Photographing barrel rifling (of interest to photographers)

[earlmck]

I was messing around on "Gunbroker" today and got to see several different gun sellers' attempts to show a photo the rifling of the guns they were selling. And it was real hard to see anything from any of these different attempts.

Now in an alternate existence I dabble in photography, with my main interest being landscape photography, and in the process of acquiring cameras and lenses and photo processing programs over the years, one of the pieces of software I have bought is one called "Helicon Focus" which has the ability to take a series of photos taken (yeah, you gotta' use a tripod for this) with different focus settings, and put them together using all the best focus parts.

So this evening I decided to try my hand at "landscape photography of the barrel". And here's what I came up with:

CloseFocus.jpg

MidFocus.jpg

'

FarFocus.jpg

AllFocus1.jpg

I'm quite tickled. This is a 250 Savage with a 20" barrel and 10 inch twist and you can almost tell there are about two turns of the rifling. Not quite maybe, but almost. Pretty slick, no?

[hayabusa]

earlmck, you did very good, or maybe great is a better word.

busa

[yooper2]

Wow, great image! You need to get the word out amongst the gunbroker folks. Best picture of a rifle barrel I've ever seen.


Eric

[hondo1892]

That would be great if all rifling photos where as clear as that one. Good job.

[JerryB]

Earl that is just great to view a barrel like that, clean too!!!!!

[Paladin]

Great Job, will have to play some with that.

[earlmck]

Earl that is just great to view a barrel like that, clean too!!!!!

This had just been shooting light cast bullet loads and wasn't bad, so I just ran a few patches through with the old Hoppes on them. Would have been slightly embarrassing to have a great shot of a dirty barrel.

I forgot to mention any photo info. Lens was zoomed to 250mm, f/16. And I took 20 shots with just a teensy bit of focus change between each. The program then puts all those together in about 5 seconds flat to get the final result. Seems like a miracle to me: I wouldn't have thought that kind of thing was possible. Some Russian kid invented the program, I believe.

[stretch]

"Would have been slightly embarrassing to have a great shot of a dirty barrel."

Yep.

That's cool stuff, Earl. I've dabbled in photography before the
digital age, and I'm amazed at what can be done now. Your
pic is just one minor example.

-Stretch

[Les Staley]

Earlmck: Great photo, the best I've ever seen..since I wear bifocals I don't see the whole hole, just the near part or the far part. It would be interesting to see a barrel with some problems, like dark grooves, or some pits in a photo the quality of your last one. Please try it and let us see how that comes out..Les

[vancelw]

Earlmck: Great photo, the best I've ever seen..since I wear bifocals I don't see the whole hole, just the near part or the far part. It would be interesting to see a barrel with some problems, like dark grooves, or some pits in a photo the quality of your last one. Please try it and let us see how that comes out..Les

I was wondering the same thing, but didn't want to assume Earl might own some junk I can send him and example to photograph

[earlmck]

Earlmck: Great photo, the best I've ever seen..since I wear bifocals I don't see the whole hole, just the near part or the far part. It would be interesting to see a barrel with some problems, like dark grooves, or some pits in a photo the quality of your last one. Please try it and let us see how that comes out..Les

I was wondering the same thing, but didn't want to assume Earl might own some junk I can send him and example to photograph

Excellent suggestion, gents. Let me see what I can do along these lines. And you won't have to send me anything, Vance: I've got us covered in that crappy bore department.

[TedH]

Best I've ever seen!

[vancelw]

I checked out the website of your software. Some of those photos with infinite focus are almost creepy. Definitely a useful product if you need to show such detail in your photos.

[Griff]

Earl,

Did you use a cable release... My little Nikon digital cameras doesn't have a provision for one... Like I really need an excuse to buy a new camera, or gun!!!

[vancelw]

Like I really need an excuse to buy a new camera, or gun!!!

Just do it! Tell the wifey I said it's okay.....

[claybob86]

NICE!!!

[earlmck]

Earl,

Did you use a cable release... My little Nikon digital cameras doesn't have a provision for one... Like I really need an excuse to buy a new camera, or gun!!!

Cable release? Uh oh Griff, you're showing your age again. They are using little deals kinda' like dinky TV remotes to do the release nowdays. Here's mine for my Nikon:

ML-L3.jpg

I don't know which cameras are set up to use this thing (Nikon calls their version the "ML-L3) but my last two Nikons have used the exact same one (the one from my old camera works the new camera just fine). If you have your camera manual see if it mentions this kind of thing -- it doesn't have anything looking like the old cable release attachement -- it is an infrared sensor up in the front of the camera.

And yes, I use it anytime I am shooting from a tripod