Thursday, April 24, 2008

A Flea and a Cat's Eye

As I have said before I started out my love for photography 45 years ago with a 4x5 Graflex camera about the size and weight of a house. So indulge me as I marvel about the things a reasonably inexpensive digital camera can do these day.

Visa, my cat, came and sat in my lap the other day while I was fiddling with my Sony Digital Camera. So I took some pictures of her eyes. If you think that is easy to get a cat to let you do that, try it.
As I was petting on her I noticed that she had brought in a flea from the outside. So I caught it and killed it and of course I photographed it. 20 years ago I would have to have used different, film, lenses, and extension rings and filters and a tripod to take these pictures. Today I just adjust a couple of settings and click away. Gee, I wonder what I can do with a camera in another 45 years? Maybe we can replicate the object completely and pass it around then.

6 comments:

Kirsten said...

Am incredibly impressed that your cat let you get that close! Nice shot.

My dad's old Nikon had several lenses, none of which I was allowed to touch -- let alone switch out -- until I was in high school. When he actually let me borrow the whole set for my photography class in college, I was flabbergasted! Still have my 35mm Canon on a closet shelf, only because I kinda want to set up a B&W darkroom one of these days. Assuming the materials are all still being made....

BB-Idaho said...

According to old Jonathan,
"The Vermin only teaze and pinch Their Foes superior by an Inch. So Nat'ralists observe, a Flea Hath smaller Fleas that on him prey, And these have smaller Fleas to bite 'em, And so proceed ad infinitum."
[1733 Swift Poems II. 651]
..which, I suppose, will require
another set of lenses....

drlobojo said...

bb they have "critter-cams" these days. Maybe some day soon, there will be a "flea-cam".

kristen, I still have most of my old cameras except for those too valuable to keep. Along the way the Graflex, the dual lens reflex, and a under water Nikon, were sold for income. All of my B&W printing and Slide processing stuff have gone away as well. Best way to get access to a B&W photo lab is to join a consortium or group of people supporting one. All B&W is based on silver chemistry. Silver is expensive.

I remember makeing as many as 20 prints in order to get the one I wanted. All that silver down the drain and into the trash can. I wonder if it will leach out of the land fills into new silver deposits some day. I remember a guy in Toykyo that developed some prints once using water from their river.

BB-Idaho said...

Doubt you will have to wait another 45 years to create an object from a photo:
http://www.howtoweb.com/cgi-bin/insider.pl?zone=1204061
..elsewhere there are places that
convert archtectural photos into
3D models, but I think CNC tooling
is involved.

Anonymous said...

Joe, that is an impressive camera if you didn't have to do any work to photograph that flea. What camera is it?
Tasha

drlobojo said...

Tasha it is a Sony DSC-H7. It is now an older model.