» MAKE: NOISE — Discuss this article

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• Strobe pictures are always interesting
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  Mike (My friend) made a funky mechanical strobe using a disposable camera, he bought some small parts of camera from Electronic Parts Supplier. We got a really good shot, especially picture of a soap bubble as it pops.

  Posted by Mitch Johnson on April 19, 2011 at 02:50:37 Pacific Time

• Strobe pictures are always interesting
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  That sounds awesome. I'd love to see the image of the soap bubble popping. Do you have it up on Flickr?

  Posted by Laura Cochrane on April 19, 2011 at 09:39:40 Pacific Time

• schematic question
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  I'm trying to understand the input block. What is the purpose of R22? R1 biases the microphone high, C1 is DC blocking capacitor, R2 and R3 center op amp voltage at Vcc/2; why is R22 necessary, though.
  
  Also, since I'm mostly interested in very sharp trigger sounds, would it be useful to have a smaller C1 or R2/R3 to move the high pass cutoff frequency higher?

  Posted by jinschoi on December 19, 2008 at 04:39:57 Pacific Time

• schematic question
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  The purpose of R22 is to limit the current into the opamp in case of over-voltage at the input. This can happen if the 2.5mm connector with the high voltage from the disposable camera is mistakenly inserted into the 3.5mm connection. When this happens, it blows the phototransistor, but so far no one has blown opamp. The phototransistor is relatively easy to replace.
  
  Changing the input capacitor and resistors will create a high-pass filter, but it will probably work just as well without it.
  
  Check out the Version 4 schematic on the quaketronics.com web site. It is a better design.
  
  

  Posted by TomAnderson on December 20, 2008 at 13:19:23 Pacific Time

• Schematic for Flash Controller
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  First off, Thank you for the cool project! I'm building the flash controller from the schematic provided on the web site. Question: how much of the schematic includes the disposable camera (if any)? Should the connection between the 1/4" jack and the 2.5mm jack should be a cable? Also: Are all the (earth grounds) connected to the negetive of the battery or just connected together and isolated?

  Posted by pwolpert on August 17, 2008 at 13:48:07 Pacific Time

• Points of contact on throw-away camera
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  I have a one time use camera made by another company. I don't know exactly to where I have to solder the wires. Is it good enough to solder the wires to the too points, that when shorted, make the flash go off? If not, please explain the circuit.
  

  Posted by Megavolt on March 27, 2008 at 23:28:31 Pacific Time

• Points of contact on throw-away camera
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  You can figure out where to solder the two wires by looking at your camera and figuring out how it works. When the shutter opens, there will be some sort of conductor that moves to complete the circuit. One end of this conductor (typically a flexible wire) will to slide across a smooth metal surface, and the other end will be captive.
  In older flash controllers, you might have to reverse the wires if you get them backwards. In newer flash controllers, the polarity doesn't matter, and you can connect the wires either way.
  Keep in mind that some one-time-use cameras have faster flashes than others. The kit comes with the fastest flash we could find in a one-time-use camera. However, the SnapShotII DJ strobe is even faster.

  Posted by TomAnderson on March 28, 2008 at 08:53:01 Pacific Time

• Voltage
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  Hey, I'm more of a photographer than an electric guy, however, I don't want to pay $100 for a kit.
  
  Not including the mic, battery, and camera, how much does making it yourself cost approximately?
  
  Also, being as this is the first complicated circuit I'll have built, does it matter what the voltage on the radial ceramic disc capacitors is? Because the 500V ones are cheaper than the 1000V ones. What voltate works better? high or low?
  
  Thanks

  Posted by mplante on March 19, 2008 at 05:04:45 Pacific Time

• Making your own from scratch?
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  Please check out our upgraded
  Version 4 Flash Kit at Quaketronics. This version is optimized for hackability!

  
  
  The cost of making your own (not buying the kit) depends on the tools and parts that you already have available. To fix the type of problems that inevitably come up in a design this complex, I think you will need an oscilloscope. The tools cost a lot more than the kit, but if you buy them, you will then have tools for other projects.

