Muzzle Flash

[walter t]

Hi All,
I have seen some nice pics of cannons going off with a nice muzzle flash, I have yet to see one on my cannons, is there a trick to getting a nice orange fireball to shoot out the muzzle?
Walter t

[GGaskill]

It's a function of how much powder is fired.  A safe load with a projectile will probably not give much of a flash.

[EL Caz 66]

The best way to see the muzzle flash is using a digital video camera playing in slow motion or using a video program on your computer  taking the shot of frame of the muzzle flash turning it Jpeg file. so here two sample of that.

[Don Krag]

The flash is so momentary, that I don't really see it with my naked eye the same as it shows up on film. A camera, even a digital camera, films over a time frame. A still shot or single frame will show quite a bit of flame since you're looking at everything generated during that time frame at once. If you had an ultrahigh speed video, you'd see the actual path of the flame more defined instead of nothingness, then a ball of flame, then a cloud of smoke. Even with video, I don't get much flame out of a projectile being fired with a proper load.

[EL Caz 66]

Don,

take a close look at this Vid, no ultra high speed video used here and you can see flame first then smoke..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptWZRdaWIdE

[Don Krag]

Standard video such as that probably only has three or four frames of actual muzzle blast. If it were done iwith high speed, you'd be able to slow it down and see the flame exit the muzzle with a projectile/wadding in front and track it along it's path in perfect clarity since it could have several hundred frames covering the same event. Some of the ultra high speed stuff will do insane amounts of frames per second with extremely fast shutter systems. Really neat stuff. You can set up strobes with some for the pics of bullets cutting cards and such.

Here's a cool link:
http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/48547/page/1?&print=yes

Maybe we could get one of the researchers interested in cannons!

more cool muzzle video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiDPcsIzaEw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ye2cqFG3n8&NR

For the best one I've seen with muzzle blast, including gasses escaping through windage and exiting before projectile, go here and scroll down to the one titled "projectile". I don't even want to know what a camera that does 2,000+ frames/sec with a shutter of 1/10,000 costs!
http://www.visionresearch.com/index.cfm?sector=htm/app&page=gallery

[Double D]

Don If your are talking about the smoke ring, I don't think that is gases escaping due to windage.  I think that is air in the tube ahead of the projectile being compressed by the sudden acceleration of the projectile moving down the barrel.,  Kinds like the "smoke trails" that come of the trialing  edge of jets wings  when they make sudden turns.   

Don't ask me the physicts of it, just turn of Discovery Channel sooner or later they'll explain it.

[Cannonmaker]

Being old fashioned, I use a 33mm SLR.  Use a slower film as 100, and shoot near evening when the light starts to dim.  You will have a narrow window of time and may get some blur.  The slower shutter speed  helps to get that perfict shot.  I use a tripod, low to the ground.  Don't extend any legs and count down to when the gun goes off, then shoot, shoot, shoot.  Shoot lots of film, It's the best way to "catch the moment".

 In the gallery of my website, under cannons firing, is a picture of a mortar with the soda can just leaving the the tube.  That shot took lots of film.. May get one good picture a roll.  I think that is the mortar Radio2 now ownes.

Good luck and let us know how you do.

Rick

[Don Krag]

Hah...I'll pass on the physics of high-speed air-rings. It would just make my head hurt! I figured it was blowby due to type of projectile. I wouldn't have expected the air to be that discolored/opaque and such a nice ring. I would have pictured it more like the shockwaves...more as a mushroom shape. I wonder what the velocity of the projectile is.

I do similar to Rick. I film several shots with 8mm and digital video, then go through each one frame by frame to find some I like.

[EL Caz 66]

Don,
Thanks posting the links now I better understand what you mean. check out this one Video. pretty cool watch the Golfball .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfEMhGddIgA

[radio2]

How do you slow the video down?

[Don Krag]

These aren't merely slowing down the video, they're shot with special high-speed video equipment that can shoot at 2000-35000 frames per second with shutter speeds around 1/10000.

[radio2]

Don, PM sent