How do I take a decent photo of a CRT for a tutorial?

[Airbozo]

I am trying to finish my Cluster Install Tutorial and when I take a photo of the monitor (a crt), there are black bars in the photo (a 1/3 of the screen). How do I get around this?

Since it is at the rocks install screen, there is no way to change the frequency and no way to just do a screen cap.

Do I need to start mucking with the shutter speed or something? (tried a little bit but saw no difference)

Thanks!

[SgtM]

Shutter speed man. Take a long exposure without flash. You're capturing the screen refreshing.

[AJ@PR]

I'd go with SgtM's suggestion...

Or if you really want to hack it:
- Snap various pictures
- review pictures for the black bars' position
- make a Artistic copy/paste/move/cut/undo/paste/copy/cut/repaste masterpiece without the black bars

:) :) :)

[chaksq]

Once I took a picture of a CRT and the flash somehow froze the pixels in real life. It was only temporary but still weird. Anyone know what was up with that?

[GT40_GearHead]

could you explain a little

what do mean froze the pixels in real life ???

[Zephik]

I'd go with SgtM's suggestion...

Or if you really want to hack it:
- Snap various pictures
- review pictures for the black bars' position
- make a Artistic copy/paste/move/cut/undo/paste/copy/cut/repaste masterpiece without the black bars

:) :) :)

Doesn't Vista have a feature kind of like that? ...not that anyone hear is running vista. lol just mentioning it out of a sparked thought.

[Eclecticos]

Well you could get one of those Anti-glare filters they cost deern. .
near nothing, because no one ever buys them. See Office Supply store.

[xRyokenx]

You could always use the "Print Screen" button to take a screenshot and then paste it into MS Paint and save it or something. That's what I'd do for that.

[Short Modder]

I'd go with xRyokenX and hit the "Print Screen" button.

[andymushu]

there is no way to change the frequency and no way to just do a screen cap.


You could always use the "Print Screen" button
I am pretty sure he said he couldn't do a print screen, unless I misinterpreted that.

[xmastree]

I am pretty sure he said he couldn't do a print screen, unless I misinterpreted that.

Yeah, it's during some installer screen, so a screencap isn't an option.

Get a tripod, set the camera up quite a distance away and zoom in, and use a slow shutter speed.

[xRyokenx]

Ahh... okay. I don't remember reading that he couldn't do that, but I'll skim through again. Damn dyslexia.

[Eclecticos]

You can change the Hertz . .though I dunno if that would help.

Display Settings -=> Advanced Settings -=> Monitor Settings -=> Screen Refresh Rate.

I remember years ago someone was trying to take a picture of the screen
. .and the Glare Filter/Privacy Filter allowed him to do so without capturing the Black Bars.

[Ichbin]

yea, a tripod is a must for long shutter times. unless your being artsy.

[xmastree]

You can change the Hertz . .though I dunno if that would help.

Display Settings -=> Advanced Settings -=> Monitor Settings -=> Screen Refresh Rate.Considering the reason that a screenshot isn't an option due to it being a shot of an installation page, I don't think that option would be available either.

[Airbozo]

Thanks for all the help guys.
Sorry for the absence, big wedding in Carmel (got to party with some ex-police chiefs, a whole group of ex-FBI agents (you really never leave the FBI, you just don't carry a badge anymore), a bunch of Brits, the grooms family and friends, (and they showed us how to party!) and a few of the Fox's (Fox Shocks...)) My sister in law knows how to throw a shindig...

I think the only idea would be to slow down the shutter speed and I will experiment today with that. Thanks again for all the suggestions...

[xmastree]

Be sure to get far away from it, otherwise it'll look distorted. The downside of that is you'll have less light to play with, so an even longer exposure will be required. Try it with different levels of ambient lighting too, photographing light sources is always tricky.

[Airbozo]

I may just fudge the install on another system. I have another model that has a built in network kvm that I can open in a browser. I will try that if the photo's give me too much trouble.

(How close are you to Bath xmastree? (and anyone else))...

[Redundant]

So do you really not have one LCD screen available to you? Not even able to borrow one?!

[Airbozo]

So do you really not have one LCD screen available to you? Not even able to borrow one?!

Not at the moment. I am looking right now to see if I can get a decent photo with an lcd... Great idea thanks!

[Luke122]

Try this: Slow shutter speed, greater than 1 second (try 3-4 sec) and a high F stop.. try f8 or f11.. higher if you have it. If it's too bright (washed out) from the long exposure, you can try it with a polarizer filter. :D Maybe turn down the brightness on the monitor a bit too?