is the stamp fast as a flash of lightning???
this may sound a little out there?? i have been takeing lightning pictures and use a canon elan 7e and a remote shutter release to take the pictures and the % of good pictures(lightning bolts in the picture)is about 1-3% for 5 rolls of film.if i shoot about 100 shots than im doing good if i get 3-6 pictures with lightning and out· of 6 only 1-2 may be very clear and good. what im looking to build is a electronic shutter release that works off the very bright flash of the bolt itself??i dont know if a photo eye would be quick to pick up the flash and cause it to close a circut to cause the camera to take the picture??it can be set on different fireing modes like the brightness of the flash or the length of the flash far as how long it is in time wise. the delay between it picking up the flash to closeing the shutter would have to be very fast .25ms or faster.. if you have any ideas or know something that could help let me know and i also have t basic stamps that are ready to build on.. Thanks for any help or ideas.Steven
· you can e-mail me at· propwash79@aol.com······ p.s when i get my scanner up and running i will post some of the best pictures for you all to enjoy!!!
· you can e-mail me at· propwash79@aol.com······ p.s when i get my scanner up and running i will post some of the best pictures for you all to enjoy!!!
Comments
Some of the best lightning pics I have seen are taken by time-lapse photograpy ...
You might try it...
Bob
Darn cool shots of lighting on this site and how to take the pictures as well.
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Think outside the BOX!
This may work for you if there are more than one strike after another....
If you have an ion detector
Nevertheless, I have a feeling that others go through a lot of film to get those "really cool" pics of lightning!
On a side note: do you use any filters for the flash? I'd read that some ppl use "tropical" filters to reduce the amount of glare! I've also seen guys take off their sunglasses and put one lens over the camera lens!
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Steve
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."
The SX28 will do this much faster in Assembler [noparse][[/noparse]25-50 times, I guess] because it can detect just the leading edge of the pulse AND it does NOT have to convert the code to PBasic.
Regardless of using the BS2p or the SX28, you would likely have to use a really goood quality photo diode for quick response over the visual range: One that is intended for 'light meter' type use. And since it outputs mere microamps, that would require some amplification via an OP AMP, possibly some filtering via another OP AMP stage, and finally conversion to a digital trigger pulse. It might be best to put your 'trigger' at the bottom of a tube so that it could be aimed to trigger only within the field of the camera lens.
Having gotten all that to trigger your shutter in a wink, you still have to consider the local light polution, the mechanical delay involved, the speed of the film, the appperture, and the length of the exposure to get it right. After all, it isn't just electronics - it is photography. And with photography, a truly superb shoot may be a matter of just dumb luck.
It would be nice to automate everything. While I love the photos, I have my doubts about standing atop high places in lightning storms. It reminds me too much of the German couple that photographed active volcanos. They became world famous. And then, they managed to get blown up.
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"If you want more fiber, eat the package.· Not enough?· Eat the manual."········
Post Edited (Kramer) : 8/3/2006 3:19:50 PM GMT
Direct photography of cloud-ground lightning strokes is difficult because the first stroke is so fast, typically less than
200 microseconds. However, you may be able to catch one of the subsequent strokes. Typically there are 3-4 subsequent
strokes, at 40 millisecond intervals.
In practice, a photodiode could be used to catch the first stroke and trigger the camera. Your Canon Elan 7e has a shutter
lag of about 160 milliseconds, which means that you just might catch some of the old-channel stroke(s).
Actually, time lapse photography is much easier and produces spectacular results. It just wastes a little film.
Good luck.
Dave G
of course some people are just die hard film guys!
Rick
What about the idea of having the Stamp watch for a strike via some light sense circuit, then telling the camera shoot to X number of bulb exposures in a row via the PC sync. If no more strikes during that "round" it stops at a specified number of shots until it sees another strike at some point, then, it initiates another round (2 or 3 shots in a row per round?). At best you would capture a second or third strike, but not likely the first one unless it is a long one. What I am wondering is, what about overlapping strikes? Is that a bad thing for a shot to have multiples in a frame? If there was a method to remotely cancel the bulb shot in progress, you could count strikes in the Stamp from the sensor, and start a new shot at X subsequesnt strike while in a current exposure. Some experimentation with this method might allow for less overlapping of strikes in one shot, if desired that is.
I "think" the PC sync is a logic high 5V, which would make the Stamp easily suitable for triggering. You could have the program count to 30 or 60 seconds after a start trigger to the camera, with the Stamp looking for new strikes in the background and making decisions from there.
Just a thougt.
You might take a look at this link. Your camera is listed.
http://www.lightningtrigger.com/
Dave G