New Year Report

Well I nearly photographed a fox last night. I was at the rear of the garden when the young male fox appeared over the garden fence. Quick as a flash I got my new camera out, pointed the lens and… aaargh.. it wouldn't focus, when the flash fired it failed to light the shot, and I ended up with three very out of focus images with about half a fox in each. This is the best of them.

I checked later and realized that (a) I was trying to auto focus but had the lens on manual, and (b) I had the wrong ISO setting so the flash didn't stand a chance anyway. I need to practise.

One of the problems is that the auto-focus assist beam is a brief burst of flash. I'd turned it off because in very poor light it is more like a millennium light show, and the auto-focus still hunts against broken backgrounds. The options are manual focusing (fine if there's enough light so I can see), or – as I discovered tonight with a few test shots – a small flashlight on the target works a treat. Near the house the auto focus should be ok on its own as there's sufficient ambient light for it to work. At least I think so… I could do with a fox showing up to help test it out.

Meanwhile I've been testing out other of the camera's capabilities on more predictable targets, so expect some landscape/plant images. They'll be in a new album called Flora, and another for more abstract shots. And the Flying album (birds) is growing slowly and may need some sorting out before it gets too crowded. The latest addition is this shot of a stonechat which I took today on the Downs. There are also some landscapes from today in the South Downs album.

Which finally – in a very roundabout way – gets me back to foxes. On the way back from the Downs I stopped off to post a letter. Just as I was pulling away in the car, I noticed a fox lingering by some gardens. I pulled in and grabbed a couple of shots through the car windscreen before it trotted away. Not one of 'our' foxes, but it was the first shot I've managed 'in the wild' (well in the local side streets). Its brush doesn't look in the best of shape, but otherwise it looked in reasonable health.