iPod version

Manufacturer	Model	Distributor	FPS	Shutter Speed	Full Resolution	Clip Length
Photron	ultima APX	MCT Cameras David Wiese	1000	1/1000	1024×1024	0′06″

Lens	Focal Length	F-Stop	White Balance	ISO Speed	Lighting
Nikon 50mm f/1.2		f/2.0	3100k	Default	None

When I was in high school my metals teacher thought it would be best to demonstrate the flammability of acetylene by filling a balloon with it and then lighting it with a match (at the end of a very long stick). The result of which was a silent but bright explosion with a deep black, sooty smoke. I decided to duplicate that and catch it at high-speed to see exactly what was going on. We filled three balloons with acetylene, each was filled with a different amount. The first was a very small, rather pathetic looking balloon. The next was about what you get from about two good breaths and the third was about 3/4 of a normal size balloon. This is the first of the three. The resulting fireball is rather small, but still large considering the amount of gas. We lit this using a match stuck in a very long pole. Due to the fact that it was after dark while we were shooting this you don’t get a chance to see the smoke. It does however give us a nice set of frames to work with for effects footage….or it would if I had removed the Lexan shield first. The reflection you see in this shot is light reflecting off of the shield. I also cut this clip off a bit too soon so it doesn’t fade out completely before it ends. In the next two videos you will see it minus the reflection since there was no need for the shield. I do not recommend trying this at home unless you happen to be a licensed welder (which is who we had set this shot up for us, thank you Eric!) or a pyrotechnician. After showing this shot to David at MCT Cameras he informed me that the big sister to the camera we have has an auto exposure dampening feature that would have knocked out that bloom and given us a nice clear picture of the resulting fireball. This is good to keep in mind if you are going to be renting or purchasing a camera for this sort of shot. Hopefully we can get our hands on that particular camera and test it out and compare the footage!

Full Resolution download: Free – Right Click/Save as…here. JPG Sequence 3.88MB