  
  
  If you have an oscilloscope and tools, building this circuit yourself still costs a large fraction of, or more than, the price of the kit. This is because we get a quantity discount on parts. Your exact cost would depend on many factors, such as whether you have a circuit board built, or if you use a prototyping style of assembly. Wendell and I made enough mistakes that we spent a lot more than $100 to build the first working production unit!

  
  
  About the capacitor C8 - a high voltage rating is important. This capacitor sees high voltage 'spitback' from the one-time-use camera flash. I blew up a several lesser-rated capacitors before I settled on a 250VAC plastic box capacitor.

  
  
  For the other 0.1uF, 0.01uF, and 1000pF capacitors, a 50V rating is more than sufficient. We use radial ceramic capacitors. Disk capacitors should also work.

  
  
  In the Version 4 design, there is an opto-isolator that absorbs the spitback from the flash. We have also switched from using an SCR to a TRIAC, so that you can reverse the flash wires and it will still work. See the Quaketronics site for details, and please feel free to email me questions.

  
  
  -Tom

  Posted by TomAnderson on March 19, 2008 at 22:39:48 Pacific Time

• PCB
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  Is the PCB in your kit a single sided design? Also, I am interested in building my own controller. Is it possible you could provide the schematic and PCB files from gschem and PCB? Thank you. By the way, I love the project, it seems really cool.

  Posted by veldel37 on March 09, 2007 at 13:24:46 Pacific Time

• PCB
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  tes

  Posted by me2t on February 10, 2008 at 18:58:05 Pacific Time

• PCB
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  It's working!

  Posted by TomAnderson on February 10, 2008 at 22:16:07 Pacific Time

• PCB
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  The PC board in the Quaketronics controller is double-sided with plated-through holes. The solder side is almost a solid ground plane.

  
  We don't provide gschem or gerber files for the flash controller. You can use our schematic and I will answer circuit questions. If you build it yourself, I recommend building it a stage at a time and testing it with an oscilloscope as you go.

  Posted by TomAnderson on March 10, 2007 at 20:03:47 Pacific Time

• Read the entire article online for free!
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  Here is the link to the whole
  
  
  High Speed Flash Photography article online. Thanks to the cool guys at Make for making this article free for everyone, not just subscribers!
  

  Posted by TomAnderson on February 21, 2007 at 20:40:20 Pacific Time

• Read the entire article online for free!
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  Posted by hyperdueey on March 01, 2007 at 22:36:14 Pacific Time

• shutter button
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  How do you synchronize the flash and shutter button? Although the flash is triggered by sound (or light) the shutter button is not. So it seems to me that you have to be able to respond the sound as quickly as the flash does in order to capture the event on camera.

  Posted by ghtfryj on February 21, 2007 at 13:45:36 Pacific Time

• shutter button
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  You can read about how all this works - the entire article is online for free now.

  
  

  The answer is that you use a long exposure time in a dark room. I use a three second exposure. I press the button to open the shutter, then I have three seconds to make a noise and cause the flash to go off. Since the flash is the only light during the three second exposure, you get a picture that is frozen in time by the flash. This works great with both digital and film cameras.

  
  

  You don't need a totally dark room. I use my garage, usually at night. I have also used many rooms in the day by blocking the windows with black plastic. Some light still comes in but this is not a problem. Even longer exposures such as 20 seconds work fine.

  
  

  There are many pictures taken with
  
  the kit in the Flickr group
  
  MAKE: Strobe Photography, so I'm sure that it works!

  
  

  Posted by TomAnderson on February 21, 2007 at 20:17:04 Pacific Time

• PCB scheme
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  Can i have pcb scheme please?
  OR where can i find it?
  
  Thank you.

