Picture slideshow of A2, E2e, G2 beamshots over time

I have been considering taking on a fun little project with some surefire's. I own an A2, G2 and an E2e. I was thinking of setting up all three lights to project against a white background, and use a camera and tripod to capture one shot every minute. I was then thinking of compiling the pictures into a movie or animated GIF to see the A2's regulation against the deterioration of similar SF bulbs over time.

If anything like this exists, please let me know before I undertake it. And if not, please let me know if you guys are interested in something like this, and if so, I will make it available for anybody who wants it. Also, since i don't know anything 'bout lights (yes, a flashaholic noob I am) any hints or suggestions you all might have will be taken to heart and greatly appreciated.

I only need to wait for a replacement bulb for my A2 to arrive before I am ready to undertake this little project.

I don't know if you can set up a normal camera to take multiple shots over time, but I know the Creative webcam would work for that purpose. Bad quality shots, though.

Ya, I was figuring I would have to stay nearby and manually take a picture every minute. Kind of tedious, but I would just put a good movie on and get out my kitchen timer and go at it.

id do it every 5 mins minimum, otherwise your going to be splicing an ridiculous amount of pictures together and the filesize will be enormous.

SCblur. I think your idea is pretty cool. You would obviously need to shoot in the manual mode with a contant f stop and shutter speed. I would use the fastest quality lens you have (i.e. the one with the lowest f stop), and experiment with a dim beam and the brightest beam to set the shutter speed. I would also use the lowest ISO that yields a good picture with a dim beam. Consider placing an object in the hot spot of each beam so you can see how illumination of the the same object changes over time in each beam. A possible object I have thought about but not yet used is a page with printed words. This would require that you keep the image in focus. These are of course only ideas. Good luck. I will be interested to see the result. --Bob

That's an interesting project . I'd like to see the final results! Good luck with that, it definitely would be a first.

Some digital cameras have an "intervalometer" setting to take interval-timed pictures; my Canon Pro1 has it.
nisshin

Sounds like a great idea. Maybe this could revolutionize the way standard beamshots are taken.

I'm looking forward to seeing the final project.

Peace.

I've seen one gif that was just two lights and two pics that flip-flopped. Newbie posted it but said someone else suggested it. Killer beamshot comparison.

I know jtice had done some really cool looking stuff more like what you are talking about. IIRC, he used a Canon. It could be he used something like nisshin is talking about. I know he didn't take the photos by hand. Maybe he'll chime in or you could PM him to find out exactly how he does it. His wasn't a fading beam shot. The one I remember was a large campfire over the course of a night. Fun to watch.

I like your idea.