The camera is left open for a few seconds in semi-darkness and the flash
is fired directly by the gadget.
The flash I'm using is the Nikon SB800 and at 1/128 power the flash
duration is 0.000024 sec (Give or take a hour or two....) Because of its
thyristor circuitry it has no fall-off curve - the light is cut off
abruptly.
Here's a chart of flash durations at the different power settings
1/1050 sec. at M1/1 (full) output
1/1100 sec. at M1/2 output
1/2700 sec. at M1/4 output
1/5900 sec. at M1/8 output
1/10900 sec. at M1/16 output
1/17800 sec. at M1/32 output
1/32300 sec. at M1/64 output
1/41600 sec. at M1/128 output
Now the gadget is not triggered by sound or light etc. The moment of
flash-fire is determined by the position of the hammer/knife/blunt
object that's doing the dirty work of
smashing/stabbing/piercing/bludgeoning the subject matter.
So I set the sledge-hammer to fire the flash when it's 20mm from a hard
surface. I then put a ripe tomato on the hard surface,open the camera
and whack the tomato... The flash goes off when the hammer is almost all
the way through the tomato - very juicy!
Herschel
On 12/30/11 1:00 AM, Trevor Cunningham wrote:
Neat gadgets. Just wondering, how fast should flash units and shutter
be for droplet images and things like, say, a shattering glass object?
I don't doubt the units' ability to trigger quickly, but what about
gear response?
On 12/30/11 5:18 AM, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
On 2011-12-29 07:37, Herschel Mair wrote:
For those of you that know me well, You'll remember a time when I was
photographing bursting balloons and hammers smashing light bulbs etc.
using a device made from a clothespin and thumbtacks!
Well I've launched a project on Kickstarter.com to try and get funding
for making the device commercially.
Please watch the video and check out the pics at:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1286916869/zapshooter?ref=email
<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1286916869/zapshooter?ref=email>
and PLEASE pass this link on to anyone interested in photography or
science
Drat the timing; I'm expecting my <http://triggertrap.com/> device in
February at this point, which I'm afraid means I'm not likely to be
supporting your project significantly (spent that piece of the budget).
Apparently it's steam-engine time. I've been sort-of looking for
commercial devices in this space for decades, and in the last about
three years I've found the Camera Axe, Trigger Trap, and now yours.