  Posted by stefrabid on December 30, 2006 at 10:50:32 Pacific Time

• U1 and V1
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  Hi I was wondering if someone could suggest an alternative (or alternative supplier) to the MC33201 opamp as well as the V18ZA2 varister. Digikey seems to only offer these parts in quantities of 1100 and 5000, and I only need a handful of them to build the circuit. Thanks

  Posted by chris111 on June 29, 2006 at 18:30:30 Pacific Time

• U1 and V1
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  It looks like the distributors have run short of the opamp during its transition to the lead-free version. The MC34071 opamp is not as good in this application, but it should probably work. Here are some part numbers:
  
  MC34071AP
  MC34071APG
  MC34071P
  MC34071PG
  MC33071AP
  MC33071APG
  MC33071P
  MC33071PG
  
  The varistor is available from Mouser. Right now they have a few parts left with lead, and here is the lead-free Mouser part number:
  576-V18ZA2P
  
  -Tom

  Posted by TomAnderson on June 29, 2006 at 20:55:04 Pacific Time

• U1 and V1
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  I am also having trouble procuring the MC33201 opamp, and I am considering purchasing a LM324 opamp from RadioShack. Will this work?

  Posted by divergentdave on May 23, 2008 at 21:13:00 Pacific Time

• U1 and V1
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  Using the LM324 would require some redesign. The LM324 is a quad opamp, so it has three extra opamps. The way that I connect unused opamps is to connect the output to the inverting input, and the non-inverting input to ground.
  You might also want to take a look at the circuit in the Version 4 flashkit redesign at Quaketronics. The new design uses the MCP602 dual opamp in a two-stage design.

  Posted by TomAnderson on May 23, 2008 at 22:09:01 Pacific Time

• Multiple triggers?
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  I am looking for a circuit that will trigger a strobe three times at 0.2 sec interval, followed by a 1.4 sec down time (actually, I want to alternate between two tubes, each running the pattern alternately, so that there will be 3 flashes from one, a 0.4 sec pause, 3 flashes from the other, and a 0.4 sec pause before starting the cycle over). This will be run from 12 VDC. Low heat is am important factor vis. the tubes themselves.
  
  I have purchased a commercial unit, but it maxes out at about 0.5 hz, too slow for my app. I have not broken open the "black box" yet to see what it has for componentry, but I am unsure as to whether I can modify this unit for such a fast recycle.
  
  I have looked here and it seems like I could build two trigger circuits, one for each tube, and use a 4017 decade counter to trigger the 3 flashes from each tube (tie together outputs 0, 1 and 2 and send them to trigger #1, and tie together outputs 5, 6 and 7 and send them to trigger #2, with clock to the 4017 being provided by a 555 set to 5 hz). Also, I looked here, and it looks like a buffer capacitor would be the good answer for allowing reasonably powered flash events in quick succession, considering the 1.4 sec. "recycle" time for the buffer cap.
  
  Designing circuits like this is not my forte. It won't be a commercial design, so would someone be interested in helping me with design, and parts sourcing? Low cost is important here. I'm tempted to crack open one of the trigger boxes I have here to see if I can salvage any components (AFTER discharging the big cap, of course!).
  
  Thanks for any and all help; you can email me schematics or details/info at espresso (underscore) doppio (at) yahoo (dot) com

  Posted by Azraphale on May 06, 2006 at 02:22:42 Pacific Time

• Multiple triggers?
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  I've been thinking about similar things, and I'm leaning toward throwing lots of flashes at the problem, and making the trigger relatively simple. I mean, a dumb strobe is $10, even if you buy a brand new camera at non-discount prices, and I strong suspect that you can buy (for instance) three of them for less money than it would cost to find a strobe that can cycle in 1/3 the time.

  Posted by westfw on May 11, 2006 at 17:29:03 Pacific Time

• Multiple triggers?
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  If you decrease the cycle time of the commercial strobe unit, you should also decrease its output light power. If you do not decrease the power, you are likely to overstress one or more of the strobe components, and possibly overheat. One way to both decrease the power and the cycle time would be to decrease the flash capacitor size. One fourth the capacitance should cycle four times as fast, and have one fourth the power per flash. This keeps the total power the same as the original unit.
  
  If you stay below 320 volts or so, you may be able to use capacitors from disposable cameras as replacement parts. As noted below, some camera stores may give these cameras to you for free, which should help with your cost goals.
  
