How to Take Good, Close Up Pictures

ArcadeTechGW

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Hi,

Here are some tips on taking pictures of boards / components.

These apply if you are using a camera that is more than a phone, or if your phone is more of a camera than a phone.

Please set your camera to MACRO mode when taking close-up pictures. This is usually shown as a flower, or Macro on the selector.

What this does: It shortens the field of focus on a camera, so you can get in close and get a clear picture. So, if you are taking a close up, you'll get a clearer shot.

Some caveats: Light your subject well. You can use incandescent lights or LEDs or florescent. It doesn't matter.

Avoid using a flash, especially if you have EPROMs on the board. The flash discharge can wipe EPROMs.

This is from an ex-avionics editor for several magazines (Private Pilot, Custom Planes) BITD, who took lots of close-up shots.
 
I agree about using macro mode... and I've found that using the optical zoom (not digital zoom) on the camera and backing away from what you're imaging can also help. That also helps reduce the glare of the flash if you use one. And if using a flash, it also sometimes helps to take the photo at a slight angle, so the flash doesn't reflect right back at the camera. My other rule is to take LOTS of photos... usually at least a few end up looking good, and it's easy to delete the ones that don't.

Regarding EPROMs... a camera flash will NOT erase EPROMs. There's no need to worry about that. Unless you believe that movie stars are tan because of all the camera flashes.

DogP
 
I agree about using macro mode... and I've found that using the optical zoom (not digital zoom) on the camera and backing away from what you're imaging can also help. That also helps reduce the glare of the flash if you use one. And if using a flash, it also sometimes helps to take the photo at a slight angle, so the flash doesn't reflect right back at the camera. My other rule is to take LOTS of photos... usually at least a few end up looking good, and it's easy to delete the ones that don't.

Regarding EPROMs... a camera flash will NOT erase EPROMs. There's no need to worry about that. Unless you believe that movie stars are tan because of all the camera flashes.

DogP

+1, digital focus just blows up pixels and makes your photo look like barf. Flash is completely fine, it will not erase your eproms as DogP stated as well. Having a tripod or a super steady hand is also key when taking up close photo's/video and getting good results.
 
Regarding EPROMs... a camera flash will NOT erase EPROMs. There's no need to worry about that. Unless you believe that movie stars are tan because of all the camera flashes.

DogP

I was taking a pic of the inside of my UDOT w/ the S&T mod after I added a -5V aux board to replace the switcher. For reasons I do not know, the flash itself triggered a garbled version of the speech string that plays when the red reset plunger is tested. It scared the crap out of me, but the S&T has continued to work properly since.
 
Agreed, a flash erasing an EPROM is urban myth, old wives tale... in short, BS.

A few of my photo-taking tips:

1) Don't use your phone or tablet device. Honestly. No matter who made it or how new it is or how cool you think it is, it takes shitty pictures. Really. Use your phone to call people. Use a real camera to take pictures. It doesn't have to be a high-dollar DSLR, just an actual digital camera.

2) Use macro-mode ("flower" icon, often) if you're going to take a close-up, but try it both ways. The focal range varies from camera to camera, and even depends on the zoom setting. In general, if you're closer than a foot or 2, macro mode is the best choice. Even with macro-mode, many cameras will only focus on an object at least several inches from the lens.

3) "Half-press" the shutter button first. This allows the camera to perform it's auto focus and metering fuctions. Many will then show you an indication on the screen or view finder that it was able to sucessfully focus (or not) and if there is sufficient light. THEN fully press the button to take the photo.

4) Using bright ambient lighting (daylight or a very well lit area) and no flash often works best. If you must use a flash, avoid direct lighting. As already suggested, move off at an angle to avoid direct reflection of the flash. Another technique I use that works well is a ghetto diffuser. Just use a piece of paper, folder in half if needed (or in half twice) and hold it in front of the flash. It will diffuse the light from the flash and make it less "harsh". I've also used a white molex connector housing with success.
 
Re: Flash erasing ePROMs - I beg to differ.

We have OPEX (operating experience) in the nuclear industry where a flash camera has definately erased the EPROMs on a running system, and caused an automatic shutdown.

Our Root Cause investigations in the nuclear industry are pretty good. They duplicated the event.

While you may not have experienced it yet, you can. It depends on the EPROM (covered or not) and the strength of the flash.

I used to use a Minolta 8000i camera, with a Minolta 5200i flash (when I was actively writing for magazines). I could light a freaking stadium with that thing - it had a BIG pop.

So, forewarned is forearmed. Be careful. All the "no it can'ts" because you haven't experienced in the world won't recover your EPROMs when it happens.
 
I used to use a Minolta 8000i camera, with a Minolta 5200i flash (when I was actively writing for magazines). I could light a freaking stadium with that thing - it had a BIG pop.

That was an old, film-using camera.

Do modern flash mechanisms on digital cameras present the same risk?
 
That was an old, film-using camera.

Do modern flash mechanisms on digital cameras present the same risk?

Flash is still flash. That Minolta strobe had a guide number of about 52m. There are certainly flashes on the market that can produce that output and more. 580exII 600EX-rt, etc..

Personally, I use a setup like this for my macro stuff..
MR-14EX.jpg



Works OK..

0
 
Agree, flash is still a flash. That 5200i flash is shoe-compatible with the new Sony camera line, which they bought out from Minolta - Konica, as are the Maxxum mount lenses.

Some of the cel phones are using LEDs in lieu of a flash tube (and the need to have a stepup transformer and capacitor), which are not a flash per se.

And who doesn't put covers on EPROMs - SEGA / Gremlin didn't for one, on their Zaxxon board sets.

A Flash is an EM event. Unless you have an EM shield, well, you pays your money and you takes your chances, as the man once said.

Be careful.

And that's a nice camera - an EOS-1 with a $600 lens. Sweet! I'm still shooting with a 40D, which was good enough to get magazine quality images of avionics, and some aircraft.
 
We have OPEX (operating experience) in the nuclear industry where a flash camera has definately erased the EPROMs on a running system, and caused an automatic shutdown.
It ERASED them, or caused a glitch? I have read in datasheets about light sensitivity of EPROMs, where a bright light, or abrubt change in light level will cause a glitch while operating, but no long-term damage. I assume you're talking about this: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/gen-comm/info-notices/1997/in97082.html ? That's describing how a flash caused an EPROM based microcontroller to glitch. Similar to what i86time described. Note that the Halon system didn't need it's microcontroller reprogrammed, and i86time's S&T is still fine. They even did it over and over to determine the type of flash and maximum distance to cause problems.

An EPROM can be erased by extreme UV-C exposure only, which a Xenon flash tube does NOT output, so there's no way it'd erase the EPROM. It has some peaks at IR, but almost no UV. If it was possible to erase with a flash, why wouldn't our EPROM erasers be a strobe light? I'd love to erase an EPROM in under a second, rather than waiting 10 minutes w/ my UV eraser.

If you'd like to see the results of a test, I'd be glad to program an EPROM full of 0s, leave my strobe light (xenon tube, like a camera flash) on the fastest flash laying right on top of the EPROM, and see if any bits erase. And then to test the sensitivity, I'd read the chip while the strobe is flashing in its window.

DogP
 
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