I wondered if maybe somebody dropped it or something? No scratches or any dings, etc? Maybe it just needs a smarter user?...idk. dang.
I wasn't going to say anything in the other thread about other's suggestions, especially since you jumped on it so quickly, but a new point and shoot could be had for around $100. It will have less features in some ways, and less manual settings, but also have higher megapixels (Which can be very misleading, so isn't really a good indicator, but still) and some newer technology and features that can prove useful.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B5HE3IW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
I don't even use my point and shoot anymore now that Smartphones can take such great photos. This was with my LG G3
Yeah, I need to read more. Didn't think it was 10 years old, dammit. My Vivitar is about that old. I def have trouble with this half press stuff...idk?
Seems like the flash speeds up the shutter enough for better focus, like Passedpawn alluded to earlier. DOHY!
What happens, if you are close enough and the flash has enough power, is that the camera knows it will have plenty of light and stops the lens way down. With the short focal lengths that go with these 1/3" sensors that means lots of depth of field. You don't have to focus. You almost have a pinhole camera. In fact you (or the firmware in the camera) has to be careful that it doesn't stop down to the point where blur is more from diffraction than circles of confusion.
The shutter speed is sort of moot in these modes. The shutter is opened, the flash fires and the camera measures the light returned from the subject. When it determines that enough light has come back from the subject for a good exposure it crowbars the flash lamp and closes the shutter. If you are close to the subject and it reflects a lot this can happen very quickly.
In addition, the duration of a strobe is something like 1/10,000 second, provides the majority of light for your exposure, and effectively freezes any motion that could otherwise have blurred the image.
Mine has a scale for certain adjustments, the flash being one of them when I turn the dial from "auto" to "P". The scale goes "+" or "-" a couple numbers with lines in between. Kinda cryptic & didn't get the camera user's guide?
Just for giggles I took an old Mecablitz flash that lets me dial in the power I want from 1/16 of the max the unit can do to full power. At 1/16 the flash lasted 440 uSec (1/2272th sec). At full power the duration was more like 4 ms(1/250th) of a second but, interstingly enough most of the light is delivered in the first half. The cap is obviously being nearly fully discharged in this case and light output drops as the voltage decreases.
I found an old Cannon Elf in a drawer. If that thing's battery will hold any charge I see if I can get the flash duration on it.
The Elf battery did indeed take charge but the flash is too puny to trigger my photo detector which is a back biased LED except when very close (a couple of feet at most). The flash duration is, of course, going to be very short at that range. It in fact lasts about 30 usec (1/33,000th sec). Obviously your hands can be as shaky as the US economy and you'll still be free of blur with a flash duration that short (provided the flash is the major light source).
Helpful though. These fancier digital cameras are complicated by comparison to my old one. But Canon does make good cameras in my opinion. I still love my FTb. Now if I just had a 10" reflector telescope & something to mount the new camera to it? I'd like to get some planet picks. Always wanted to do that. Maybe see how the zoom works on the moon?
Some claim the government has a real Stargate. Alien technology, so I'm gonna sneak in & use it! It's like a 4x zoom, so I'll have to see how that works, just for curiosity's sake.
Sounds great... how do you plan to get there?
Sounds great... how do you plan to get there?
I designed this super hi-tech space rocket that we strap him to so he can take HD pictures as close to the moon as possible.
I designed this super hi-tech space rocket that we strap him to so he can take HD pictures as close to the moon as possible.
CADJockey-I actually did that with model rockets and a camera. It went...poorly.
Yep. Led in series with a 1K resistor to a 2.3 V power supply, scope across the resistor."trigger"? Your're using a reverse-biased LED into what, a scope?
I'm a little more qualified, if you can't tell by that impeccable design. It should work.
Yep. Led in series with a 1K resistor to a 2.3 V power supply, scope across the resistor.
Is that one that was turned in to SpaceX?
Looks cooler than that stupid Grasshopper everyone keeps raving about.
If it's a large area LED (high current) the capacitance (and the scope probe's capacitance) might be filtering the fast pulse, but I doubt it. Still, if you know the junction capacitance of that LED (or PD if you switch to that), you can easily figure out the bandwidth by 1 / (2*PI*R*C). You could try a smaller R.
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