Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Part Scavenger, Mon Jun 05 2006, 02:35AMHow do you guy's take pictures of DRSSTCs? I can't get anything to look better than a "cloud" or just really dark. My arcs look exactly like Steve Ward's on his site, but I can't get them to take. I've had no problem with my SGTC. I wanted to show you guys my new coil, but I can't get any good pics. NOTHING of the banjo effect, and they look about 1/2 as long as they really are.
Ideas?
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Kolas, Mon Jun 05 2006, 02:42AM
digital camera? try speeding up the "shudder" speed, or exposure time
Kolas, Mon Jun 05 2006, 02:42AM
digital camera? try speeding up the "shudder" speed, or exposure time
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Steve Ward, Mon Jun 05 2006, 02:45AM
I usually use about a .5 to 1 second exposure length at 200 or 400 ISO and the lowest fstop my camera will allow (usually around 2.8 or 3.5). You cant let the exposure go too long, or you will just get a bunch of hazy sparks. Also, try to keep ambient light as minimal as possible.
Steve Ward, Mon Jun 05 2006, 02:45AM
I usually use about a .5 to 1 second exposure length at 200 or 400 ISO and the lowest fstop my camera will allow (usually around 2.8 or 3.5). You cant let the exposure go too long, or you will just get a bunch of hazy sparks. Also, try to keep ambient light as minimal as possible.
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
HV Enthusiast, Mon Jun 05 2006, 02:54AM
I generally shoot with a shutter speed of about 1 second and ISO of 100-200 at f/2.8. I keep a small amount of illumination in the room. The key is to experiment with various settings until you get something you like.
HV Enthusiast, Mon Jun 05 2006, 02:54AM
I generally shoot with a shutter speed of about 1 second and ISO of 100-200 at f/2.8. I keep a small amount of illumination in the room. The key is to experiment with various settings until you get something you like.
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Part Scavenger, Mon Jun 05 2006, 02:56AM
Well, I'll try that. Most of the time I've been using fstop the same, ISO the same (tried them all), but I think my exposures have been too long.
Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow if school doesn't get me!
Part Scavenger, Mon Jun 05 2006, 02:56AM
Well, I'll try that. Most of the time I've been using fstop the same, ISO the same (tried them all), but I think my exposures have been too long.
Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow if school doesn't get me!
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Reaching, Mon Jun 05 2006, 09:29AM
you get very interesting spark effects on a picture if you set your camera on a tripod , exposure time up to 15 seconds (of course, the room have to be dark just a dimmed light) and play around with the interrupter , higher and lower the on and off time.
i usually take my pics with 4 seconds exposure and an on time of around 200yS, off time around 5ms, that would give the spark i like
, but you have to play around with settings,lighting,distance,exposure time,shutter speed ,or Av as its known here in germany (usually variable between 2,8 and 7 or more) iso between 50 and 500, for darkish rooms usually between 100 and 200.
if your drsstc picture is too dark you can take a exposure time of around 4 seconds , run your drsstc and switch the light on for a short time (nothing more than a moment, switch on, switch off)with the right cam settings you´ll have a nice background light
with this technique you´ll get pics like this one
Reaching, Mon Jun 05 2006, 09:29AM
you get very interesting spark effects on a picture if you set your camera on a tripod , exposure time up to 15 seconds (of course, the room have to be dark just a dimmed light) and play around with the interrupter , higher and lower the on and off time.
i usually take my pics with 4 seconds exposure and an on time of around 200yS, off time around 5ms, that would give the spark i like
, but you have to play around with settings,lighting,distance,exposure time,shutter speed ,or Av as its known here in germany (usually variable between 2,8 and 7 or more) iso between 50 and 500, for darkish rooms usually between 100 and 200.if your drsstc picture is too dark you can take a exposure time of around 4 seconds , run your drsstc and switch the light on for a short time (nothing more than a moment, switch on, switch off)with the right cam settings you´ll have a nice background light
with this technique you´ll get pics like this one
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
HV Enthusiast, Mon Jun 05 2006, 11:56AM
Nice photo Reaching!
