SGT at Soarin'

[Big Wallaby]

Randy B you now probably will not here from Syndrome for a while. She will be in her lab making a device like you described and making it so she can easily get it into the parks and into shows and rides.

Oooh! Oooh! I wanna help!

Actually, were Disney to put something like that in all the rides so that they shine on the ride path and into everyone's cameras, I should think that people would get the message pretty quickly...at least those who go digital...

[Randy B]

Oooh! Oooh! I wanna help!

Actually, were Disney to put something like that in all the rides so that they shine on the ride path and into everyone's cameras, I should think that people would get the message pretty quickly...at least those who go digital...

I like it, but think (as a photog who follows the rules) I would like to make a slight change. If the IR LED Array were turned on when a flash was sensed it could still do nasty things to the photo while those of us who are polite and don't use a flash could still get the photo. And the LEDs would only be on for the length of the flash so they would last much longer than if they are always on.

And the device is very easy and cheap to design and build. And for those areas where photography is never allowed the arrays could be built into the scenery and always on. If every time you try to take a photo of a "no-no" you get nothing but a blank white image, you learn very quick. The biggest problem with this kind of no photo system is that, since the LED output is invisible, checking to see if any of them have burned out will require special goggles.

Randy

[Big Wallaby]

checking to see if any of them have burned out will require special goggles.

Or a Cast Member with a camera :D:

[mechurchlady]

Oooh! Oooh! I wanna help!

Actually, were Disney to put something like that in all the rides so that they shine on the ride path and into everyone's cameras, I should think that people would get the message pretty quickly...at least those who go digital...

This might work on guests who check their digital camera the does not work on us people who have undeveloped film from our 1993 trip.

[Alyssa3467]

And for those areas where photography is never allowed the arrays could be built into the scenery and always on. If every time you try to take a photo of a "no-no" you get nothing but a blank white image, you learn very quick. The biggest problem with this kind of no photo system is that, since the LED output is invisible, checking to see if any of them have burned out will require special goggles.

Like, say, maybe the photo preview area at Attractions that have photos, where the photos say "© Disney" at the bottom and Disney has not granted permission for Guests to reproduce the image?

[Syndrome]

I came up with a better solution. Most Digital cameras and camcorders are sensitive to IR light which is invisible to the human eye. So if you go to an electronics supplier (like Radio Shack) and get a large number of IR LEDs (like are used in IR TV remotes) and make a large array of them running off a battery. Then put an extendable pole handle on it and you can hold this thing in the camera view, pointing at the camera. It would look to the eye like it is unlit. But the photos will have a glaring bright light in it as if you had held a flood light in the same location. It may even confuse the auto exposure to close down the iris to the point that the only thing visible will be the bright display and everything else will be black.

Randy

Ahhhhh, if only I was as skilled at constructing evil devices as my namesake! This would be the FIRST thing I would pack for every single one of my Disney cruises!! Since I've been accused of being "rude" by SGs for daring to actually ask them to follow the rules and not blind me with their damn strobing flash every 2 minutes while I'm trying to watch "Disney Dreams," I could bask in the satisfaction of giving them a lasting souvenir mark on every pic. :twisted:

[ktulu]

Wouldn't the IR tool interfere with the night vision camera's that the CM's use on dark rides?

Otherwise, just buy an IR spot light like the military uses, those things are awesome :)

[Rob562]

[quote="Randy B"]Or tries to take a flash photo from the top row of a stadium.

Hint to the non photogs out there, a standard flash will have an effective range of 10-12 ft. Even a high quality (read: multi hundred to multi thousand dollars) pro flash may only extend the range to 50'. So a flash photo from the top of the stadium will only give you a good photo of the backs of heads in the next 3-5 rows, and nothing else. ]

The one time I can excuse photo flashes going off in places where they'd be of no practical use (such as the stadium scenario), is if they were from a disposable camera. I found that unless you have a version that you can specifically turn off the flash or that you have to purposely charge it up each time, the flash auto-recharges after every photo. Thus, after the first flash photo, your flash is going to go off for every pic whether you want it or not. Even if the thing sits for a couple days, there's still enough of a charge in the capacitor for SOME bit of flash to go off. (And then it re-charges and starts the whole cycle over again).

Of course, if you have one of these cameras and are taking photos inside during the attractions.... GRRRRRRR.......

Note that most of the Kodak cameras they sell in the parks are of the auto-recharge variety... At least they were the last time I actually bought one before going all-digital about 4 years ago.

-Rob

[Rob562]

Wouldn't the IR tool interfere with the night vision camera's that the CM's use on dark rides?

Otherwise, just buy an IR spot light like the military uses, those things are awesome :)

Actually, it would help, unless you were shining your IR light source directly into their cameras. Disney uses IR sources to illuminate their in-the-dark security cameras. You can see these light sources in a few places, such as along the tunnels on the TTA.

Some video cameras are even sensitive enough to be able to pick them up as glowing white sources of light. I've seen a video from on-board Tower of Terror, and as the car is pulling into the drop shaft (in the dark), you can see the large bank of IR lights above where the car will be sitting in the shaft, illuminating the interior of the car for the security camera.

To the CMs, a handheld IR source like the one described would look to them like someone shining a flashlight around.

-Rob

[Big Wallaby]

The key is to get it to shine brightly on the ride path, but nowhere else... you would almost need a broad IR laser, or a series of them or something, so that it doesn't flood the room with IR light for the camera.