Photo Trip/Lazer or whatever its called!

[myphotography]

Guys and Gals,

Need some really good advice on how or where to buy a piece of equipment which will enable me to automatically capture a drop falling into water, rather than currently trying to 2nd guess when it hits the water!

Sorry, not being very good at pointing my thoughts into words here, but am hoping that some of you professionals will be able to deciphyer what the hell I am on about! LOL

[stuck]

..equipment which will enable me to automatically capture a drop falling into water, rather than currently trying to 2nd guess when it hits the water!

So how many attempts did it take to get this shot:
Mini Competition #1408


Ken
edited to add:
This one's pretty good too!
Mini Competition #1413

[myphotography]

Ken,

From over 1000 shots, I have around about 40 that I feel are good enough to put on a website. I have the knack now, the timing of when to hit the trigger, but I would like something that perhaps takes more than one shot at a time, I think I may need something called a high shutter speed lens?

Any ideas?!

ps.... OH.. forgot to mention if its relevant, I have a Canon 550D

[Shadowman]

Particle size analyzers use a laser to measure fine grains. That would probably be a place to start.

[rpcrowe]

I have never used one so I cannot make a recommendation. All I can do is point you in this direction. This appears to be what you are looking for.

http://www.universaltimer.com/

[stuck]

I think I may need something called a high shutter speed lens?

Lens? I don't think a special lens is what you need. Ideally you need a slow motion camera, the sort of thing that can capture 100s of frames per second. You then pick out the frame you want. That will be a bit beyond your budget won't it?

Check out the link provided by Richard. It came out top of my Google search for high speed photo flash trigger. It's Canadian company so when it says the starter kit is priced at $218 + shipping + taxes that is probably Canadian dollars.

Ken

[Shadowman]

Lens? I don't think a special lens is what you need. Ideally you need a slow motion camera, the sort of thing that can capture 100s of frames per second. You then pick out the frame you want. That will be a bit beyond your budget won't it?

Check out the link provided by Richard. It came out top of my Google search for high speed photo flash trigger. It's Canadian company so when it says the starter kit is priced at $218 + shipping + taxes that is probably Canadian dollars.

Ken

Or high speed camera.

http://www.visionresearch.com/

[rpcrowe]

Are you looking to shoot video of this or do you want to capture a still image.

You would not necessarily need a specialized camera or flash to capture a still image.

If you desire a still image, a hotshoe flash unit or several (shooting in manual at around 1/128 power in order to get the absolute fastest speed) in a darkened area would be the way to capture the image. Triggering the flash so you capture the water drop at the right time would be what you need. You could shoot with your shutter open using bulb so sunc speed would be a moot point...

At least that is how I would start doing this...

In order to capture what you want in video, you would need a camera capable of high speed video. Some consumer videos can shoot at a slightly higher than normal FPS but, in order to really slow down the action you need a camera capable of a lot faster FPS such as this example...

http://www.photron.com/

I would investigate the best liquid to use for shooting. It may be, but doesn't necessarily have to be water. Lots of images I have seen use milk...

[Inkanyezi]

There are also budget alternatives for high speed shooting, most markedly a series of Casio cameras with high speed capability.

However to capture the drop at the exact right moment might take something else, if the shutter time of such a contraption will not suffice, or if there is not much enough light to do that capture. High speed video needs much light, while an electronic flash may fire at a higher speed, but the latter requiring exact timing if you want to catch an exact moment. So then you would need a trigger and set it slightly higher than you want to trigger, so that the lag before the flash actually fires won't ruin the shot. Making such a trigger is not very difficult, but evidently it will take a single shot, while the high speed alternative will cover the whole event.

If 1200 fps is sufficient, Casio EX.F1 might do it, provided you have sufficiently powerful light without modulation.

[loosecanon]

The problem always is shutter lag - the time from pressing the shutter or remote to the picture being taken, and lighting to freeze the movement which usually requires flash. It is relatively easy to set up a laser trigger, use the beam from a cheap laser level and a simple circuit with a photodiode (heavily filtered so its not cooked by the laser or over influenced by natural light,) which can then trigger the camera. With the laser you can see if it hits the water drops. Move it up or down the drop stream until you get the timing right. Simple, but the random nature of water drops will mean some pictures are better than others. Incidently don't allow the camera or flash units to "sleep" as the wake up will change the timing.

[shreds]

These guys do some high speed kit,

http://www.cognisys-inc.com/home_cogn.php

which although I have not used it personally, I know of photographers who have, and who recommend it highly.