  You could also purchase three SnapShotII strobes and build the circuit that you have described, or drive these strobes from the parallel port of a computer. The SnapShotII is easy to control with simple logic levels. The flash controller kit uses a 4.3V logic signal, and I believe the SnapShotII is designed to work with up to 10V logic levels.
  
  The flash controller in the kit is designed to prevent multiple flashes, which is a common problem in simpler, lower-cost sound-triggered designs. The multiple flashes could be caused by sound echoes, for example. The holdoff in the kit is about four seconds. This value can be decreased by decreasing the value of C18, which is a 10uF capacitor. This capacitor is the little can which is right above my name on the board's silkscreen. For each factor of 10 that C18 is decreased, the holdoff time will decrease by a factor of 10. A 0.1uF capacitor would give a holdoff of about .04 seconds.

  Posted by TomAnderson on May 06, 2006 at 23:28:39 Pacific Time

• Cheep flash assemblies...
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  Cheep flash assemblies... so you don't have to take apart the disposable camera.
  
  http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/FSH-12/100/FLASH_ASSEMBLY_.html

  Posted by bob_log on March 20, 2006 at 01:02:32 Pacific Time

• Cheep flash assemblies...
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  I got my disposable camera for free from Walgreens. I just asked for a used one at the photo counter and the guy was even nice enough to show me how to take them apart and where to keep my fingers away from to avoid a shock.
  

  Posted by veldel37 on April 02, 2006 at 22:57:49 Pacific Time

• Cheep flash assemblies...
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  The nice part about converting the disposable camera to the flash is that the plastic camera case keeps the high voltage away from your fingers, and provides durability for the finished project, all for less than $5!

  Posted by TomAnderson on March 20, 2006 at 01:58:58 Pacific Time

• MC33201 Opamp -vs- ?
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  How critical is the gain on the Amplifier Block? Could the MC33201 be swaped out for another Opamp? Like a L272 or a LM386N.

  Posted by bob_log on March 19, 2006 at 14:45:50 Pacific Time

• MC33201 Opamp -vs- ?
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  The amplifier block provides gain for the microphone and the photodetector. If you only want to trigger on loud noises, you don't need so much gain. The gain circuit in the kit provides gain range so that you can trigger on soft noises, such as the splash from a drop of water, and loud noises, such as from a bursting balloon. For light, you can trigger with bright lights, such as strobe light, or relatively small changes in light.

  The LM386 will not work with our gain control circuit. You might be able to get the L272 to work.

  We chose the MC33201 because it is a rail-to-rail opamp that works well in a 9V single-supply system.

  Posted by TomAnderson on March 19, 2006 at 22:15:54 Pacific Time

• PCB
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  Does anybody have a PCB Layout file? If so, can you provide me with it? I'm ready to make my board.
  
  Thanks,
  
  Chris

  Posted by sirhc108 on March 17, 2006 at 22:51:38 Pacific Time

• PCB
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  Send an email request to support (at) quaketronics.com and let me know what you are trying to do. I will see if I can help.

  Posted by TomAnderson on March 18, 2006 at 20:18:03 Pacific Time

• PCB
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  Hi,
  
  I sent an email to the address below but never got a response. Does anyone out there have a layout? I started making one in Eagle, but haven't completed the layout portion yet. If I'm successful, I'll certainly share the file... but that may be a while away.
  
  Thanks,
  
  Drew Noakes.

  Posted by drewnoakes on August 09, 2006 at 08:02:47 Pacific Time

• PCB
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  i would like to request the PCB Layout file, too.
  
  please, thank you.

  Posted by popularme on August 19, 2006 at 13:17:05 Pacific Time

• No Flash
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  I built the cicuit (correctly, I hope :) ), but when I plug the one time use camera, the flash refuses to fire even if I short the two prongs. If I unplug the flash controller though, I can cause the camera to flash by shorting the two prongs. Would you have any idea what's wrong, or do I just need to calmly sit down and check the whole circuit again. Thank you very much for the great article.

