camera halp

[Yuri-G]

hey BG, I have a question about a completely random topic and, like so many of the posters, I have decided to come here to a forum about a mostly-dead videogame to pose said question, for reasons even I myself cannot fully ascertain.

anywho, I need a camera and a camcorder. I need them for taking pictures and videos of fire-spinning, so there will be some pretty specific requirements. if you don't know what fire-spinning is, take a look here:



sooo basically the camcorder needs to have good contrast and be able to take pictures in near darkness of a single light source moving at fast speeds. the camera needs to be able to do the same, but will also be taking pictures of light patterns over short periods of time (anywhere from a fraction of a second to a couple seconds, probably not more) so I need to be able to take pictures with a slightly longer exposure.

also, I have credit open at Best Buy that I'd like to use, so unless I could save drastically (like 25% off or more) I'd prefer to go there.

my price range is flexible but I'd prefer not to spend more than $500 total. if I could get away with less than that, awesome. I don't need high-end uber-quality gear, but it needs to be able to handle this very specific type of photography fairly well.

any halp from the amateur (or professional!) photographers of BG?

[Yuri-G]

for the camera, keep in mind that I'll be taking pictures of stuff like that over a couple seconds, forming light patterns in the final picture. I'm not sure what kind of camera I'd need for that but yeah. basically I'll be taking pictures like this:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/29/10...507fbd9c90.jpg

[Yuri-G]

oh and I'll be doing a lot of this on my own so timed pictures is a given. I would think most cameras come with that anyway, but just in case.

[zoobernut]

We have a camera thread where all the photogs like to hang out you might want to get this merged with that thread and you might get more answers. http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/687...ography-Thread

As for your question, any of the decent Nikon/Canon cameras today that take video will be able to do exactly what you want. Getting good fire spinning photos is more about technique than the camera. Taking video of fire spinning is going to be difficult with any camera because it is usually so dark out when they do fire spinning but any of the DSLR's that take video should be able to do it. The Nikon D7000 currently is the only DSLR on the market that has continuous autofocus while in video mode but the AF in video mode is slow and not always accurate, it also creates a lot of noise into the mic unless you get an external mic.

Given your price range I would look at something like the Nikon D3100 or the equivalent Canon (not sure where video capabilities start in the Canon line). That will get you video and stills. Otherwise I don't think you will be able to get a separate still camera and a video camera for only $500 that will take decent fire spinning pics. That being said try to experiment with some point and shoot cameras because really these kinds of pics are mostly technique and a little bit equipment.

Oh yeah and if you can swing it a good external speedlight(flash) works wonders, put your camera in rear-sync mode set your shutter speed to 1/8th or whatever shutter speed you feel is long enough and then take your photo, you should get really good light trails from the fire and the flash will freeze the action of the person and help minimize ghosting on them.

[Tyche]

Tripod and a remote trigger will be a must (or the self-timer I suppose). Get a camera with good high ISO performance and a fast lens. Nikon and Canon both have a 50m 1.8 lens for around $150. Hitting a $500 budget will be a bitch.

[zoobernut]

Tripod and a remote trigger will be a must (or the self-timer I suppose). Get a camera with good high ISO performance and a fast lens. Nikon and Canon both have a 50m 1.8 lens for around $150. Hitting a $500 budget will be a bitch.

Yeah I think the toughest part of this whole thing will be hitting that budget if you want really high quality pics. I think you might be able to accomplish this with a decent point and shoot in that $500 range but I haven't played around with the newer p&s cameras lately. I know my friend does a lot of fire spinning photography and he uses either a D200 which is only really usable up to iso800 or his D3100 which is usable up to iso1600 both with a 50mm f1.8 and an sb-600 external flash. With that setup he can take pics handheld too. But if you are spinning and taking the photos you will need a tripod which adds to the expense.

[Tyche]

I thought that a fill flash would almost be necessary, but I have no idea what kind of ambient light the fire itself would provide. Then again, I guess an ominous dark shadow encircled by streaks of fire would look pretty cool.

[zoobernut]

If you don't mind a lot of ghosting and almost no solidity in the person then you don't need fill flash. If you want to freeze the action at the end so the person looks solid with little to no ghosting but with trails of light around them then you need fill flash in rear sync mode. It just depends on what kind of pic you want to take. Best thing to do is to experiment with it because you can get so many different looks and effects.

[Yuri-G]

thanks, I had no idea what my options were or what kinds of techniques I should be using. feel free to continue discussing the topic... I'll be taking notes lol