Current Recommendations for Aura Photography of Buried Metals

A Canon EOS 350D (Rebel XT) DSLR camera or EOS 400D (Rebel XTI). Used cameras can be obtained quite cheaply.

A Canon Zoom 18-55mm EF-S ‘kit’ lens (normally supplied with camera). Set the focal length 24mm or above as low settings tend to cause a reflection of the lens to appear in the photographs.

A Cokin square filter holder, P series with adapter ring to fit lens (58mm diameter).

A Cokin P007 720nm Infrared filter. Cokin now only manufacture a round IR filter, which will only work in its own slot next to the lens on strong targets. To use this filter with the kit lens on small targets it is necessary to carefully cut or file two small flats on opposite sides of the filter ring so it will slide into the square slots in the holder.

Mount the holder onto the lens and fit the filter in the centre slot of the three square filter slots in the holder (the slot nearest the lens is for a round filter). Set the camera on automatic, no flash (that’s the selector turned fully clockwise). Let the camera autofocus through the filter. All other camera settings should be on automatic/default.

For best results the air temperature needs to be above 50 degrees F / 10 degrees C. Shoot in daylight at right angles to or away from the Sun although the Sun does not need to be shining.

Good results can be obtained with the camera hand-held but marginally better results might be achieved on small targets by mounting the camera on a tripod/stand.

The viewfinder must be kept covered either by the photographer’s eye (hand held) or a black cover if tripod mounted.

Strong auras can be seen on the camera’s backscreen but for weaker auras post process the images with Canon’s Arcsoft Photostudio (5.5) using the enhance facility.

Please note: Canon have upgraded their sensor a number of times and Canon cameras other than the two above may not work in the same way or at all for aura photography.

Also the internal IR blocking filter must not be removed.

The macro lens is optional for small targets or long distance but Sigma 105mm is the recommended macro – most others have not been tested.

There are Free videos here:

Finding Buried Treasure with Digital Cameras:

Filter and camera setup for photographing treasure auras:

Part 1 Photographing Infrared Pictures over buried Silver coins:

Part 2 Photographing Infrared Pictures over Silver coins:

The Successful Treasure Hunter’s Secret Manual is available in print (softcover) on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3SCtchK

Or Kindle or Hardcover here: https://amzn.to/4fxtSig

Or most digital formats here (epub mobi pdf rtf lrf pdb txt): 

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/126811

Or most popular E-readers here: https://books2read.com/u/baELrv

More Treasures Found

 Coins worth up to $290,000 found under kitchen floorboards in England

Miners find 500-year-old shipwreck filled with gold coins in Namibian desert

Buried treasure from 17th-century Spanish shipwreck uncovered in the Bahamas

Treasure Reports

 RESEARCHERS FIND PREHISTORIC GRAVE CONTAINING 169 GOLD RINGS

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2022/08/researchers-find-prehistoric-grave-containing-169-gold-rings/144425

One of the most exciting archaeological finds in the history of Irish art was unearthed on Tipperary's Derrynaflan Island by a man and his son using metal detectors.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220731-irelands-priceless-treasure-hidden-by-monks

Billionaire Explorer Reveals Lost Treasures of the Wonder Ship

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/wonder-ship-0017088

Revising the definition of treasure in the Treasure Act 1996 and revising the related codes of practice

Hoard of Iron Age gold Staters

The UK Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which is ultimately responsible for the Treasure Act and Code of Practice, has produced a consultation document outlining proposed changes.  While much of the proposals are little more than housekeeping there are some material changes that are of some concern.

At present, treasure is defined, under the Act, as any object other than a coin, at least 300 years old when found, which has a metallic content, of which at least 10% by weight is gold or silver. And all coins that contain at least 10% by weight of gold or silver that come from the same find consisting of at least two coins, at least 300 years old. And all coins that contain less than 10% by weight gold or silver that come from the same find consisting of at least ten coins at least 300 years old. And any associated objects (e.g. a pot or other container), except unworked natural objects, found in the same place as treasure objects. And any objects or coin hoards less than 300 years old, made substantially of gold and silver that have been deliberately hidden with the intention of recovery and for which the owner is unknown. From 1 January 2003 the definition of treasure was extended on prehistoric (i.e. up to the end of the Iron Age) finds to include all multiple artifacts, made of any metal, found together and single artifacts deliberately containing any quantity of precious metal.

