A very lazy squirrel and camera suggestion
We have seen squirrels running around in the trees in our garden for several years now, always on the move, jumping from branch to branch or running across our lawn. But the other day I looked up into our cherry tree and saw this little fellow just hanging out on a branch, doing nothing in particular, just enjoying the sun! I ran (quietly not to disturb the squirrel of course...) inside the house and grabbed my camera and managed to snap a few shots of the little sunbather before he decided that he wanted some more cherries and disappeared into the foliage. I have never seen that kind of behavior in a squirrel before, he was quite exposed for predators where he lay on the branch. We have a rising number of predatory birds in the area and he probably looked rather delicious in their eyes! Well, that day he was lucky and no one spotted him but me and I only hunt with my camera!
Speaking of which, my camera is an old Fujifilm Finepix HS10 bridge camera and the picture of the squirrel was taken with aperture f/5.6, shutter 1/350s, focal length 126mm and at ISO200.
I have started looking for a replacement camera, does anyone have a suggestion for which camera is suitable for the occasional photographer? Until now I have only had bridge cameras with fixed optics and I have been happy with these, but to be able to change the lens to suit the situation is something that I might be ready to explore. I like to take landscape photographs as well as macro and of course pictures of my family and of our dog!
Please write a comment with your suggestion and the main reason for your pick, if it is an interchangeable lens camera please include which lens you would recommend to start with!
My little man would have loved to have seen something like that! We have seen several baby squirrels in our neighborhood this week, and I've never seen a baby squirrel before! So cute when they chatter, too. Thanks for sharing!
Yes the baby squirrels are so fun to watch when they rush around chasing each other in the trees and chattering a lot at the same time!
We didn't know what we were hearing at first until I spotted the little guy in the tree before us. They sound so different than adult squirrels!
Yes it's more like a bird chirp!
Oh my gosh, how adorable! That is definitely a lazy little squirrel. LOL I've never actually seen a red squirrel except in photos. I've seen gray, brown, and black ones.
Sorry, I'm no help when it comes to cameras. I have a Canon PowerShot that's collecting dust.
Here in Sweden we only have small, red squirrels, but when I visited my sister in North Carolina I had a chance to see your grey squirrels, they are really big!
The first time I saw a black squirrel I thought my mind was playing tricks on me! Our Florida squirrels are small and skinny compared to the cute, chubby ones from upstate New York.
Well, love the picture! Reminds me of the (very hot!) summers from the years I lived in Texas... on some of our super hot afternoons, the squirrels would just lay down like that and "hang" till it got cooler.
My camera is a Fuji Finepix HS20 EXR... it's pretty old but still does what I need it to... but not really current technology.
Thank you! The picture is taken in the afternoon, maybe the squirrels like their siesta too? ;-) It wasn't warm by Texan standards, around 20-23C I think.
I think that your camera is the successor to mine, maybe I should just look into what Fujifilm has to offer in their recent models since both you and I are happy with our older models!
Like many of us, I just think squirrels like to nap on warm days.
This is my third Fuji camera... the older two are still working, but simply started to get obsolete. Mostly my requirements for upgrading has been a desire for stronger/better zoom capabilities-- I like to shoot birds and butterflies and other insects "at some distance." Next upgrade I'll be looking for 80x or 100x optical zoom... once they perfect the glass for that.
That is what I like about the bridge cameras as well, the long zoom! You never need to worry if you are getting close enough, just zoom in! What I would like in my next camera is better image stabilization at the longest zoom settings, my current camera starts to get shaky at full zoom. And of course a better image sensor, my current one is just 8Mpix...