  Posted by veldel37 on March 14, 2006 at 07:33:45 Pacific Time

• No Flash
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  It's difficult to debug your circuit from here. You can see this video to watch how we test the Quaketronics flash controllers, which use the same circuit. To debug this type of circuit, an oscilloscope is very useful. If you don't have an oscilloscope, it is difficult to 'see' what is going on in your circuit.

  A few things can be checked with a voltmeter. For example, check all the pins of the parts that are supposed to be connected to the battery, and make sure they all have 9 Volts on them. Then check all of the pins that are supposed to be connected to ground, and make sure that they 0 Volts on them. Once you are sure the power supplies are correct, trace the input signal going left to right through the schematic. Many of the circuit blocks are explained in the article in Make 04, so that you can figure out how they are supposed to work.

  If you still have trouble with your build, I can provide you with more voltage levels that you should be able to measure. For example, pin 3 of U1 should be at about 4.5 volts.

  You can also get help from me via email from support (at) quaketronics.com. It is easier for me to type and include pictures that way! Please send a closeup picture of your build if possible, this will make it easier for me to figure out what is going on.

  Posted by TomAnderson on March 14, 2006 at 09:46:56 Pacific Time

• R4, R13
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  Are R4 and R13 resistors as shown on the parts list or are they potentiometers as shown by the schematic? That is sort of confusing me. Thanks.

  Posted by veldel37 on March 05, 2006 at 17:04:21 Pacific Time

• R4, R13
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  R4 and R13 are linear-taper potentiometers, as shown on the schematic. R4 adjusts gain and R13 adjusts delay.
  
  Sorry for the confusion!

  Posted by TomAnderson on March 06, 2006 at 09:11:20 Pacific Time

• Broken Link
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  Can anyone send me the pdf file of the circuit diagram? The link seems to be broken. kirklauren@gmail.com

  Posted by laurenkirk on February 17, 2006 at 12:38:15 Pacific Time

• Capacitors
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  What kind of capacitor is C8? Thanks.

  Posted by veldel37 on February 07, 2006 at 14:35:54 Pacific Time

• Capacitors
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  C8 is a 0.1uF 250VAC rated film capacitor. I used a box-style capacitor. This type of capacitor is made by AVX and other manufacturers. Other types of 0.1uF capacitors should work, but I think you will have best results with a rugged, high-voltage part.

  Posted by TomAnderson on February 08, 2006 at 02:09:33 Pacific Time

• Strobe Photogrophy...
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  Hi, i dont really understand how this system works. Surely a rythmic flash will only freeze images that are rotating? Does the device connect in any way to the camera or does it just flash? do you still have to try and press the button at the right time to catch the image?
  
  Thanks for any info.

  Posted by hoarp001 on January 12, 2006 at 06:44:15 Pacific Time

• Strobe Photogrophy...
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  The flash fires only once for the picture. It can be triggered by either sound or light. There is an adjustable delay after the trigger.
  
  It is not necessary to press the button on the camera at just the right time. The trick is that the camera shutter speed is set to a long time. I usually use three seconds to capture motion. First I put the camera on a tripod to keep it pointed in the right direction. Then I turn out the lights so that the room is dark. I press the button on the camera to take the picture. Then I have three seconds to do whatever I want to take a picture of, such as pop a balloon. The sound from the balloon triggers the flash just once. There is special circuitry in the flash controller to prevent the strobe from going off multiple times.
  
  There are no wires connected between the camera and the rest of the system.
  
  There are lots of example pictures at Th e Make Strobe Photography Pool.
  

  Posted by TomAnderson on January 12, 2006 at 09:06:48 Pacific Time

• Need Some Help With schematics
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  Dear Makers,
  I have a few questions about the sound trigger flash circuit diagram:
  1) What is the Vcc
  
  2)my 2.5mm conn looks like this
  _____
  |< >|
  | >|
  |< _|
  |_| Which prongs are M1, M4, M5, M6
  
  Also for the ¼ in conn mine looks like this
  
  __________________________
  | |--- |__|
  |
  |_______________|-------
  Which prongs are S, T, and R
  
  3)what does an arrow pointing to a resistor mean?
  
