[GSk]

Hi.

Was waiting outside a gas station for my wife and son, and took some pictures. Noticed that some numbers from the sign was missing in the picture, although the sign had no errors. I took some more shots, and all of them missing som numbers, but which ones was random. In reality all numbers were equally bright.

Can someone explain how this can happen?

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Last edited by GSk; 03-02-2008 at 08:44 AM.

[code4code5]

I imagine that you were probably taking the pictures at night. Letters used for signs have a certain amount of reflectivity, but as a sign ages, letters need to be replaced. Older letters are typically more dirty and weather warn than new and don't reflect as much light. I've never tried to take a picture like you've described, but I imagine that a camera would accentuate the difference more than the mind perceived. Of course, I could be talking completely out my rear end, FWIW.

[DAZ]

Modern LED display systems (especially ones to be used in bright light like the sun) are strobe at about 60Hz. This makes them look brighter to the eye but still have a low average power so they don’t burn out. I see from the EXIF data that the slowest shutter speed you used was 1/200s. If you use a speed of 1/30s or slower you will get all the numbers.

DAZ

[flyer]

That's caused by light flickering due to AC current. The eye doesn't see the flickering, but a fast enough (1/125 or faster) will see it.