TV Set photography

[Focus Diode]

Reading Paul and Tas' comments on taking pictures from old sets brought to light this encounter on taking a room photo with a set in action earlier today.

The camera I use is a Fujifilm Finepix type. This camera was purchased to replace the old faithful Kodak one which died after several years of good service. By great good fortune the excellent Kodak Easy Share software works just as well with this equally good camera.

With the camera set in SR Auto mode (flash disabled) this was the result: using the Kodak software one can check the properties of each individual shot and found it had set to 1/125sec with an ISO speed of 160.
Fortunately it is possible to manually adjust the speed, the second shot from the same angle was taken at 1/40sec with an ISO speed of 100.

I also tried some close up shots taken directly from the screen of the HMV model 2635 featured, a 19" set fitted with the BRC 950mKII chassis set to UHF ch64.
The first picture was set at 1/125sec ISO 320, the second 1/50sec ISO 100 and the third showing the set controls 1/40 sec ISO 100. With the 1/40 speed there's still a slight hum bar apparent, so it looks as if 1/50 sec gives the best results.

All trial and error basis really. The advantages of digital camera over film are obvious to us all. How much film we used to waste plus the wait and cost for development!

Cheers,
Brian

[chompy1]

Hi Brian,
the quality of your photos is very good. I think I will have to invest in a Fuji Film Finepix.

The camera I currently use is just a cheap Logitech. I have tried changing the settings to try to improve the quality, but it doesn't really work.

If I take pics of another set before I get a new camera, I will turn down the sets brightness and make sure the camera's flash is disabled.

Have you started on another set yet?

Cheers, Paul

[Tractorfan]

Hi,
That's not a hum bar as such. That would be caused by inefficient HT smoothing.
It's because the shutter speed was faster than the set was able to provide a full scan of the screen.
Cheers, Pete

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by chompy1

Hi Brian,
the quality of your photos is very good. I think I will have to invest in a Fuji Film Finepix.

Fujifilm Finepix is just a brand which has been used on a large number of digital cameras over the last decade or so. I have an ancient Finepix 1300 in front of me and that certainly doesn't do manual shutter speed selection, so take care.

[Gulliver]

I've been photographing TV screens since I was quite small.

Always used 1/25th of a second shutter speed and adjusted the aperture to the appropriate size depending on film speed used.

With digital I will usually try a high ISO , dim the room and still go for 1/25th second if that shutter speed is available.

[cmjones01]

Yes, a long shutter speed is the key to avoiding bands on the screen. If you can't manually set a long shutter speed, try setting a low ISO number (to reduce the camera's sensitivity) and taking the photo in reasonably subdued light with the set's brightness turned down. That should encourage the camera to choose a long shutter speed by itself. You may have to play with the relative brightness of the room lighting and the screen to get a result which looks right: I usually find the screen has to be dimmer than I'd expect.

Don't, whatever you do, use the flash!

Chris

[paulsherwin]

Some auto digital cameras have a 'night mode' setting which forces a longer exposure.

[Focus Diode]

Originally Posted by Focus Diode

Fortunately it is possible to manually adjust the speed, the second shot from the same angle was taken at 1/40sec with an ISO speed of 100.

The camera is a model T350 14MP.

I should've clarified only the ISO is adjustable, from 3200 to 100, not the shutter speed which is automatically selected. Clearly better results result from setting the ISO to 100 which results in a lower shutter speed, on this camera anyway.

Cheers,
Brian

[enquirium]

The Fuji Finepix S2980 gives you manual shutter speed control which would be ideal in this instance . It normally retails about 20 quid dearer than the T350 as its a bridge camera however I see it now advertised online at around the same price as the T350 .
For this you get an electronic viewfinder as well as 18X zoom . In fact I wouldnt buy a camera even a compact without a viewfinder . Although you're hard pressed to get a sub 100 pound compact with one .

Cheers .
.

[peter_scott]

The same applies with video. I got alias bars with my old video camera as appears in some of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nRZ8...=TLbsKxjYyN42k

..but the more recent cameras give you slow shutter choices:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwKz...=TLbsKxjYyN42k

The second video was shot with a Sony DCR-TRV22 which is also well down in the second hand price list nowadays.

Peter

[Focus Diode]

Originally Posted by enquirium

The Fuji Finepix S2980 gives you manual shutter speed control which would be ideal in this instance

Many thanks for letting us know about this model.
Cheers,
Brian

[julie_m]

I would expect that if the shutter speed is anything but an exact multiple of 1/50 sec, then some parts of the picture are going to be brighter than others, just due to having been struck by the electron beam more times during the exposure. 1/50 would get a field, 1/25 would get a whole frame.

[emeritus]

My first camcorder was a JVC GR-M7, was chosen because it offered manual settings. These included a chouce of 1/50 and 1/60 sec exposures. The 1/60 was said to be useful in reducing the strobe effect of fluorescent lighting, but I found it would virtually eliminate the bars when videoing NTSC TV from CRT monitors, such as arcade games and video displays in aircraft. A game CD that came with breakfast cereal with a trial version of a Disney game, loaded a 120Hz monitor frame rate driver for our computer (a Gateway running Windows 98) , and when using this, the 1/60 sec shutter setting eliminated bars from the CRT monitor.

We saw the 1999 eclipse at my late brother-in-law's house in Fecamp, France, one of the few places in Europe where the event was visible from a cloudless sky, and in the evening I was able to record the French TV broadcast by pointing the camera at the TV screen using the 1/50 setting. A narrow bar was initially visible, but by switching the camera on and off a few times I was able to get it to a state where the frames were in synch and the band was not visible. Bars are not an issue with modern flat screen monitors.

My current (but now I guess obsolescent) camcorder, a JVC GTR -DV 4000, only has 1/50 and 1/120 fixed manual settings. I was going to post an image of its capure an image from a CRT TV using the 1/50 sec setting. Unfortunately I found that the manual function is now faulty and stuck on 1/120 regardless of what you set it to on the manual menu, so it's gone to the repairers.

A salutory reminder to transfer my DV tapes to DVD when it comes back, as I have nothing else to play the tapes back on!

I (just, oh vanity, I was 9) remember my dad photographing the 1969 moon landings with a Yashica twin lens reflex. Super shots, and the 8x10 prints I took to school went down very well.

[Telleadict]

Hello I've just spotted this thread.

Brian starts

Reading Paul and Tas' comments on taking pictures from old sets ......

Could anyone point me towards the thread refered to as I can't seem to find anything likly using the forum search

Thanks

Will

[Focus Diode]

Hi Will,

It was first discussed in this thread on the BRC 1400 chassis by Paul (Chompy 1).

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...t=90268&page=2

Cheers,
Brian

[Telleadict]

Thanks Brian

There're a lot of Pauls on this forum when it comes to finding something one of them posted!!

Will

[suebutcher]

Interesting thread. My screen photography has been hit and miss, perhaps I can improve it now. I also thought I'd mention that the BBC are after screen shots of missing programmes, in case any of you were doing this before 1980 or so.