  4)for my 3.5mm audio conn, mine only has 4 conductors, the one in the diagram has 5, will mine work? It is a sj-43514
  
  Thanks for the help!
  

  Posted by vzw3s on January 04, 2006 at 01:23:03 Pacific Time

• Need Help with Parts
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  Does anybody know where I can find the following part:
  QSE114
  X0402 SCR
  MC33201
  NE555
  
  
  ALSO, WHAT IS THE VOLTAGE ON THE FOLLOING:
  1000pF radial ceramic
  0.01 uF
  .1uF
  
  Thanks,
  
  sirhc108

  Posted by sirhc108 on January 26, 2006 at 12:16:23 Pacific Time

• Need Help with Parts
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  The parts that you mentioned are all available from www.digikey.com. Our 0.01uF and 0.1uF capacitors are rated at 50V, and I think our 1000pF is rated at 100V. Any rating of 25V or higher should be fine for these capacitors. The exception is the 0.1uF capacitor that is connected to the trigger input of the SCR, C8. That one is high voltage, as noted in the material list.

  Posted by TomAnderson on January 27, 2006 at 00:09:32 Pacific Time

• Need Help with Parts
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  thanks tomaco59.
  
  I was successful in getting most of the parts at a local electronics store. But I did run into some trouble finding the following:
  
  QSE114 Phototransistor
  MC33201 opamp
  
  Can you send me a link or an NTE reference number. That seems to be the number that everybody uses.
  
  This is my first project, so I'm sorry for the trouble. Thanks.
  
  

  Posted by sirhc108 on January 28, 2006 at 19:57:40 Pacific Time

• Need Help with Parts
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  You can get these parts from Digi-Key, either by web, telephone, or mail order.
  Go to their web site and type the part numbers into their 'Part Search' text box.
  To see where Digi-Key delivers internationally, see their international page.

  Posted by TomAnderson on January 28, 2006 at 21:58:30 Pacific Time

• Need Some Help With schematics
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  Vcc is just a comment on the schematic. It means that this is the power supply voltage.
  
  The 2.5mm connector makes three connections:
  
  
  
  1. It connects the center conductor of the 2.5mm cable to the X0402.
  
  
  2. It connects the outer conductor of the 2.5mm cable to ground.
  
  
  3. It connects the battery negative terminal to ground.
  
  
  
  Connections 1 and 2 will work with any 2.5mm connector. The third connection turns the flash controller on and off. Your connector will work if you just use it for connections 1 and 2 and make connection 3 some other way.
  
  The 1/4" connector is similar. It also has a third connection that turns the flash controller on.
  
  
  
  1. It connects the center conductor of the 1/4" cable to R24.
  
  
  2. It connects the outer conductor of the 1/4" cable to ground.
  
  
  3. It connects the battery negative terminal to ground.
  
  
  
  Your connector will work if you just use it for connections 1 and 2 and make connection 3 some other way.
  
  The result is that plugging into either the 2.5mm connector or the 1/4" connector will turn on the flash controller. You can use a toggle switch to turn the battery on and off, and use simpler connectors.
  
  The arrow pointing to the resistor means that the resistor is a variable resistor, also called a potentiometer. You'll see these used as volume controls. The arrow refers to the middle terminal of the potentiometer, which is connected to the wiper. If you take apart an old volume control, you'll see a ring of resistive material with a wiper that slides
  across it.
  
  The 3.5mm audio connector has another clever function. When the computer microphone is disconnected, it connects the phototransistor.
  Your connector won't be able to do this switching function. The 3.5mm audio connector makes these connections:
  
  
  
  1. When the cable is not connected, it connects the QSE114 to R1.
  
  
  2. When the cable is connected, it connects both channels of
     the computer microphone to R1.
  
  
  3. When the cable is connected, it connects the shield of
     the microphone cable to ground.
  
  
  
  You can use your connector and add a toggle switch to change the connection between the computer microphone and the phototransistor.
  
  A great reference for understanding schematics is "The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill.

