Filmed in 1900, the first ever video recording of a solar eclipse is now posted online for viewing.
Until it was released this week, the film was held in the archives of the Royal Astronomical Society. According to the society, this was actually the second time that [magician Nevil Maskelyne] tried to film a solar eclipse. After his first attempt in 1898, the film was stolen, and it hasn't been seen since.
The short by modern standards clip of the May 28th, 1900 eclipse was restored frame by frame and lasts 1 minute and 8 seconds, it was originally filmed in North Carolina
during an expedition by the British Astronomical Association. [Maskelyne] recorded the footage using a telescopic adapter on his camera, which made the eclipse easier to capture.
The clip from the Royal Astonomical Society is part of the recently released Victorian Film Collection which includes films from the first six years of the medium and, among other things, the First X-ray Cinematograph Film Ever Taken
The next solar eclipse taking place in the U.S. will occur in 2024. Homebodies should try to catch that one since without traveling, there won't be another until 2045.
(Score: 3, Touché) by BenJeremy on Monday June 03 2019, @11:17AM (12 children)
I'm curious what video technology they used to record the event
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 03 2019, @11:33AM (3 children)
NTSC, pal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 03 2019, @12:40PM (2 children)
So which is it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 03 2019, @01:25PM (1 child)
Hey, pal, what so hard to understand? NTSC.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday June 03 2019, @06:06PM
NTSC = Not The Smartest Choice
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 03 2019, @11:40AM (7 children)
You're asking a lot. Such research could take years and cost millions of lives.
Or you could just scroll up to TFS and see:
Sigh.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 03 2019, @11:57AM (3 children)
I see you're still grieving your lost sense of humor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 03 2019, @12:16PM (2 children)
Same AC here.
I'm actually *really* easily amused.
That one was so bad that it Poe'd [wikipedia.org] me.
Poe'd, Poe'd me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 03 2019, @12:26PM (1 child)
Ah, you lost it to a horrific murder., that's why the impairing trauma.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by aristarchus on Monday June 03 2019, @09:19PM
"Poe, Poe, pitiful me!" Linda Ronstadt?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 03 2019, @01:33PM (2 children)
Pedantic, I know, but you weren't paying attention, were you?
You see, "video" is inherently related to electronic image capture/playback. Until CRT, everything was "film", not "video"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 03 2019, @01:36PM
You've got a lot of damn gall to expect me to pay attention, son.
Sheesh!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday June 03 2019, @06:10PM
I wish that an episode of The Flintstones had demonstrated to us how their hand held video recorders worked.
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by jasassin on Monday June 03 2019, @04:07PM
The title says free, then the article says $3 an hour $5 an hour for fast, and $25 a month unlimited. I must be missing something.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 03 2019, @04:40PM (3 children)
since "Film" exposes the entire area at the same time
"Video" is a serial process composed of sequential scan lines with
gaps in between.
The resulting temporal distortion is VERY different between the two
so they are NOT synonyms.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday June 03 2019, @04:59PM
Nope.
"Film" is a physical medium. "movies" were for over a century shot on "film", as a succession of photographic images.
"Video" does not have to be interlaced, and can be a succession of photographic images too (720p, 1080p, 4K, 8K), but the term "video" is a catch-all that refers either to the physical medium, distribution, or format (not 24p).
Essentially, all moving pictures that are not explicitly "film" are "video".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 03 2019, @08:19PM
So does that mean then that if I use a global shutter digital camera, like the Sony PMW-F55 CineAlta 4K Digital Cinema Camera [pro.sony], that this is really a film camera? Where do you load the film??
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday June 03 2019, @11:49PM
Nobody cares.
Everyone who read the headline knows damn well the video was shot on film, due to it happening in 1900.
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Monday June 03 2019, @07:55PM
Flat earthers, eat your heart out.