HV Enthusiast, Mon Jun 05 2006, 11:56AM
Nice photo Reaching!
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
McFluffin, Tue Jun 06 2006, 12:02AM
On the same note, how do you guys take digital pictures of tesla coils? My SGTC is driving my camera crazy even from like 6 feet away! Do you always use film cameras?
McFluffin, Tue Jun 06 2006, 12:02AM
On the same note, how do you guys take digital pictures of tesla coils? My SGTC is driving my camera crazy even from like 6 feet away! Do you always use film cameras?
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
HV Enthusiast, Tue Jun 06 2006, 12:28AM
We *ARE* talking about digital cameras.
If your camera isn't working right, then you need to move farther away from your coil.
HV Enthusiast, Tue Jun 06 2006, 12:28AM
We *ARE* talking about digital cameras.
If your camera isn't working right, then you need to move farther away from your coil.
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Desmogod, Tue Jun 06 2006, 01:27AM
I think it might be camera dependant, my Canon G5 has no problems whatsoever with my SSTC's.
I'm sure SGTC's (the spark gap to be more precise) will give off other frequencies that might be detrimental to the operation of your camera.
Desmogod, Tue Jun 06 2006, 01:27AM
McFluffin wrote ...
On the same note, how do you guys take digital pictures of tesla coils? My SGTC is driving my camera crazy even from like 6 feet away! Do you always use film cameras?
On the same note, how do you guys take digital pictures of tesla coils? My SGTC is driving my camera crazy even from like 6 feet away! Do you always use film cameras?
I think it might be camera dependant, my Canon G5 has no problems whatsoever with my SSTC's.
I'm sure SGTC's (the spark gap to be more precise) will give off other frequencies that might be detrimental to the operation of your camera.
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Part Scavenger, Tue Jun 06 2006, 01:55AM
Try putting most of it behind shielding? My little 80W SGTC used to drive digital stuff crazy too, but ironically, I've never had any trouble with my big coils.
Part Scavenger, Tue Jun 06 2006, 01:55AM
Try putting most of it behind shielding? My little 80W SGTC used to drive digital stuff crazy too, but ironically, I've never had any trouble with my big coils.
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Terry Fritz, Tue Jun 06 2006, 02:17AM
Hi,
When you "touch" the shutter button on the camera, "you" might be a giant high voltage "antenna" picking up all kinds of nasty stuff from the coil and transfering it to the camera's electronics....
Try using the shutter timer thing so you do not touch the camera when it takes the picture.
The camera should not be grounded to metal or anything. Just "floating" out there...
If the camera is on and you touch it. A few thousand volts running around on the ICs in it might not "compute" well... The program might be scrambled long before the picture is taken.
Easy just to move it further away and use the zoom
Cheers,
Terry
Terry Fritz, Tue Jun 06 2006, 02:17AM
Hi,
When you "touch" the shutter button on the camera, "you" might be a giant high voltage "antenna" picking up all kinds of nasty stuff from the coil and transfering it to the camera's electronics....
Try using the shutter timer thing so you do not touch the camera when it takes the picture.
The camera should not be grounded to metal or anything. Just "floating" out there...
If the camera is on and you touch it. A few thousand volts running around on the ICs in it might not "compute" well... The program might be scrambled long before the picture is taken.
Easy just to move it further away and use the zoom
Cheers,
Terry
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Steve Conner, Tue Jun 06 2006, 10:57AM
Whenever it comes round to spark photography, I always like to post this pic
I think it's the best spark pic I ever managed.
I used a fancy digital SLR camera set to manual exposure, on a tripod. The shutter speed was about 5 seconds, the aperture was the widest the lens had (about f/3.5) and the camera was probably set to ISO 200 or 400. I find 400 is about right, the higher sensitivities result in a shutter speed that's too fast to capture a decent sized mess of streamers.
The lighting is the yellow sodium street lights filtering in from outside.
