Re: Tesla Coil Photography + shooting of single streamers

To: tesla-at-PUPMAN-dot-com
Subject: Re: Tesla Coil Photography + shooting of single streamers
From: "Marco Denicolai" <Marco.Denicolai-at-tellabs.fi> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 11:30:49 -0600
Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme

Terry,

the pictures you can see on my web site at
http://www.saunalahti.fi/dncmrc/results.html are all taken in COMPLETE
DARKNESS.
I used my 10 years old Nikon F-501 with automatic exposure control, mounted
on a
tripod.

In one hand the push-button to turn on/off the TC, with the other I press the
camera trigger and that's it. The camera will do the rest in 3-5 seconds.

Many friends of mine used CAM recorders and automatic cameras: each of them got
home with a good set of pictures or a good VHS film. No hassle, no problems,
nobody wondered "My camera got crazy !?"

If you want to catch less streamers just trigger the camera first, count say to
3 and then turn on the TC. Another possibility is to have a diffused background
light (more light -> more speed -> less streamers).

I tried once with manual exposure time. I shot a film with several times: 3,
3.5, 4, 4.5, 5 seconds, etc. I didn't get a single good picture: all black or
too much light. Forget it...

I think a more challenging problem is if you want to shoot a SINGLE streamer.
You must have a spark gap setup allowing to generate a single bang, still
ensuring a usual good quenching time. Exposure time becomes also an issue, to
ensure a good contrast.

I want to be able to do also that within my Thor project: my DC power supply +
RSG will allow also for single bangs.

Regards





Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> on 29.07.99 03:01:14

To:   tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
cc:    (bcc: Marco Denicolai/MARTIS)
Subject:  Tesla Coil Photography




Original Poster: Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>

>Hi All,

>My pictures of streamers did not turn out well and I could use a little
>advise...

>I posted my "best" picture ( the one the shop bothered to print) at:

>http://www.peakpeak-dot-com/~terryf/tesla/misc/phototry.jpg

>This was hand held, florescent lights without the florescent filter, ASA
>100 film, 3.5 aperture, the camera was controlling the exposure (thank
>goodness, or it may have turned out bad :-))....


<SNIP>

>Any advice is welcome.  I hate to go through a bunch of sessions and film
>just to START getting reasonable pictures...

>Thanks,

>    Terry