Friday, July 1, 2011

Apollo 12 - the smudge on the visor






"Some kind of studio" light being a Fresnel, as suggested by the image. Once again your capacity for research is below hopeless, or you just haven't got around to amending your standard cut and paste forum post.

For many reasons this contention is simply wrong:-

1. A spotlight would not show up against a dark background in a visor when it was switched off. If there was sufficient light to illuminate it, the cables and lighting rig to support it would also show up.

2. The "flaps" are known in the lighting industry as "barn doors". According to the visor, these barn doors are longer than the width of the light! That is not how these lights are made. The barn doors are used to limit light spillage, but why would you do that, when the objective would be to light as much as possible? A fresnel without barn doors would always be used, but obviously would be nowhere near bright enough for the job. Makes no sense.

3. There are no pictures in the Apollo records where a spotlight, capable of lighting only a small area, is apparent. Always we have a single shadow, crisp and dark, and a fully evenly lit terrain, so why would such a light even be suggested as necessary?

4.  Should such a light be used as a fill light, there would be washed out and multiple shadows.

5.  Having a light at eye level on a wide angled shot with distance perspective and a low angled Sun is simply a ludicrous suggestion.

6.  The reflection suggests a fresnel light that is absolutely enormous in size. A 180 degree visor reflection would show even the largest fresnel as really small. I cite the size of the so called "superlight", not much different in apparent size as the "fresnel". Fail.


The so called "studio light" is in fact a simple mark on the visor, located at the point where Conrad would push his visor up, or pull it down. A similar mark is seen on several other of the EVA pictures. Since the picture used is the only front-on shot, the other pictures with the same mark, only show a partial of this smudge on the visor.
Here is a small compilation of 3 side shots that show the "barn doors" attributed to the "studio light".






































They appear in the same place on the visor, over multiple different angles, and the mark is the same shape on all pictures. Clearly, it is a smudge on the visor.


Here are the ALSJ links to examine the numerous pictures with the smudge:-

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/AS12-47-6919HR.jpg
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/AS12-48-7071HR.jpg
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/AS12-48-7074HR.jpg
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/AS12-48-7133HR.jpg
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/AS12-48-7134HR.jpg
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/AS12-49-7307HR.jpg
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/AS12-49-7308HR.jpg
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/AS12-49-7309HR.jpg