Cameras banned from Carlsbad Caverns

docwalker

Well, it seems that cameras are now banned from Carlsbad Cavern during the bat flights.

All because some body cannot figure out how to turn off their flash?

gus

docwalker wrote:

Well, it seems that cameras are now banned from Carlsbad Cavern during the bat flights.

All because some body cannot figure out how to turn off their flash?

Fair enough. We have a small cave here with a great internal waterfall. '567453 do not smoke in here' signs in 45600 languages because of a delicate glow worm colony that suspends fronm the cave ceiling. What do people do ? They smoke in there...i throw them out like loading pigs onto a truck but thats like trying to kill all the flys in 0z. Most people are essentually idiots towards their enviroment.

Man im in a bad mood tonight...where are the spammers ?

Osprey Whisperer

I live in an area that is designated a "bird sanctuary". There are signs everywhere noting this. The sign also says "No Hunting". :uhoh Some people just don't get it. Doh!!

Speaking of the "flash thing". I was recently at the public aquarium here and there are signs "Please...no flash photography.. Fish are sensative to light". If I had a buck for every flash that went off in the short time I was there...I could have bought lunch for all my friends. Idiots.

docwalker

I used to work as a tour guide in a commercially run cave. Our solution to prevent touching formations was simple. We picked out one formation that had been so abused over the years that it was beyond ever growing again. When we first went into the cave we explained the damage caused by the oils from your skin. We explained the rules and the laws regarding caves and then we gave them one opportunity to touch a cave formation. That let them get it out of their system. We also explained that every other formation would feel exactly the same. 99% of them kept their hands off of the other formations.

It was that 1% that did 99% of the damage to the rest of the formations.

When I worked changing the light bulbs, I carried water with me. Not for me to drink, but to clean formations that I may have touched or got footprints on.

Smoking in a cave is just wrong. A friend of mine almost killed another caver for smoking in a wild cave. We were deep inside this cave when she decided she just had to have a smoke. There is no air exchange in some caves and the smoke hung in the air for hours. He came really close to beating her to death on the spot. I stopped him when I mentioned that we would have to carry her body back out as we could not rightfully leave it behind.

colourbox

This problem will never be solved until camera makers decide flash UI is a problem worth solving. I've used enough film and digital SLRs and point-and-shoots to be able to figure out most cameras, but I still get tripped up when I want to override the flash when someone asks me to take a picture with their camera. Heck, I sometimes have to think through the process with my own P&S! Let's see...first, what mode is the flash in now, oh, it's that icon. Now I need to press the flash button to cycle through the flash modes until I see the right icon, since there are at least three modes and only one is OFF. Press, press...darn, that was the meter mode button, the flash button is the one next to it! Fix meter mode, try again with the flash mode, remember to set flash back to Auto or On later...

No camera-naive tourist is going to bother with all that.

docwalker

I guess you are right. Why should people learn how to properly use their equipment? Everyone is now banned from taking pictures of the bats because of the few. Most likely it is the Point and Shoot crowd. Probably even those that know how to use a camera properly or, even those that do not have a flash on the camera are now banned.

Its kind of like cell phones. There are those that cannot or will not turn off the ringer on their cell phones. They are the ones that get cell phones banned from some places. I know how and very frequently turn off the ringer on my phone. I even use text messaging to keep from distubing others. And yes, I even slip it in my pocket with it set to vibrate to enter those places where they ask you to turn it off. I realized why they tell you to turn it off, most people can't find the off switch. If my phone rings, I either wait till a break to check the VM or if it is an emergency call, I leave before answering.

How much do you want to bet that the visitors center will have a nice selection of bat photos TAKEN WITH A FLASH for sale?

Nikolai

Unfortunately

colourbox wrote:

This problem will never be solved until camera makers decide flash UI is a problem worth solving. .....
No camera-naive tourist is going to bother with all that.

This is so true. Every make (if not every model) has different procedure/buttons for setting up the flash mode. Tons of P&S owners have no idea flash can be disabled, let alone how.. They just "press a button". Hence all those tiny flashes on the bleechers, in the stadiums and concert halls - totally useless, highly distractive and in general giving the people with cameras a bad name...:cry

docwalker

I have an idea. Create a computer program that uses a camera to detect camera flashes in the bleechers. Then have a robot like the one from the begining of The Matrix come and grab them by the neck and yank them out of the facility....

Ok, I know I am twisted.

cwphotos

or a hand that comes up from the seat in front of them and slaps them silly.

Stormdancing

cwphotos wrote:

or a hand that comes up from the seat in front of them and slaps them silly.

My answer
Catapult Seats

wxwax

Ummm.... why would bats care about a flash? Aren't they sort of, you know... blind?

:hide

dragon300zx

wxwax wrote:

Ummm.... why would bats care about a flash? Aren't they sort of, you know... blind?

:hide

[flame] IT'S CALLED GOOGLE SEARCH[/FLAME] :

<small> No, bats aren't blind. All bats can see, although some species aren't exactly eagle-eyed. </small><small> While scientists believe smaller bats don't see in color, many species get around amazingly well in the dark. Some bat species have the added advantage of echolocation -- the ability to bounce sounds off an object, including prey, to determine its size, shape, and location.</small>
<small>
</small>
<small> The Bat Conservation International reports the echolocation of a fishing bat is sophisticated enough to detect a minnow's fin as fine as a human hair sticking up just 2 mm above a pond's surface. Those of us with LASIK should be so lucky.</small>
<small>
</small>
<small> So saying you're "as blind as a bat" without your contacts isn't really an admission of poor eyesight. It's just an idiom dating back hundreds of years. Though they may be as hungry as a horse, as quiet as a mouse, and as happy as a clam, bats aren't, well, as blind as a bat. </small>

gus

dragon300zx wrote:

[flame] IT'S CALLED GOOGLE SEARCH[/FLAME] :

<SMALL>No, bats aren't blind. All bats can see, although some species aren't exactly eagle-eyed. </SMALL><SMALL>While scientists believe smaller bats don't see in color, many species get around amazingly well in the dark. Some bat species have the added advantage of echolocation -- the ability to bounce sounds off an object, including prey, to determine its size, shape, and location.</SMALL>
<SMALL>
</SMALL>
<SMALL>The Bat Conservation International reports the echolocation of a fishing bat is sophisticated enough to detect a minnow's fin as fine as a human hair sticking up just 2 mm above a pond's surface. Those of us with LASIK should be so lucky.</SMALL>
<SMALL>
</SMALL>
<SMALL>So saying you're "as blind as a bat" without your contacts isn't really an admission of poor eyesight. It's just an idiom dating back hundreds of years. Though they may be as hungry as a horse, as quiet as a mouse, and as happy as a clam, bats aren't, well, as blind as a bat. </SMALL>

Mate sometimes sid does a little trolling unlike myself whom would never take part in such shenanigans online.

dragon300zx

Humungus wrote:

Mate sometimes sid does a little trolling unlike myself whom would never take part in such shenanigans online.

hence the smilie and the obvious poking fun at the flaming him since he used the hide smiley and was obviously looking for it.