What type of shutter speed are you using? My first guess
would be to use a slow shutter speed. This is assuming
you can change the shutter speed with the 8700 of course

It is not unusual phenonenon that is visible to the eye does not record on film or a digital sensor. The latter has a more restricted sensitivity range. For instance DayGlo paint or fabric dye will usually not record photographically the same as it appears to the eye, nor do some flower colors like California Lupin, which apparently contains a fluorescent coloration, does not photograph with the same color reproduced as you see. I have photographed in the desert a lot and saw many heat mirages, and it was rare that the effect recorded on film the way it looked to the eye, like a lake. The only times I got the effect on film to look like what I saw was using a Polarizer filter and very carefully adjusting the angle rotation of the filter.

Mr. Brooks,

Thanks for the information.... you can imagine how frustrated I was becoming! I always enjoy reading your posts!!

Brian Schletty
World Traveler

Have you thought about setting the camera on auto bracketing to see if one exposure can capture the lighting better than the other exposures. If it's a common event, spend one day shooting different exposures and then the next day different angles to capture the scene artistically.

IMO the reason you are having a problem is that you are trying to capture a "moving subject" with a still camera. What you see with your eyes is the changing refraction of light as it passes through the heat waves. However the actual amount of "displacement" of detail behind the heat waves is small enough that it does not show up as a sufficently distorted subject. This is the kind of image that is probably best captured with a video camera.

You can think of this as similar to trying to photograph a stone on the bottom of a creekbed. As you stand there looking down at the stone the moving water seems to alter its shape - it will ripple as the water flows. But when you take a still picture, the stone is recorded in the "shape" at that instant - you can't tell that its perceived shape was different a moment before or a moment after.

Good luck,
Richard Baker