To avoid RFI, I press the shutter button and let go the camera before firing the coil.
Steve Conner, Tue Jun 06 2006, 10:57AM
Whenever it comes round to spark photography, I always like to post this pic
I think it's the best spark pic I ever managed.I used a fancy digital SLR camera set to manual exposure, on a tripod. The shutter speed was about 5 seconds, the aperture was the widest the lens had (about f/3.5) and the camera was probably set to ISO 200 or 400. I find 400 is about right, the higher sensitivities result in a shutter speed that's too fast to capture a decent sized mess of streamers.
The lighting is the yellow sodium street lights filtering in from outside.
To avoid RFI, I press the shutter button and let go the camera before firing the coil.
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Dr. Drone, Tue Jun 06 2006, 04:32PM
Dr. Drone, Tue Jun 06 2006, 04:32PM
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Cesiumsponge, Wed Jun 07 2006, 12:57AM
Most normal film SLRs usually have a threaded hole on the shutter release to attach a remote shutter control for taking pictures remotely or using the Bulb function for infinite shutter variability as long as it is depressed (ie astronomy shots). I do not know if they have this feature on digital SLRs but it would definitely be handy if you can find it.
I'd personally suggest shooting with the largest apeture (smallest f-stop number) possible so you can lower your ISO to reduce graininess to a reasonable level (400ISO or lower) and adjust shutter speed as necessary to capture spark density to your liking. I don't think depth-of-field is too big a concern when it comes to trying to capture sparks but you definitely want to maximize what little illumination is available from the streamers.
I have a cheap digital camera because I haven't bothered investing in a digital SLR yet, but I find if you get too close (2 feet or closer), it will go haywire and not do what it is supposed to do. I get an increase in artifacts showing up in images as well, but there are no long term effects as far as I can tell (or care about with this camera).
Cesiumsponge, Wed Jun 07 2006, 12:57AM
Most normal film SLRs usually have a threaded hole on the shutter release to attach a remote shutter control for taking pictures remotely or using the Bulb function for infinite shutter variability as long as it is depressed (ie astronomy shots). I do not know if they have this feature on digital SLRs but it would definitely be handy if you can find it.
I'd personally suggest shooting with the largest apeture (smallest f-stop number) possible so you can lower your ISO to reduce graininess to a reasonable level (400ISO or lower) and adjust shutter speed as necessary to capture spark density to your liking. I don't think depth-of-field is too big a concern when it comes to trying to capture sparks but you definitely want to maximize what little illumination is available from the streamers.
I have a cheap digital camera because I haven't bothered investing in a digital SLR yet, but I find if you get too close (2 feet or closer), it will go haywire and not do what it is supposed to do. I get an increase in artifacts showing up in images as well, but there are no long term effects as far as I can tell (or care about with this camera).
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
Part Scavenger, Wed Jun 07 2006, 02:54AM
MOST digicams do not have the "b-mode", however, the Nikon D-70 does. Drool...
Part Scavenger, Wed Jun 07 2006, 02:54AM
MOST digicams do not have the "b-mode", however, the Nikon D-70 does. Drool...
Re: Taking pictures of DRSSTC's
HV Enthusiast, Wed Jun 07 2006, 11:27AM
With SLRs and lenses of wide aperture (f/2.8 for example), depth of field becomes a real issue, especially for larger coils.
Although, i still shoot most of my stuff (small coils) at f/2.8, for larger coils, i always push to at least f/4 or higher, otherwise, you'll get some arcs in focus and some not.
For point and shoot cameras, its not a problem.
HV Enthusiast, Wed Jun 07 2006, 11:27AM
With SLRs and lenses of wide aperture (f/2.8 for example), depth of field becomes a real issue, especially for larger coils.
Although, i still shoot most of my stuff (small coils) at f/2.8, for larger coils, i always push to at least f/4 or higher, otherwise, you'll get some arcs in focus and some not.
For point and shoot cameras, its not a problem.
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