Pet photos without flash

[queenbee288]

I have new a95 and i have been playing around with the settings experimenting you might say. I am trying to find settings that will let me take pics of my cat indoors without flash becuase she gets yellow eyes that are impossible for me to get rid of. If I up the iso the noise is so bad that the pic is useless.
Any suggestions?

Thanks

[F1_Fan]

Tape a piece of white card onto the camera at 45° that bounces the flash up to the ceiling. I used to do this with my 300D until I got an external flash that tilts.

[queenbee288]

Thanks, that is a good idea. I will give it a try. Unfortunately the flash on the a95 is not very strong but I will give it a try .

[Don Schaeffer]

Get a slave flash. You can buy a trigger bubble for about $25 and a cheap flash like a low end Vivitar for another $25 or so.

--Don

[shimonmor]

Another way to get around the problem is to increase the lights in the room as much as possible so that the pupils (I think it's the pupils) contract. Make sure red eye reduction is on (it does a pre-flash to contract the pupils). Or you can try to get your cat's eyes at angle so she is not looking directly at the camera so you don't the light reflected back at you which causes the green/yellow (red in people) eyes in animals.

And another method is to use an off camera flash that is triggered by your flash (I think it's called a slave?) and have your flash on the camera trigger it (using a card...similar to the suggestion above). The farther the flash is from the lens, the less likely to get red eye. That's why you see pros at weddings with flashes on a bracket high and to one side from the lens.

[F1_Fan]

Get a slave flash. You can buy a trigger bubble for about $25 and a cheap flash like a low end Vivitar for another $25 or so.

Unless the A95 is like other Canon's and emits a pre-flash for exposure... then the slave flash thing becomes much trickier. Also A95 doesn't have a hot-shoe which limits options such as a remote flash trigger.

[Pugdaddy]

I own an A75 and the flash sucks. If your a little too close it's too bright and if your a little too far away it's not bright enough. I was snooping around Steves Digicam and came upon an inexpensive slave flash that he recommends. It's called a Quanteray MS-1 and he says it sells for about $20 at Ritz. He recommends using a couple of them. They run on 2 AAA batteries.I'm gonna get over to my local Wolf's and check them out within the next couple of weeks. Anyone here ever try these?

As far as the pre-flash, the A75 shoots a seperate orange light for focus and redeye, almost like a laser, so I think it will work OK.

[queenbee288]

Thanks guys for the input. You are right F1_Fan, the a95 doesnt have a hotshoe. After lurking around here for a few days, I know know all the features I want on my NEXT camera. The a95 is my LEARNING camera.