SLR/Iris cameras, and stoning

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 97344

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Sea Change" 
<nakedkali at y...> wrote:

> Does anyone remember if Harry had his glasses on still when 
he fought the basilisk?  Perhaps Fawkes' deorbitation of it was 
unnecesary!<

Erm, I don't think being petrified would have improved Harry's 
chances. <g>

 Assuming that one is petrified instantly on looking into the 
basilisk's gaze, Colin can't have been using  a single-lens reflex 
camera. In an SLR, pushing the shutter button causes the mirror 
mechanism to fold up out of the way a fraction of a second 
before the shutter opens, exposing the film.  Looking into the 
mirror viewfinder of an SLR, Colin  would have frozen before he 
snapped the shutter and the film wouldn't have been destroyed.  

He could have been using a box camera, in which case he could 
have looked into the eyes and snapped the picture at the same 
time, or a dual lens reflex camera, in which case he would have 
seen a mirror image.
 
Pippin