# a question about mirrors **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 28, 2000, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170 "2000-07-28T06:35:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/1 "2000-07-28T06:35:44Z")
i have my zoomable camera. it can zoom in on something really damn well. so i point it at the mirror in my bathroom. i decide to zoom in on the reflection of my face. i zoom and zoom and zoom, zoom some more, and then zoom a wee bit extra for good luck. how well can the mirror handle all this zooming? could i zoom to the point that i can see the individual cells of my face? at what point does the resolution of the mirror break down? that is, when do i stop seeing magnified reflection and start seeing magnified mirror material? and for what it’s worth, that’s gotta be damn cool to look at. zoom in, picture switches. zoom out, switched back. but that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/2 "2000-07-28T06:52:01Z")
As long as the camera is focused on your face, it doesn’t mstter how much you zoom in; you will always see your face. Eventually your face will become blurry, but it will still be your face. It will never be the mirror unless you focus on the mirror. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/3 "2000-07-28T07:03:53Z")
ahh, so you never see the mirror molecules unless you are focused on the mirror… i think i get it. jb p.s.- theryan, sorry about that really assinine post before (no, that’s not a typo). i would have emailed you, but the board says you didn’t list one. my big bad p.p.s.- so i guess you could say i put the “ass” in assinine, and the “ass-in” in assinine, and the “ass-in-in” in assinine. but you seem to be a man of good taste, and probably wouldn’t ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/4 "2000-07-28T07:16:07Z")
What you are doing is adding one mirror to the camera and making a periscope. The camera would stay focused on you until the focal plane got so long that the lens got near enough to the mirror to block out your image. I imagine that all this time focused on your face would have broken both the camera and the mirror, but let’s suppose it didn’t. By the time the camera had zoomed out that far it could not focus on the mirror at all. Let me hurry and send this without reading it so I can make a mistake. ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/5 "2000-07-28T07:18:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jb\_farley \* > \*\*p.p.s.- so i guess you could say i put the “ass” in assinine, and the “ass-in” in assinine, and the “ass-in-in” in assinine. but you seem to be a man of good taste, and probably wouldn’t \*\* Oh, heck! I’d be happy to!! ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/6 "2000-07-28T07:31:27Z")
**I imagine that all this time focused on your face would have broken both the camera and the mirror** harr-dee-har-harrrr damn, i wish there was a [/sarcasm] function. jb p.s.- tc, you’re a booger ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/7 "2000-07-28T07:47:35Z")
wait a minute, a microscope can focus that deep. why not my camera? suppose in this case, i had my rite aid disposable 27-shot taking a picture of my microscope display, and my microscope scope is aimed at an obtuse angle at a mirror reflecting my image, with my face being at the complementary angle from the mirror? ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/8 "2000-07-28T08:07:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jb\_farley \* > \*\*wait a minute, a microscope can focus that deep. why not my camera? suppose in this case, i had my rite aid disposable 27-shot taking a picture of my microscope display, and my microscope scope is aimed at an obtuse angle at a mirror reflecting my image, with my face being at the complementary angle from the mirror? \*\* Because the zoom lens on your camera is a MACRO lens, not a MICRO lens. It couldn’t resolve the microscope lens. Besides we have already established that your ‘Mirror, mirror, on the wall’ spiel has already cracked the optics. (chuckle) ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/9 "2000-07-28T08:18:49Z")
**it couldn’t resolve the microscope lens** it could if i added that little projector thang, the one whose translucent diffusion screen i lost when i was eight. what then (assuming i get a new screen)? ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/10 "2000-07-28T08:28:18Z")
Oh, THAT’s very different. Now you can’t see yourself at all, but you can look at all the dust mites ice-skating on your bathroom mirror. If you put a baggie over the lens you could observe all of the interesting things swimming in the toilet as well. If you got a strong light and could convince your wife to…no, she probably wouldn’t go for it. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/11 "2000-07-28T08:34:26Z")
my wife?!? **geez** , man, i’m only 21! and (based on the kind of questions i think about) obviously not the pick of the litter. what if i got my mom to snap the picture while i stood at the mirror? face it dude, i’m no mike serlin. ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/12 "2000-07-28T08:51:28Z")
21? If I were your parent, I would have bought you a chemistry set years ago, sent you to the basement to play with it, and moved out of state. On the other hand, you MIGHT be one of those Sasquatches…no, that’s not right…SAVANT! Are you related to Marilyn vos Savant the world’s highest IQ bubble factory? ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/13 "2000-07-28T10:00:14Z")
are you suggesting that a) i am the result of asexual reproduction b) i belong to the mythical woodland species that some have termed “Bigfoot” and c) related to a regularly syndicated fluff-head? i do wear a size fourteen and my head is rather fluffy, and true, i am a prokaryote with enormously good typing skills for a pathogen, but watch what you say. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/14 "2000-07-28T10:29:41Z")
A size 14? Man, you must have the smallest waist ever!! I wear 38’s. I could probable wear a 36 or 34 but I need the bigger ones because my legs are so massive (pronounced= mus=cu=lar) and I need the extra two inches to fit my gun inside the waistband. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/15 "2000-07-28T11:16:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bear\_Nenno \* > \*\*A size 14? Man, you must have the smallest waist ever!! I wear 38’s. I could probable wear a 36 or 34 but I need the bigger ones because my legs are so massive (pronounced= mus=cu=lar) and I need the extra two inches to fit my gun inside the waistband. 😉 \*\* I take it jb\_farley is female. Their sizes have no relation to actual units of measurement, except bra sizes. Size 14 is right on the edge of “plus” or “woman”. It’s about the smallest size you’d see at Lane Bryant or Dress Barn - Women. ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/16 "2000-07-28T12:28:55Z")
the mirror is just increasing the distance between your camera lens and the image (your face). your zoom capability is still limited by the resolution/magnification of your camera ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/17 "2000-07-28T13:38:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phobos \* > \*\*the mirror is just increasing the distance between your camera lens and the image (your face). your zoom capability is still limited by the resolution/magnification of your camera \*\* ohh sweet baby jesus, now i’m confused. i thought that one of the founding principles of mirrorology was that the mirror image can be treated exactly the same as the real image (except for that whole confusing ‘right/left’ thing). i thought that’s why a nearsighted person (or farsighted, whatever) still has trouble seeing something even if the mirror is close. and as for sentence two, okay, but what if my camera has microscopic zoom? would i be able to see face cells? ---
**Author:** ![DZ42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@DZ42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZ42)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/18 "2000-07-28T13:47:30Z")
[hijack] \> Dress “Barn” Could they possibly get any less flattering? Something I always wondered about…I imagine the women that shop there don’t appreciate the implicit farm animal reference. Ok, back to whatever the hell this thread was about… [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![etgaw1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@etgaw1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etgaw1)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/19 "2000-07-28T14:10:41Z")
Since your cells are alot bigger than the molecules that make up the mirror. Therotically you could zoom up to see the cellbefore you started seeing the indivual make up of the mirror. but the quality proably wouldn’t be too good because of small flaws on the mirror’s surface. When you say you where a size 14 i am assuming you mean SHOE size right? In refernece to you being a Sasquach (Big Foot). ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170/20 "2000-07-28T14:24:05Z")
etgaw1- bingo. i didn’t wanna say anything, cuz i was waiting for somebody to hit on me. sigh. it ain’t easy being a girl nowadays. well, my charade is over. i guess i should come totally clean. i’m really prism02. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-mirrors/27170.md?page=2)