I used this method for photographing fireworks at the Pyrotechnics Guild International in Mason City, Iowa USA this past Friday night. It was easy. I had some trouble in that the fairgrounds where it was held was jam-packed and we had to sit in some bleachers. I brought along only a short tripod and I was unable to get a good, clear view of the show through the camera and I was also unable to view the camera's display as it was a knee level.
The script worked well but I had a lot of over-exposed photos using a 5 second exposure. I think that is simply due to the shear volume of fireworks in this tremendous show. You live and learn, I guess.
I am still relatively new to CHDK and am wondering the set-up sequence for this technique. I set the camera to a 5 second shutter speed and then set the focus to infinity. However, when I turned the camera off and re-started it in CHDK mode the focus went back to the default and didn't stay at infinity. That wasn't a big deal as the camera focused automatically on each shutter click...but how should I have started the camera to avoid that?
Pete
Nice shots. I have friends in the club I belong to that shot a show there.
I have been using this for I'm gonna guess a year on and off and seem to get some pretty good shots with my S3 IS set to f8 and 0.4 sec exposure, ISO 80, which is very much slower that what you are using. I am still playing with settings and am going to push the exposure time out more when I get a chance to really play again.
This is from a demo shoot the club did this spring -
Here is one of the best shots from the July 4th 2009 Show in NYC
The entire set of the best shots is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10576200@N00/sets/72157622220132801/I do a lot of pyro video as well, sometimes with rented cams paid for by others, so I need to make sure what I shoot is top-notch, as such at most events I am more concerned with that and don't get a lot of time to mess with settings that are "good enough", but hopefully will get at least one more chance before the cold weather hits at a private shoot in late October.
