Catching a Bullet in Flight – With a Camera

For some time now, I’ve wanted to try some sequence shots of a semi-automatic pistol in action.  This weekend provided the perfect opportunity while a photographer friend, Ron White, was visiting and we had a nice warm, sunny day.

We set the camera at ISO 400 so we could get a fast shutter speed of 1/6,000th of a second at f/3.3 using a fast Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D lens on a Nikon D700.  Then while I did the shooting, my buddy took the photos.  Fortunately, I had Nikon’s MB-D10 Multi Power Battery Pack on my D700 so the burst rate was up to 8 fps.  The pistol was a Beretta Px4 Storm, shooting .40 S&W ammunition.

The highest priority in a situation like this is SAFETY! Everyone wore ear protectors and safety glasses and of course all of the other gun safety rules were strictly adhered to.

The photographer set up about 8 feet to my right and just slightly behind the direction I was shooting.  I highly recommend a couple of test shots, first, (with the gun) to see where the brass is going when it is ejected – - just to make sure a hot, hard piece of brass doesn’t hit and damage your valuable lens.

Once we were ready to go, the photographer would start shooting first and the shooter would start shooting as soon as he heard the camera start.  Then, typically, we would fire about 3 rounds (15 to 20 images) per sequence.

Overall, we shot about 120 images and I was only hoping to get some good photos of the brass being ejected from the pistol, but we got lucky! One image showed the bullet in flight about 6 inches in front of the gun’s muzzle.  With the bullet velocity of about 1200 ft./sec., and a shutter speed of 1/6000th of a sec., the bullet actually traveled about 2.5 inches while the shutter was open, resulting in the streak.

That’s how I saw it – Thru Mikes Viewfinder.