I have both orbs and a UFO!

mysteryshopper · Number of posts: 141 Registration date: 2008-02-05

It's because most digital cameras have a much bigger depth of field compared to film versions - see http://www.assap.org/newsite/articles/Orb%20Zone%20Theory.html#OZT

Mauro · Number of posts: 217 Age: 33 Registration date: 2007-10-12

mysteryshopper wrote:

I can see the photo now - it was a problem with my ISP (now fixed - I hope!).

The photo appears to show a city or town night taken from above - a hill perhaps. There appears to be a stone parapet bottom right with foliage (trees and a hedge?) just beyond. All the larger orbs are hexagonal which means the smaller ones probably are as well even though it can't be seen.

Given the even distribution of the orbs, their most likely source is raindrops. What I assume to be the 'UFO' doesn't appear to be hexagonal but it is so small it is difficult to tell. Assuming it isn't hexagonal then that means it is in focus, unlike the orbs. It is difficult to say, from the photo, what it is. If it is within a few metres then it may be reflecting the flash and could be some small object dangling on a thread (a spider) or flying (a moth). If it is further away then it is shining by itself. It might therefore be a light on a hill opposite or aircraft lights.

Your powers of observation continue to serve you well. yes, indeed the picture was taken from a hill overlooking a town, yer there's a stone parapet with some potted plants and a few cypress trees in the picture and yes, there's even an aircraft landing light in it.
The only thing left to explain are the orbs themselves.
I took the picture during a very dry evening and there was a slight breeze coming from the south and hence blowing right across my field of view, moving dust from my right to my my left... that's some fine orb material!
No to the camera, without which none of this would be possible. I used a Fuji Finepix 500, decent quality but, as is common with most digital cameras, with a small lens (17 mm) and, what's even more important, a short focal length, f. In this particular model f = 4.7mm to 15.1mm, which is roughly equivalent to f = 28mm to 90mm in a traditional 35mm camera. About these orbs' peculiar shape I'll quote from a popular magazine "When an object with a similar shape as the aperture of the camera lens is brought out-of-focus, the object will begin to take the shape of the aperture", which will save me the trouble of explaining how intereference figures are generated. I also put the setting in "Auto" instead than on "Night": the latter delays shutter speed considerably and use a different exposure sensor than normal settings.
I will ask my brother to borrow his professional digital camera and try to take a picture with that...

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Fas: Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum.

matt.h · Number of posts: 100 Registration date: 2008-01-30

mysteryshopper wrote:

Unfortunately 'orbs' are now sometimes confsed with balls of light. Orbs are mere photographic artefacts. Balls of light, by contrast, may be some kind of genuine phenomenon though, sadly, they are now swamped by reports of dreaded orbs.

Yup, there's certainly a whole range of other light anomalies, for want of a better word, that are a very different saucepan of haddock to photographic orbs. I think a lot of these can be explained by the eyes playing tricks in the dark, especially when people are regularly switching from torch light to pitch blackness, but there's certainly a rump of more interesting reports.

LeeWat · Subject: Re: I have both orbs and a UFO! Tue 02 Sep 2008, 6:57 pm

So then Mauro, by your explaination the shape of the "orbs" is caused by the iris of the camera giving the objects (dust) that hexaganol shape all facing the same way ? Makes sense to me.

Mauro · Number of posts: 217 Age: 33 Registration date: 2007-10-12

LeeWat wrote:

So then Mauro, by your explaination the shape of the "orbs" is caused by the iris of the camera giving the objects (dust) that hexaganol shape all facing the same way ? Makes sense to me.

Precisely. And I may add that the flash I used, not being so powerful as I expected, probably spoiled things a little.
The funny thing is I knew there would be a lot of dust in the air that evening, but could not see any. Imagine how many times that happened during an evening ghost hunt.

_________________
Fas: Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum.

mysteryshopper · Number of posts: 141 Registration date: 2008-02-05

It's rare to see dust but it's there all the time. To see it you just need a powerful light. A camera flash does the same job.

wombat · Subject: Re: I have both orbs and a UFO! Wed 03 Sep 2008, 1:41 pm

mysteryshopper wrote:

It's because most digital cameras have a much bigger depth of field compared to film versions - see http://www.assap.org/newsite/articles/Orb%20Zone%20Theory.html#OZT

mystery - ah! How very interesting - thanks very much.