[HPforGrownups] Re: Colin's camera?

[Silverthorne]

No: HPFGUIDX 90150

I think that this is a flint, as modern cameras on batteries, which 
wouldn't work in Hogwarts. The movie version solves this with an old 
flash pan camera which doesn't involve electricity. On one of these 
cameras it's the flash ignition of a phospherous compound and the 
direct exposure of a photosensitive plate that captures the image. 
I'm fairly certain that JKR didn't intend for Colin to have an 
antique like this as the books state that developing the *film* in 
the proper potions causes the images to move. The ancient not 
electric cameras didn't have film per se, they had single shot 
slates.

Er....well, there's always older Nikon, Konica and Cannon cameras (1960-1990) that aren't digital either ((And are still in use as valid "professional grade" equipment--I have an old Konica myself)). They're entirely manual/mechanical but for the flash, and I don't think the acid based batteries for the flashes would be affected--they are, after all, more of a 'potion' incased in protective metal themselves, not electrical...The older cameras ALSO require chemical film procession (35mm flim). So there are ways to use a 'modern' camera at Hogwarts--just not a spiffy, hook-it-up-to-the-computer-and-download-pictures one. Which most professionals would not use for thier serious field work anyway--the more electronics the thing has, the more likely something will go wrong at a crucial moment--not a good thing when 'the' picture happens for maybe 2.0 nanoseconds and isn't likely to happen again in your lifetime..(And you can't change lenses, either, which REALLY limits what you can take, and how, from what angle, form how far away (or close), what lighting, etc....).

Anne


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