it wasn't the 6x24 300 lens mount, lol. Did you check the 3 little screws that allow you to set the infinity focus? Mine came lose once and the focus ring shifted about an inch from infinity and ruined a couple of rolls. Hope all is well,
Bill