  Posted by TomAnderson on January 04, 2006 at 13:25:50 Pacific Time

• maybe this is better?
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  appearently posting deletes the extra spacing so let me try to fix those pictures
  |<...>|
  |....>|
  |<..._|
  |_|
  __________________________
  |...............|---
  ................|
  |_______________|-------
  
  
  
  

  Posted by vzw3s on January 04, 2006 at 01:26:01 Pacific Time

• How do you use your digital camera in place of the disposable camera?
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  Maybe I missed something but how would I use my digital camera?

  Posted by Netminder25 on November 30, 2005 at 13:07:08 Pacific Time

• How do you use your digital camera in place of the disposable camera?
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  You always take the pictures with your own digital camera. The disposable camera is hacked to turn it into a low-cost high-speed flash, and the film from the disposable camera is thrown away.

  
  
  If you want to use the flash in your digital camera, you will need some way to synchronize it. The flash controller has two outputs that can synchronize an external flash to the microphone or the photosensor inputs. One synch output is a digital output on the 1/4" connector, it can drive a SnapShotII DJ strobe. The other flash controller output can trigger the disposable camera flash, but it can also trigger a regular camera external flash if you have the right cable. If your flash has a PC cable, you might be able to use a cable made by Hama - their 2.5mm to PC cable. We are starting to put together details on hacking your own cables for this output, and our latest info will be in the FAQ at quaketronics.com.

  
  
  The challenge with external flashes is that many of them are relatively slow in speed, especially high power ones. High-end flashes such as the Nikon SB-80 have low power settings that are very fast, even faster than the disposable camera flash and also faster than the SnapShotII.

  Posted by TomAnderson on November 30, 2005 at 20:02:30 Pacific Time

• protective goggles...
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  before anyone goes about trying out this project, i would like to point out something that might be obvious to others, but wasn't to be the first time i picked apart a disposable camera: wear protective goggles!
  
  two years ago i walked around with a huge trashbag and collected some 150 disposable cameras from small photo-stores that were more than happy to get rid of them. i wanted to harves the batteries, capacitators and the shutter-mechanisms (i'm a photographer by trade).
  i got zapped quite in the beginning until i put on some rubber gloves and shorted the capacitator when cracking the cameras open. sparks were flying from circuit-boards, and it was when one hit me just below one eye and left a burn mark that i got up and got some eye-gear.
  
  really, it's such an obvious thing to do, but if i didn't think of it, there's a risk someone else wont either.
  
  

  Posted by f64 on November 03, 2005 at 08:26:51 Pacific Time

• If the kits sell out or are too expensive..
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  Perhaps the kit is either a little pricey (especially once converted to UK pounds plus tax plus shipping) or they may sell out.. In which case you may be intrested to see this site which sells similar kits:
  http://www.hiviz.com/
  with some tutorials and other information on high-speed photography.

  Posted by willwade on October 30, 2005 at 13:15:21 Pacific Time

• Kit?
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  The article was quite interesting (just got my copy of Make 4 yesterday), but it referenced a kit version (where you would have to solder the board) didn't it? Is that available somewhere?

  Posted by mbcook on October 28, 2005 at 13:35:45 Pacific Time

• Kit?
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  has anyone had problems using a laser to trigger the flash/strobes? I have the gain turned all the way up and tried both a laser pointer and a higher power laser level pointed into the eye. Breaking the laser does nothing, but it will trigger two strobes by flashing my camera flash at it. Am I missing a step?

  Posted by Lebowski on March 14, 2006 at 23:46:26 Pacific Time

• Kit?
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  There is a description of how to best use the eye input with a laser pointer in the Flashkit Frequently Asked Questions. One other user reported having trouble triggering with a laser pointer, but this problem was quickly solved by aligning the beam on the little lens and making sure that the beam is perpendicular to the lens. Drawings and more details are in the FAQ.

  Posted by TomAnderson on March 15, 2006 at 08:37:36 Pacific Time

• Kit?
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  Hi!
  
  Thanks for your message. The kit is available at makezine.com/go/flashkit -- we'll make that link a little more obvious above.
  
  Cheers,
  t
  

  Posted by terrie on October 28, 2005 at 14:41:54 Pacific Time