Missed opertunity

[mugge]

We were walking around Melbourne Botanic Gardens when we encountered a large group of people with cameras at the ready loudly cheering somebody. Suddenly one of those buggies went past us quite slowly. On the back of the buggy not more than 3m away facing yours truly with camera firmly off and camera cap on, was Novak Djokovic with his newly claimed Australian Open trophy in his lap.

I repeat: yours truly with camera off and lens cap on facing Novak Djokovic 3m away with his newly acquired Australian Open Trophy in his lap. ZZZZZZZZ

[mugge]

We were walking around Melbourne Botanic Gardens when we encountered a large group of people with cameras at the ready loudly cheering somebody. Suddenly one of those buggies went past us quite slowly. On the back of the buggy not more than 3m away facing yours truly with camera firmly off and camera cap on, was Novak Djokovic with his newly claimed Australian Open trophy in his lap.

I repeat: yours truly with camera off and lens cap on facing Novak Djokovic 3m away with his newly acquired Australian Open Trophy in his lap. ZZZZZZZZ

If I only could spell ZZZZZZZ

[William W]

When you're out and about, it's worthwhile considering leaving your camera "ON" all the time and lens cap off, lens hood on.

Many cameras have an Auto Power "OFF" selection, (to save power), typically I have mine set for about 1 minute: typically a cameras wake up from Auto Power OFF, in milliseconds, if any button or dial is moved.

In your Fuji it probably will be in "Power Options" menu, which, I think, is under the "Spanner" icon.

WW

[george013]

When you're out and about, it's worthwhile considering leaving your camera "ON" all the time and lens cap off, lens hood on.

Many cameras have an Auto Power "OFF" selection, (to save power), typically I have mine set for about 1 minute: typically a cameras wake up from Auto Power OFF, in milliseconds, if any button or dial is moved.

In your Fuji it probably will be in "Power Options" menu, which, I think, is under the "Spanner" icon.

WW

I never switch my camera off. When I'm finished I only put the lens cap on it. Sometimes they're laying at home for weeks with power on.

George

[Tronhard]

When I was living in Victoria, BC I woke up early one morning to the news that there was a mountain lion on the loose a couple of blocks from where I lived. Now that exact location was at the southern end of Victoria, which is the Capital of BC and is highly urbanized. Deer would make their way into the city following green areas and eating people's flowers, and cougars would occasionally follow them on the hunt. Often they did not stray anything like as afar as this time, but they would get stuck on the peninsula and could not get out.



Needless to say I was up and out of bed like a rocket, grabbing the first two cameras that I had - Canon DSLRs with a 18-135 and a 100-400 lens. I joined the hunt which was taken up by conservation officers carrying tranquilizer guns:

Police Officers armed with Glock 9mm handguns and assault rifles:

And the usual ever-increasing media scrum.


Eventually they thought they had the poor thing cornered, and three officers went cautiously down the side of a house, only to have the cougar (which was almost 2m long) fly between them to escape.


They all rushed to where the cougar seemed to have sought sanctuary, but I realized it was somewhere else from the agitated behaviour a bunch of crows, so I broke from the pack and headed towards that. At the same time I was changing from my telephoto camera to the other. Being uber-careful I had put my lens cap on the long lens, and switched off the camera, but had not yet done the reverse with the other unit when the cougar came loping across the road, barely 5m in front of me... and I had my LENS CAPS ON AND CAMERAS TURNED OFF!!!!

Eventually the poor animal was tranquilized and finally shipped to an area of forest well outside the city.

[Cantab]

Trevor, a great piece of photo journalism! And you lived to tell the tale!

There haven’t been any recent cougar sightings but in the warm weather last summer we had a couple of deer that occasionally rested in the shade in the backyard — without browsing on too many garden plants.

[rpcrowe]

I have missed some photo opportunities in my lifetime and I try ("TRY" is the operative word) to have my camera ready at all times... That means having a general purpose lens on the camera, a charged battery and memory card inserted and if I am not actively photographing, I try to keep the camera on ISO 400 and Programmed exposure.

With the above settings, I have the best chance of grabbing the camera and snatching a quick shot that will be decently exposed.

HOWEVER, the other day I was playing with a Samsung 12mm f/2 lens on my Sony A6500. When I saw two of our rescue dogs in a very compromising position after they shredded a couple of dog beds, I raced for the office to grab my camera and then I leaned over the 1/2 door to get a low shot of the two dogs. I forgot that the lens was manual focus and I was lucky to get this shot as well focused as it was... It wasn't us!