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Identifying Camera Problems
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Why do my orb photographs look different?
Since going on-line with Orbstudy, we have learned that precisely synchronized aperture openings and the flash to shutter speed are critical when taking orb photos. A camera that takes great family pictures may have problems with bonafide orbs because they don't reflect the light from the flash like rain drops, or particulate matter too close to a lens does. Instead, the camera catches the results of their fluorescence. In other words, the orbs generate their OWN light which is then RADIATED back to your camera's CCD chip.
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Diamond Shaped Orb Sample
The image here was taken with a camera with four leaves in the aperture. Many cameras have five or six leaves and some only four.
If the flash does not start soon enough before the shutter opens or stops too soon, or if the aperture leaves or shutter are even minutely sticking, as may occur with brand new or older equipment, the orbs spherical shapes may appear truncated in shapes like diamonds, triangles, hexagonals or flat bottoms.
This will depend upon the number of leaves in the camera's aperture, shutter speed, and flash timing which are slightly off in their timing. We are talking milliseconds, which will only impact upon the shape of the orbs light being imaged, and NOT the rest of the picture.
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Flat Sided Orb Sample
A single leaf shutter camera may make flat bottoms on the orbs and a six leaf camera may create hexagonal orbs. Where they are positioned in the view finder may also have some effect.
To establish the flat regions are due to the camera, rotate it to take a tall (landscape) picture. The orb might look like this if the flash to shutter timing is off slightly.
After rotating the image in a graphics program, the flat side would look like the lower copy. If the orb actually had a flat bottom, it would be at the bottom in the lower image.
There is nothing wrong with the camera. It's engineered to take great photographs, but the timing may not be synchronized enough to record their spherical shapes. An external flash may resolve the problem.
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Aperture Leaves Illustrated
This is a simple graphic to show how the lens opening is shaped by the shutter and four, five, and six segment apertures. The six leaved aperture seems to retain the roundest opening through its movement, and also results in better focus. The ideal would be to stay perfectly round as the shutter opens like our eyes do. Apertures ideally need to be fully opened to record the spherical shape of the orbs.
The physical angle of the aperture leaves in your camera may be different than this illustration. The angle of the opening also changes as it opens.
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Aperture Sticking Problems/Repairs
Other shapes can occur if the aperture leaves are a little sticky. When you stop down the aperture ring rapidly, as automatic cameras do, one or more of the leaves may close slower.
The minute amount of oil lubricating the aperture leaves may become gummy. Very cold weather may also make the aperture leaves sticky. New cameras may need some exercising until the machined edges get smoother.
On older cameras, the aperture leaves may need to be cleaned in solvent and relubricated. Unless you have the tools and the know-how, have the lens repair done by a qualified camera tech--this can be quite expensive.
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Big Fuzzy Orbs
Infinity focus cameras have problems with anything one or two feet from the lens, unless they are set for closeups. A small orb very close to the camera may appear to be a large blurry area that may look like it's in front of a tree or another object.
They get blurred because they are badly out of focus. When an orb is very close to the flash, they may create a reddish blur. Snow flakes can also reportedly create large blurry greyish areas up close to the lens. We have not tested for the snow flake images, as we do not live in an area which ever gets snow. If you have samples, we would be interested in analyzing them.
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Barrel Effect Shapes
These can happen when the shutter opening is too wide for the linear portion of the lens. This IS a camera engineering problem and the lens has not been ground to the proper curvature. Also, this "barrel" effect can occur in digital images when a Zoom setting has been used in certain camera equipment.
Distortion like this normally only happens in the corners of the view finder. You may also see buildings or straight objects which seem to curve at the right and left edges of your photos.
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Orbs with Concentric Rings
We're still puzzling a little on this one. It is not a different kind of orb. It may be a function of a flash that uses rapid multiple strobes instead of one long flash. It's a method of increasing the amount of light produced when using a smaller bulb. These have been noted with some Canon and some Sony digital equipment--would need cooperation from the manufacturers to make a better decision.
Again, this only affects photographs of orbs, and does not affect normal photographs.
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Spheres and Streaks and Blurs, Oh My!
