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Can You See The Bullet?


John Kane

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Thought I'd share a cool picture from the match this weekend. Just happened to catch this as the slide was just starting to come back and it looks like you can see the bullet as a line leaving the barrel. Not sure if that's possible but I can't think of what else it could be.

Anyone know?

post-6819-1170108156.jpg

Edited to add... I forgot to mention those are AlamoShooter's talented hands doign the modeling!

Edited by John Kane
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:D its realy cool having tallented friends, great photo John. I think its the bullet too, but my favorite is the flame in the comp. Its a steel load and just barely makes minor.

JF

Im glad my hands were...? clean?

Edited by AlamoShooter
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Thought I'd share a cool picture from the match this weekend. Just happened to catch this as the slide was just starting to come back and it looks like you can see the bullet as a line leaving the barrel. Not sure if that's possible but I can't think of what else it could be.

Anyone know?

Your camera settings: Nikon D80 at 100mm F5.6 using F5.0 lens at 1/640 sec. ISO 200.

Great timing. I would shoot at ISO 800/1600 for ALL "bullet capture attempts", if you did you would be shooting around 1/2500 or 1/5000 sec or so... then you might get a better glimpse of the bullet smear. I shoot at F2.8 and ISO 800 and shoot 1/4000 to 1/16,000 depending on lighting. Anything 1/4000 or better works for me.

Ray--

Here is a photo of Nolan's MG bullet: post-1636-1170122421.jpg

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Looks like it to me. Fill-flash lighting the bullet and the brass.

I think so too. You can even see the plume of gas coming out of the ports and comp. I'm sure the brass in flight is from the previous shot.

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The picture definately looks like the bullet cutting a path across the frame while the shutter is open.

Assuming the bullet is traveling at roughly 1400 fps, even at 1/1000 sec. shutter speed the bullet would travel almost 17 inches during the exposure.

As an amateur photographer I have long contemplated capturing a bullet frozen in flight just beyond the muzzle of the gun.

The problem is that to freeze the bullet in flight it would take a shutter speed beyond the capabilities of any camera I know of.

The second issue is the synchronization of the pistol shot with the camera shutter.

I did a little research on this and it may be possible to get the shot with a high speed strobe, but it takes some highly specialized and pricey equipment to do it.

Tls

Edited by tlshores
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The picture definately looks like the bullet cutting a path across the frame while the shutter is open.

Assuming the bullet is traveling at roughly 1400 fps, even at 1/1000 sec. shutter speed the bullet would travel almost 17 inches during the exposure.

As an amateur photographer I have long contemplated capturing a bullet frozen in flight just beyond the muzzle of the gun.

The problem is that to freeze the bullet in flight it would take a shutter speed beyond the capabilities of any camera I know of.

The second issue is the synchronization of the pistol shot with the camera shutter.

I did a little research on this and it may be possible to get the shot with a high speed strobe, but it takes some highly specialized and pricey equipment to do it.

Tls

just slow down the velocity of the bullet. go sub minor. you should be able to capture the bullet.

lynn

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The picture definately looks like the bullet cutting a path across the frame while the shutter is open.

Assuming the bullet is traveling at roughly 1400 fps, even at 1/1000 sec. shutter speed the bullet would travel almost 17 inches during the exposure.

As an amateur photographer I have long contemplated capturing a bullet frozen in flight just beyond the muzzle of the gun.

The problem is that to freeze the bullet in flight it would take a shutter speed beyond the capabilities of any camera I know of.

The second issue is the synchronization of the pistol shot with the camera shutter.

I did a little research on this and it may be possible to get the shot with a high speed strobe, but it takes some highly specialized and pricey equipment to do it.

Tls

just slow down the velocity of the bullet. go sub minor. you should be able to capture the bullet.

lynn

That's a good thought Lynn.

A big, slow moving slug such as a 230 gr 45 loaded down to sub-minor velocities would give you the best opportunity.

Even so, a bullet loaded down to 600 fps would still travel about an inch even at 1/8000 shutter speed.

Then comes the issue of how to trigger the shutter.

To manually press the shutter release at the precise moment the bullet pops out of the barrel would take the wildest stroke of luck.

It would have to be triggered by some sort of sensor, such as the bullet breaking an infrared beam.

Even then there is a lag time mechanically between shutter release and shutter movement that has to be factored in.

It may only be a few milliseconds but must be accounted for when trying to capture a speeding bullet.

This has been a long standing goal of mine.

As such, I have put a lot of thought and a little research into the issue and it's just not as simple as it might appear at first blush.

If anyone wants to give it a try, I'd love to hear about the techniques and results.

Welcome to the realm of high speed photography.

Tls

Edited by tlshores
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The picture I posted was shot with a professional qualty digital camera with a 60 shot buffer and a remote flash. The shot posted was one of many taken as I emptied the mag as fast as I could. It was a super so the bullet speed is about 1350 fps.

Chris would have to fill-in shutter speed, resolution, flash speed, etc.

Edited by TMC
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The famous bullet-shooting-the-apple shots are all done with a really fast flash and relatively normal cameras. IIRC the camera was triggered by the sound of the shot, and many apples were sacrificed to get the timing just right.

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