5/09/2006

More Infrared Flash Tech Stuff

First I placed the Lee 87 Polyester Gel Filter over the Sunpak Auto 383 (guide 120 ft) and did one flash. Looking at the side of the filter closest to the flash you could see a touch of buckling, and what I'd call heat damage. So for sure the filter has to be further away from the flash. I used an old diffuser, cut the head off, and taped the gel to that. Lot's of black duct tape around to keep it in place and a touch of curl to the gel. This is going to cut down on the light output, but if you place the gel right up against the flash I don't think it will be useful for very long. You've got to give the heat that's collected by not emitting visible light a place to bounce around and disipate between the gel and the flash unit.

I also decided to use the Bessa R2A as my infrared camera -- I was getting some peculiar effects with the M3 where one half of the frame would seem to have a motion blur and the left side was perfectly fine. Maybe this happened once or twice on each roll. I suspect the Bessa will be better and of course has a higher sync speed - not that that matters for dark stuff.

Anyway - only thing with the Bessa is that the little plastic window on the back showing what film is in the camera had to be taped over.

Now I'm waiting for it to get dark outside so I can do some stuff in the apartment.

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