A combination of orbs being close to the camera lens and moving quickly can create some remarkable effects. Here you can see a combination of stationary orbs and some streaks running different directions. Streaks and "clouds" of multiple orbs in motion may also look somewhat similar to wisps of smoke or breath on a cold day when recorded by your camera. Also tiny loose hair or fiber very close to a lens might create a type of "streak" on the recorded image.
Because it is a two dimensional image, it can be hard to tell just how far away from the camera the orbs are unless they are obviously behind something. This is made even more difficult due to their "transparent" nature when in lower density energy states, or in settings with large amounts of external "white" light, such as sunlight.
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What ''Frozen'' Water Drops Really Look Like
Taking photos of orbs during energetic atmospheric conditions can be very rewarding, but just be sure if it begins to rain that you provide a distance of at least two feet between your covered camera and any falling precipitation. With experimentation we found that in order for our cameras to actually record a "spherical" light reflection back from a transparent sphere of water, it would need to be within inches of the lens, as at arms' length or further away from the camera, individual drops weren't recorded at all. Beyond this distance, with your camera set on infinity focus, you may pick up some light grey slash streaks lightly mixed in with the overall image. Here you can see what drops of water would actually look like when frozen in time in one of Doc Edgerton's many famous high speed strobe flash photographic experiments, done with specialized equipment at MIT(he died in 1990). When you click to enlarge the image, you can see that the actual water drops themselves do not look the same as orbs do. The only time we could create an image that looked somewhat close to bonafide orbs in appearance with these experiments, was using flash in total darkness with drops right next to the lens. In this case the reflection points from the drops, not the drops themselves, was what the camera actually recorded. There are a lot of misunderstandings on the part of most people about orbs in upward motion which evidence tapered points "under" them, as being 'reflections' of rain drops falling. We've all done 'contrived' experiments and were unsuccessful at duplicating images which were identical with bonafide plasma orbs. For an enlightening look at one of the biggest 'myths' in science, we recommend you check out this site explaining the fluid dynamics of precipitation.
http://www.fluidmech.net/tutorials/raindrops/raindrop.htm
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Lens Flare Problems
Lens flare is created when non-image forming light enters the lens and subsequently hits the camera's film or digital sensor. This 'may' appear as a characteristic polygonal shape, or, with sides which depend on the shape of the lens diaphragm. It can lower the overall contrast of a photograph significantly and is often an undesired artifact. However some types of flare may actually enhance the artistic meaning of a photo. Understanding lens flare can help you use it--or avoid it--in a way which best suits how you wish to portray the final image. The following diagrams and samples on lens flare problems we borrowed to share with our readers from this public education tutorial website which we recommend if you have further questions at
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/lens-flare.htm
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Shapes and Streaks
Flare can take many forms, and this may include just one or all of the polygonal shapes, bright streaks, or overall washed out look (veiling flare) as shown above.
This image exhibits tell-tale signs of flare in the upper right caused by a bright sun just outside the image frame. These take the form of polygonal bright regions, in addition to bright streaks and an overall reduction in contrast. The polygonal shapes vary in size and can actually become so large that they occupy a significant part of the image. Look for flare near very bright objects, although its effects can also be seen far away from the actual source.
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Lens Refraction and Reflection
All but the simplest cameras contain lenses which are actually comprised of several lens elements. Lens flare is caused by non-image light which does not pass (refract) directly along its intended path, but instead refracts and reflects internally on lens elements any number of times (back and forth) before finally reaching the film or digital sensor.
Although flare is technically caused by internal reflections, this often requires very intense light sources in order to become significant (relative to refracted light). Flare-inducing light sources may include the sun, artificial lighting and even a full moon. Even if the photo itself contains no intense light sources, stray light may still enter the lens if it hits the front element. Ordinarily light which is outside the angle of view does not contribute to the final image, but if this light reflects it may travel an unintended path and reach the film/sensor. In the visual example with flowers, the sun was not actually in the frame itself, but yet it still caused significant lens flare.
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Questions?
Here is a good example of streaks created by energy in motion which was done with a film camera and negatives, as opposed to digital. The bright white sphere in the center is the moon. Click for a bigger view.
In our experience we have found that digital equipment is the better choice for orb photography for most people due to better image control/results and long run economy. If you have further questions about how digital cameras sense and record light generated by the orbs, we recommend the following site:
Click HERE for more details.
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