2010 Pictures from the Rfalconcam cameras

[Shaky]

[
Shaky said last week they were playing around with the Main cam....I liked it better when it was brighter.

It would have still been dark at 6 AM when it was raining with the old settings.

[Donna]

6am today

5am in february. I see a big difference in lighting

[Donna]

Mark is right! 

[Lord G]

6am today

5am in february. I see a big difference in lighting

It looks to me like the earlier settings relied on a boosted ISO settting (ISO is the sensitivity of the camera's imaging sensor), whereas the current configuration may be using a wide aperture and/or long exposure combined with lower ISO.  The lower ISO results in much lower signal noise, to the extent that, while the building's floodlights are on, I can actually read the Boy Scout troop info burned into the back of the box.  It's impossible to do that with the noise in the image from February.

The new settings seem to work very well while the building's floodlights are on.  When they go off though, the image gets very dark.  Today that occurred at 06:07.  Dawn was at 06:40, and Sunrise at 07:08.  By 06:50 the image was about as good as when the floodlights were on. 

I assume the floodlights are on a simple timer-- on and off at the same times each day.  As sunrise & Dawn get earlier, we'll eventually have enough light for a good morning image regardless of whether the floodlights are on or off.  If we take the pre-dawn light level with floodlights on as an acceptable baseline, then in by April 17th the "floodlight-off" ambient light levels should match the "floodlight-on" levels.  Until then, the interval of time during which the image will be "too" dark (the "darkness gap", if you will) will get smaller and smaller.  Right now that interval is about 45 minutes.  Each day it gets shorter by a little more than a minute.  BTW, you can see the sunrise/sunset times for Rocheseter HERE.

Kenn and Shaky are still working on tweaking the camera settings, so maybe we can come up with a way to close the "darkness gap", but it'll depend on how much effort we can devote to it, and how much capability we have to control the camera's settings using the Erdmann interface.

[Dumpsterkitty]

   

[Dumpsterkitty]

Archer is so...adorable!  Look at that face!

[valhalla]

It looks to me like the earlier settings relied on a boosted ISO settting ...

I assume the floodlights are on a simple timer-- on and off at the same times each day.  As sunrise & Dawn get earlier, we'll eventually have enough light for a good morning image regardless of whether the floodlights are on or off.  ...

Kenn and Shaky are still working on tweaking the camera settings, so maybe we can come up with a way to close the "darkness gap", but it'll depend on how much effort we can devote to it, and how much capability we have to control the camera's settings using the Erdmann interface.

Makes perfect sense to me, which is why I didn't want to say anything.  AND by the time hatching occurs, the lighting is going to be pretty darn close to the "dawn factor", so the gap really will be tiny.  My vote - I can live with the short Main Cam darkness - not broken, don't fix it 

[Donna]

It looks to me like the earlier settings relied on a boosted ISO settting ...

I assume the floodlights are on a simple timer-- on and off at the same times each day.  As sunrise & Dawn get earlier, we'll eventually have enough light for a good morning image regardless of whether the floodlights are on or off.  ...

Kenn and Shaky are still working on tweaking the camera settings, so maybe we can come up with a way to close the "darkness gap", but it'll depend on how much effort we can devote to it, and how much capability we have to control the camera's settings using the Erdmann interface.

Well alrighty then.....thanks Jim. When you put it that way! 

[MAK]

Archer is so...adorable!  Look at that face!

He definitely is adorable!

[Donna]

He is precious!

[valhalla]

He is precious!

Adorable maybe, but precious is something you cuddle    You go first, I'll watch 

[Donna]

He is precious!

Adorable maybe, but precious is something you cuddle    You go first, I'll watch 

If I can catch him, I'll cuddle him. 

[Shaky]

I see a big difference in lighting

Weather conditions played a part in the difference too. All that snow made the February image brighter than normal. Rain made today's darker than normal.

[Dumpsterkitty]

Morning visit 

   

[Donna]

Every picture tells a story..don't it?