'Rods': Artefacts of Moving Picture TechnologyJust a brief note on 'rods', promoted in the late 1990s as 'paranormal' objects, generally out-of-focus lines with a regular pattern, found on video images.Every observational device produces artefacts: coloured diffraction with lenses, Newton's rings with thin films, an eyelash seen in an eyepiece, stretched-out (or compressed) moving objects with cameras that have focal-plane shutters, and the appearance of double lines in a single membrane with electron microscopy are examples in ascending order of likelihood of a mistake. Insect wings come in several designs; 100 to 600 beats per second are common with flies, mosquitoes, and midges; the smaller the faster, generally. A video camera operating at 30 frames per second, each frame taking (say) 1/100 of a second, will record six beats of an insect with 600 beats per second, run together on the same frame. In fact the number of wing-beats per second can be calculated from such videos. Butterflies and moths have much slower wingbeat rates which don't show as 'rods'; probably this is the reason for the uninteresting colouring of 'rods' generally. Insects aren't generally well-lit, so good videos of 'rods' usually have a dark background, the camcorder itself happening to be brightly-lit by sunlight or a night security camera. (Or they may be dark against a bright sky). Because of the insect connection, these images are often made at dusk and in country areas. Obviously the camcorder focusing is usually on mid- or far-distant subject-matter, giving the impression of fast speeds. Note, 4 Dec 2021, on Forehead Lamps: It occurs to that miners' and cavers' head-mounted lights, usually LED, and maybe infra red lamps, Have a similar effect because of the unusual style of lighting, when close objects—rain, snow, dust, cigarette smoke—and especially insects, gives the emphasis. They show up as objects in front of darkness show up. Click for Index to all my general interest items collected in one file Click for Home page of entire big-lies.org site HTML Rae West First uploaded 2013-Jan-21 'Rod' image from a Youtube by HSWT2009 Forehead lamp note 4 Dec 2021 |