Water Droplet Macros

[Pastieman.Steve]

Nice work Cathus as always

[nikonian]

Originally Posted by OldBoy

I regard it as cheating, if you set the equipment up, go to the pub for a few hours, then return to collect the shots. It's not cheating if you stand there taking the shots, as the equipment is used because your reactions aren't quick enough to take the shot.

So Marconi was cheating when he sent a radio signal over the atlantic because he couldn`t shout that loud. If all people were like you old boy we would still be living in caves.

[nikonian]

Originally Posted by Cathus

Eyeayen

(it's Cathus, no C in the middle)

Actually you guessed wrong, it was more expensive & I had to pay an additional £99 import duty & VAT, the VAT was about £77 so you can easily work out the full cost.

Yes, I'm very happy with it.

Take a look at the manufacturer's website & you'll see some uses for the equipment. It is used in any situation where you might want to capture a specific moment in time & take out all the guess work.
Have a go at getting a similar shot & let me know how many attempts it takes you. With the equipment you can repeat it as many times as you want, you can also tailor it to capturing any moment down to a thousandth of a second.

So what else can you use it for?

you can use it to trigger the flash camera on sound or movement. It comes with a microphne, a motion detector & an infra red or laser sensor trigger so if anything crosses the beam it will fire.

The microphone is sensitive enough to pick up a pin hitting a table or touching a balloon, ever seen those photos of water filled balloons bursting in the Daily Telegraph last year? taken with this equipment, what about bullets (or air rifle slugs) going through various objects that only high speed flash will capture?

Ever see the shots of that guy's garden here he shot bats feeding off the surface of his pond? was on tv & national press last year.

Someone else uses it to capture insects feeding, they go through the beam & the equipment gets a shot, have you ever tried to take a photo of an insect in flight?
Others are using it to capture shots of birds feeding or in flight, leaving or landing on bird tables or feeders, wildlife in the garden or beyond.

It's a specific piece of equipment with a specific role but it's uses are limited by the imagination of the user. I've only had it a few weeks & only used it for water droplet shots, but seeing as I have already sold 3 shots, it may well pay for itself sooner than one of my lenses.

Saying all it can do is take water droplets is a bit like saying why did you bother to buy a macro, all it can do is take closeups.

Sounds expensive . The dearest part of my projects are the cases to put them in. I think the dearest one was £6.

[Cathus]

nikonian,

the case to put what in?

and you must have missed my last question, what's SCR & can you explain what you meant in previouspost as I didn't really understand what you were saying.

[nikonian]

Originally Posted by Cathus

nikonian,

the case to put what in?

and you must have missed my last question, what's SCR & can you explain what you meant in previouspost as I didn't really understand what you were saying.

SCR , sometimes called a THYRISTOR is a means of flashing a flashgun by means of a small pulse. The case is where I fit my projects into.

[Cathus]

it's like trying to get blood from a stone

projects? are you saying you have built your own electrical wizzardry to allow you to do something similar to the equipment I'm using.

I've not heard the word thyristor since the 80s when flashguns were marketed as being thyristors

anyway, in relation to your comment about it, I don't use the shutter as part of the system, it's the flash that does all the work, the shutter is merely open during the time the shutter fires, you can do it yourself on bulb mode or get the timer to fire the shutter just before the flash fires, since it knows when the flash fires in relation to when the drop goes through the beam.
You can programme in your camera's exact shutter lag into the timings for a more precise opening of the shutter. Mine is almost exactly double the delay with the mirror down than it is with it up.

Not sure if that was the point you were addressing on the previous page.

[nikonian]

Yes, I am saying that i have made projects from the the early years. One of my projects goes back to a freezer that was used before digital was ever thought of.Several versions of front flash, A version of the wein safe sync. As a matter of fact I have been to the shops today Picked up several microphone inserts £1 each and a plastic case £4. As I said earlier on I never bother with shutter control I use a variable time contant in my circuits to decide where to freeze the object. Just thought of a good project. As the flashgun is used high speed the storage capacitor does not discharge after the first flash or the second or the third. So if I have several drips, each one frozen on the same shot, it should come out like the dance of the water nymphs.

[Cathus]

Unfortunately, I possess neither the skill nor interest to be able to do electronics, I'll leave that to someone else & happily pay them for their expertise. But good for you if you can make something for a few quid that is commercially available for a lot more.

It would be interesting to compare results.

[nikonian]

Amen to that

[OldBoy]

Originally Posted by nikonian

So Marconi was cheating when he sent a radio signal over the atlantic because he couldn`t shout that loud. If all people were like you old boy we would still be living in caves.

I wasn't rude to anyone, as all I did was state my opinion. If you disagree then that's OK. What I don't like is the tone you have adopted in your reply. If you want to trade insults with someone, then do so whilst looking in a mirror!