Black cats are difficult to photograph inside. Invariably, the best “poses” or activities happen in the places with poor lighting. Dougy is just enough darker than Andy that my little point-and-shoot Nikon Coolpix S100 poops out a flash in places it’d go for natural light with Andy.
As a result, Dougy is more camera-shy than his brother: He hates that flash. Can’t blame him!
That’s a typical flash photo of Dougy. It takes a moment for the camera’s capacitor (I guess it is) to build up power for a flash, and Dougy almost always beats the flash by closing his eyes!
Flash in the eyes, Dougy took off. So I attempted telephoto shots.
Ugh!
Yes, in all instances, he anticipated the flash, turned away, then ran away.
Later in the day, he came under my computer desk to see me. I got a chance, finally, to get a decent photo of Dougy where there was lots of light coming in from the back door.
Of course, when I tripped the shutter, I wiggled the camera enough for a blurry photo that Photoshopping can’t improve. Rats!
But I didn’t know that at the time. I got one photo of Dougy. The flash didn’t go off. He didn’t run away! And I got two more photos of him.
Fair, but I would have liked less “profile” and for “head on”.
Oh well. Here’s my usual result when I take Dougy’s photo! It isn’t easy photographing black cats.
No it is not easy photographing our black kitties.
Ali comes out looking like a gray and red head a lot of the times.
Yep! Exactly the same here!
Ok, isn’t it time to invest in a better camera? Like a Nikon D3100 or D3200? Cheap and anti shake, with the fastest sensor on the market so they will never have a chance to close their eyes. Mind you the shots are cute anyway,
I’ve given it thought, and, as a retiree, I need to keep cost in mind. (I have Nikon cameras from my army days that would be perfect if they were digital, but I don’t use them because prints and negatives add to clutter in the house.) Anyway, I’ll take a look at those two cameras and see if they are a possibility.
I bought the Nikon 3100, for the horse shows, I was covering on Back Home in Bromont at Future shop. It was $300.00 Now it’s my favorite camera. They come with an excelent 18 to 55MM lens, I added a 200MM lens. (You don’t need it) but what I love about it, for the cats especially, you have a rapid fire button, (8 frames a second) so you get at least one good shot. Plus the anti shake, so I can pan while they are running by!
All my film cameras are on display on my top shelf
🙂
Oh no! I have “new camera lust” now! I took a look at the two models you mention. When I got my Nikon FTN in 1970, I had one lens – a telephoto lens – I think an 85mm f/2.5 or some such – too lazy to dig it out of the closet just now! I used that one lens for everything for several months until I could afford the next lens, and so on. Little by little, I acquired a nice assortment of lenses and a second body (Nikon F2). If those old Nikkor lenses fit the Nikon 3100 or Nikon 3200, that would be a selling point, though I know they’d lack certain capabilities, much like the same lenses on the F2 didn’t work to set the shutter speed, though that wasn’t an issue since I had a light meter I used in my military work with an Arriflex mopic camera. I pretty much had a feel for the capabilities of different films and speeds, so took photos without too much effort or bracketed shots when I wanted to be extra sure I liked the end result.
That said, I have an account that I never think about because I rarely take money out of it for any reason – the last time was four or so years ago after the late Louie stepped on the viewing screen of the Nikon S70 I had been using, pretty much rendering it a piece of scrap unless I wanted to put ridiculous money and time into repairing it. He was a heavy cat! I think I may just rob that account of the price of a new camera. The Nikon 3200 looked like what I would like best of different ones I saw that didn’t come at professional cost. Nice but not too pricey for someone who makes photos and videos on a regular basis. Plus I think it handles old Nikkor lenses, if I read correctly.