Beamshot Standards?

[Aircraft800]

With all of the Beamshots posted here, is there a standard, or recomendation for camera settings? I have been messing with my Canon G5, and didn't know anything about the manual settings.

Thanks!

 

[AvidHiker]

I'm not sure that there's a good concensus here, but a couple of the posts in this thread might help to give you a starting point.

A standard procedure seems to be along these lines (I know, this is more general than your question, but maybe its good to list them here anyway):
1. Decide on appropriate camera settings (you will need to experiment)
2. Use camera's manual mode to fix the camera with the desired settings
3. Take a control shot (ie, no additional light - not really necessary IMO, but can be interesting)
4. Take your beamshot after a warm up period (people usually seem to run the light under test for at least several minutes prior to taking the picture, for equilibration of battery, lamp, etc)
5. Do some whitewall shots using the above procedure

Hmmm, that's all that comes to mind off the top of my head. Maybe someone else will have some pointers to add.

For a valid comparison, you will need to keep most camera parameters unchanged through the use of the manual mode. These would be:

a) aperture stop (ie, f-stop)
b) shutter speed
c) ISO (film speed)
d) focal length (ie, zoom) (its also good to manually set image focus if possible)
e) white balance (also helps to get an idea of the relative beam tints - I've used "sunlight" mode with good results for LEDs)

Oh, and just remember, in most cases you'll need a tripod.

 

[swxb12]

Grab a tripod and start experimenting. I think it's close to impossible to really convey the first-person view of what the light is really putting out. This is where I find comparison shots helpful, ie just shoot two or more different flashlights on the same camera settings and then post the pictures together.

I'd just settle on settings that produce the 'prettiest' shots with most clarity and absence of noise.