Camera reflections

[Calderone]

I've noticed strange reflections on some scenes, the ending has a few of them i believe , it's like the cameras were filming behind a lens or something

what was that? have you noticed that ? Mostly on chases and car scenes

[Calderone]

On the Waylon Jennings museum episode (season 7) you can clearly see this

at 30:05 when three cars go by

[HossC]

On the Waylon Jennings museum episode (season 7) you can clearly see this

at 30:05 when three cars go by

I've just looked at the scene you mentioned, and I think you're talking about the black shapes that I've arrowed in the picture below. I have seen them before, and as far as I know they are parts of a lens shade. They can generally be seen when the camera is mounted on a vehicle (like it is here), and are probably put there to prevent reflections from the vehicle causing lens flare, although they shouldn't be visible.

I've borrowed the pictures below from the Bloopers thread. The first shows a similar issue when the camera mount is visible in 'Dukes Meet Cale Yarborough'.

You also have to remember that the camera equipment was a lot bigger 30 years ago. Nowadays when you see vehicle-mounted cameras on shows like 'Top Gear' or 'Mythbusters' they are no bigger than a small torch. When Dukes was filmed they looked like this the one below, spotted in 'Double Sting' (you see another one on the General during the Styx River jump).

[Calderone]

Hoss, it's not that, i will post a screenshot right away, i noticed the camera equipment as well

[Calderone]

This flare goes in motion , the strange thing is that it's not a flare from the

actual car glass , it's overlapping it...

Watch the actual scene on video , i posted this example because

im going thru season 7 , i cannot remember other exact moment

but happens many times thru all the seasons, i will try to find another one

on the older seasons.

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[Calderone]

i found a pretty darn well example of what i'm talking about

Season 7 - Sittin Dukes - 33:00

When Roscoe Patrol car arrives to the duke farm, check the lights on top

of the car...that's a perfect example !

[HossC]

i found a pretty darn well example of what i'm talking about

Season 7 - Sittin Dukes - 33:00

When Roscoe Patrol car arrives to the duke farm, check the lights on top

of the car...that's a perfect example !

You had me confused for a while until I realized you meant 'Danger on the Hazzard Express' (Rosco doesn't visit the Duke Farm in 'Sittin' Dukes'). It's hard to capture in a still image, but all the brightest parts of the patrol car are visible just above it in a sort of ghost image.

I'm guessing it's just some kind of anomaly caused by the camera lens. Maybe someone with some expertize in this area can explain it.

[Calderone]

Yes, it's definetely by the lens or looks like the lens had another lens on top of it ..something like that.

[P.J. Gathergood]

The most famous example of an attached camera being in shot, as already mentioned in the thread, is in "Double Sting" (recycled several times in other episodes, and used on the opening credits from the second season) when the General jumps the Styx river.

What I always found distracting re. cameras and filming, would be in shots of Bo and Luke driving along in the General (or indeed Rosco in his patrol car, etc.) where they would have back projection of the road moving behind them, but on the side of the car nearest the camera, big bright lighting rights could be seen to be shining static lighting reflections on the car's body, making it clear they were in a studio.

The early episodes all had "live" filmed car shots, but from the second season onwards, increasingly more was sadly done with back projection, mostly as a time and money saver.

Also regarding cameras in shot, on a similar subject, in the fifth season episode "The Hazzardgate Tape", when Boss Sharkey and his men are meeting in the abandoned barn as they plan to bump off Boss, in an overhead shot looking down at them, a sound boom can briefly be seen to drop into the top of the shot!