Applications Of Fast And Slow Streak Recording Cameras

This paper deals with two applications of streak photography in everyday industrial and biological research and development endeavors. In each instance, the simplicity and low cost with which the data could be reduced to useful information and the ease with which it could be communicated to other technical personnel was an important side benefit. In the first case, a laboratory built rotating drum streak camera with a 12" circumference, was used to study the performance of the new Olympus F280 flash on an Olympus 0M4-T camera. The strobing frequency, starting characteristics, duration under manual and camera control, flash relationship to shutter curtain position, flash initiation and curtain velocities were examined. In the second case, a standard oscilloscope recording camera was modified to study the growth characteristics of a fungus culture growing under controlled laboratory conditions for periods up to one full week. The streak photographs, taken at ultra slow rates, were correlated with 2-dimensional photographs taken at regular intervals to eliminate ambiguity in the growth cycle whe the photographs were included in a written report.