Forums > Technical Discussion > The best cam for taking fire-pictuers

Posted: 20th Jul 2005
click here

Its expensive so must be good...and its also on special offer at teh moent too.

There are threads for this, but im at work and so should be working.. can someone do a quick search while I run off to fiddle with tapes? Ta.

Posted: 20th Jul 2005
I have a Minolta Dimage Z2 - It has SLR functions (fully manual, shutter / aperture priority, etc). Think you can get similar ones pretty cheap now.

Basically any camera that allows you to change the shutter speed and the aperture will do the job. Preferably 4megapixel or more. Also pretty much all digi camera's allow you to change the brightnes and contrast ratio of the image before snapping (that used to be a post snap thing).

The prices of camera's change so rapidly that its probably best to go down to jessops to see what there is and the go home and order it from the net.

The only other thing - purely for safety purposes - is the size of the lens. ALWAYS ignore any 'digital zoom' as its crap. Only take the 'optical zoom' as how far you can zoom in. Bigger lenses allow you to be further away from hot burning stuff (essential when shooting wire wool cages i imagine). Also remember though that the further you zoom in the mor likely you are to need a tripod (or a stable platform) to get stable (non shakey) images.

Hope that helps

Posted: 27th Jul 2005
for the cool trails, you need variable exposure timing. (number of seconds - lentgh of trail. too long, with too wide an f-stop will be too bright though)
Variable F-stop is another good thing, as you can adjust the amount of light getting in. (amount of light per second - narrower f-stop will result in darker pictures. i think)

um, yeah. variable (preferably up to about 5 sec) exposure time - necessary
variable f-stop (more numbers is better, i think) - not as necessary
optical zoom is better than digital zoom.
more megapixels is better, but, especially for net stuff, you dont really need over about 3. I rarely ever use over 1.2 - more pics, and they fill my 17" screen at 1280x1024 and dont look that bad.

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"master"
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Posted: 27th Jul 2005

Written by: MiG

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um, yeah. variable (preferably up to about 5 sec) exposure time - necessary

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that's all i use for these shots:

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/Bendered/Edinburgh_Gardens_25-05-05_16_resize.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/Bendered/Edinburgh_Gardens_06-04-05_88_im_a_fan_too.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/Bendered/Edinburgh_Gardens_25-05-05_21_resize.jpg

using the shutter priority mode on a Pentax 750Z (the price has dropped AU$150 recently....)

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Posted: 27th Jul 2005
i use a dimage z1;

never had a problem with it, very simple to work

and great quality

kyrian: I've felt your finger connect with me many times
lou kitten: sneaky little meatball..
ezz: please corrupt me more

Posted: 28th Jul 2005

Written by: bender™

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Written by: MiG

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um, yeah. variable (preferably up to about 5 sec) exposure time - necessary

---

that's all i use for these shots:

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/Bendered/Edinburgh_Gardens_25-05-05_16_resize.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/Bendered/Edinburgh_Gardens_06-04-05_88_im_a_fan_too.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/Bendered/Edinburgh_Gardens_25-05-05_21_resize.jpg

using the shutter priority mode on a Pentax 750Z (the price has dropped AU$150 recently....)

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Damn that second picture was scary..
Check out her face..
Looks like the twisted faces in Ring and Ring 2..
*gross*

-= I am the god of Hell-fire =-
-= And I bring you......fire =-

Posted: 28th Jul 2005
lolz what is gross to someone is beauty to another!
check out the commentst..

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