# Video footage of a Hydrogen Bomb **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-footage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/154890 "2003-02-13T19:16:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Miguelon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/91b2a8/32.png) [@Miguelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miguelon)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-footage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/154890/1 "2003-02-13T19:16:43Z")
Does anybody know of a good link which provides extended footage of the detonation of a Hydrogen Bomb. I have been able to find 3 or 4 second clips on the web but I was wondering if there was anything more thorough. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-footage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/154890/2 "2003-02-13T20:13:42Z")
There’s a good documentary that has tons of footage called [Trinity and Beyond](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000IML5). Would be worth your while to try and rent it. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-footage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/154890/3 "2003-02-13T20:21:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SmackFu \* > \*\*There’s a good documentary that has tons of footage called [Trinity and Beyond](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000IML5). Would be worth your while to try and rent it. \*\* I bought this movie and it is really good. It starts by showing you what 100 tons of TNT looks like when it blows up. From there they go to various fission and fusion devices. They tell what the size of the device is as well. Plus it has a few sequences in 3-D. Nukes, 3-D and Shatner. It is the entertainment trifecta. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-footage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/154890/4 "2003-02-14T07:03:31Z")
How do they film some of those tests? Obviously the mushroom cloud shot is from far far away in a bunker, but I’m talking about the shots where you see an empty house get flattened or something close up. Are they simply filming through high-powered binoculars or a telescope? ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-footage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/154890/5 "2003-02-14T07:45:24Z")
Very heavily shielded cameras, I would imagine. [http://webdev.archive.org/movies/searchresults.php?searchAll=yes&collection=prelinger&submit=main&search=nuclear%20testing&limit=100&start=0](http://webdev.archive.org/movies/searchresults.php?searchAll=yes&collection=prelinger&submit=main&search=nuclear%20testing&limit=100&start=0) The link above should take you to a selection of atomic bomb testing footage. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-footage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/154890/6 "2003-02-14T08:03:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElwoodCuse \* > \*\*How do they film some of those tests? Obviously the mushroom cloud shot is from far far away in a bunker, but I’m talking about the shots where you see an empty house get flattened or something close up. Are they simply filming through high-powered binoculars or a telescope? \*\* There’s a “sequel” to _Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie_ called _The Atomic Filmmakers_ or something like that. It’s not listed in [IMDB.com](http://IMDB.com), even though PBS has aired the film. It goes into details of the types of cameras that were used. Some of the shots were done with telephoto lenses, and others of them were done with well protected cameras. It’s fairly easy to calculate the effects of a nuclear blast and they placed the cameras which were going to be in the effect radius far enough away from ground zero that they weren’t vaporized. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-footage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/154890/7 "2003-02-14T08:14:45Z")
Bravo! > **[U.S. Tests | American Experience | PBS](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/bomb-us-tests/)** > > Learn more about three bomb tests conducted by the United States from 1950 to 1954. Bikini Atoll gets erased. The only moving pictures I recall (in that test) are from distant aircraft and feature tiny little aircraft carriers and battleships in the forefront (still dozens of leagues from the former atoll). The problem with H-bombs is you need to be really far away to get a good shot. Even then, a remote camera is going to go black with a blast that fills the horizon. “I am become Death” - oppenheimer / Bhagvad Gita ---
**Author:** ![Erroneous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71c47a/32.png) [@Erroneous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erroneous)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-footage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/154890/8 "2003-02-14T12:01:18Z")
Not video footage, but [here](http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Bomb.html) are some interesting pictures of an atomic blast, taken with very quick exposures.