A composite image showing what appears to be a bullet passing by Donald J. Trump during a rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday. Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
Mr. Mills was using a Sony digital camera capable of capturing images at up to 30 frames per second. He took these photos with a shutter speed of 1/8,000th of a second — extremely fast by industry standards.
The other factor is the speed of the bullet from the firearm. On Saturday law enforcement authorities recovered an AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle at the scene from a deceased white man they believe was the gunman.
“If the gunman was firing an AR-15-style rifle, the .223-caliber or 5.56-millimeter bullets they use travel at roughly 3,200 feet per second when they leave the weapon’s muzzle,’’ Mr. Harrigan said. “And with a 1/8,000th of a second shutter speed, this would allow the bullet to travel approximately four-tenths of a foot while the shutter is open.”
“Most cameras used to capture images of bullets in flight are using extremely high speed specialty cameras not normally utilized for regular photography, so catching a bullet on a side trajectory as seen in that photo would be a one in a million shot and nearly impossible to catch even if one knew the bullet was coming,” he said.l
(from NYT article: Photo Appears to Capture Path of Bullet Used in Assassination Attempt, July 14, 2024)
Yes. The photographer indicated that the shutter speed was 1/8,000 of a second. That should be considered definitive. Except for one thing. The length of the bullet path is about one foot. This would indicate a bullet speed of, distance / time.
1 foot / (1/8,000) of a second = 8,000 feet per second.
That is a problem. The muzzle velocity of the AR-15 is 3,300 feet per second. There is no way the shutter speed could be 1/8,000 of a second.
By the way, this photographs is cropped, making it possible the streak was longer than one foot, extending beyond the right edge. But non cropped photographs show the streak is only about one foot long, not much longer.
Correction: In my earlier posts I spoke of a three foot long streak. I was looking at youtube video where I only got a short view. It is really more like a one foot long streak.
If there is a conflict between what the photographer says and what the photograph says, I am going to believe the photograph. There is no way the shutter speed was 1/8,000 of a second. Unless the object was not a bullet fragment nor a bullet but an alien drone moving at 8,000 feet per second.
Perhaps the photographer was mistaken. Maybe the shutter speed was more like 1/4000 of a second. That just might work. But there is another problem.
The image of the sign on the podium of crystal sharpe. But of Trump's hat, the lettering looks a little blurry, obviously caused by Trump moving his head a little, while the podium was still. With the letter "A" on the hat, I cannot clearly see a red triangle inside the white "A". In contrast, I can easily see a blue triangle inside the white "A" on the podium sign, even though the letters are similar size. That hat appears a little blurry.
I would think that at 1/4,000 of a second, the letters on Trump's hat would be quite sharp, not blurry, even if Trump was moving his head slightly.
I think the photograph shows the shutter speed setting was set a good deal slower than 1/4,000 of a second, indicated by the blurring of Trump's hat. If that is true, the object could not be a bullet moving at 3,300 feet per second, and not a pristine bullet.
Question:
Does anyone have an example of a picture, taken with a shutter speed of 1/4,000 of a second, which still shows some blurring of the person, because they were moving a little. That even 1/4,000 of a second is not fast enough to prevent some blurring even of a person who is standing pretty still.