It is now proposed to add:

·         Any found object over 200 years old with a value over £10,000

·         All single gold coins dated between 43 and 1344

·         Two or more base metal objects of Roman date believed to have been intentionally buried together

There is also a proposal to impose a legal duty on the acquirer of a possible treasure find to report it and to impose a presumption that acquired treasure finds were found after the Treasure Act. This is fraught with difficulties. Under the Treasure Act rewards are split equally between finder and landowner (unless there is a different agreement in place) so will private acquirers report potential treasure if they stand to lose half its value if it is declared treasure? Potential treasure items were being found for 25 years before the Treasure Act, so assuming half of today’s find rate, that amounts to some 12,000 exempt treasures somewhere, many probably in inherited collections. The presumption of found since the Treasure Act seems contrary to English Law – innocent until proven guilty. Does the acquirer take the seller’s word for when the item was found? It is often impossible to PROVE when and where an item was found. Surely it is up to the State to prove it was found after the Treasure Act. The findspot is held up to be vitally important but in these cases, it is likely to be erroneous or completely lacking, so what is the point?

Piggyback Cameras

Paul, from Australia, told me (and sent photos) of how he had mounted an Olympus D-360L camera onto the Canon 350d and can now take accurately pointed photos using the Olympus camera's view finder. This idea is working very well, also the Olympus is very useful being able to take a normal photo of the target area at the same time as the photo being taken by the Canon. You can actually see the area clearly that you were looking at which is rarely the case with the Cannon infrared image. Ideally you would hope to get the small orb auras, without a filter, on the Olympus to confirm the auras on the Canon although there is a small snag here in that the Canon seems to work best in the early afternoon while the Olympus seems to prefer low light conditions at dawn or dusk, like the Polaroid. Nevertheless it is a good idea worth pursuing and having a normal image in tandem with the IR image is useful, although that could be achieved with any compact, with a viewfinder, similarly mounted. Bear in mind that the lens on the Olympus is offset so the Olympus needs to be skewed slightly to capture the same view as the Canon. Stand mounting the set-up would be preferable.

Phot-R 1/4"-20 Aluminium Dual Nuts Tripod Mount Screw to Flash Digital Camera Hot Shoe Adapter

This is the adapter I used in the set up, they come with one or two nuts; although I prefer the two nut version as it holds everything more securely. The Canon’s pop-up flash is deactivated by fitting the mount, in case anyone was wondering.

Treasure Hunting for Profit: With and Without a Metal Detector

BOOK DESCRIPTION
If your dreams of finding treasure result in next to nothing, then this book is for you. David Villanueva draws on his 40 plus years experience to show you how and where to find, and profit from, many types of lost or hidden valuables in Britain, all year round. Treasure hunting is one of the few hobbies that can actually cost you nothing to take part but potentially bring you a fortune. Terry Herbert, the finder of the Staffordshire Saxon hoard received over 1.5 million pounds for basically a few hours enjoyable work with an old metal detector he bought for pocket change. But money is not the only reward; this fascinating pursuit breathes life into history and archaeology and offers healthy exercise to boot.
This book shows you how and where in Britain you can profitably:

• Use a metal detector
• Beachcomb for lost valuables
• Find Gold, Minerals, Gemstones & Meteorites
• Search for Fossils
• Hunt for treasure in innumerable places

If you dream of finding buried treasure, improving your finds rate or exploring new avenues for fun and profit… You can get the E-book and printed book from the SHOP at www.truetreasurebooks.net (Also available on Amazon, ebay, Smashwords and other online and offline retailers).
Please note: Most of the locations and contacts given in the book are based in the UK so if you live outside of the UK and are not planning a treasure hunting trip to Britain, then you will need to do some local research to get the best out of the book. Nevertheless I hope you all enjoy it and I always appreciate feedback– good bad or indifferent – it helps me be a better writer.

Finding Personal Losses

Photo by Thomas Quine (Lady's Rolex) [CC BY 2.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Swale Search and Recovery Metal Detecting Club I chair, offers a free search and recovery service for personal items, tractor parts, buried drain covers and the like. The most unlikely item I have been asked to find was a cricket pitch! I did suggest at the time it was a big green area with wickets but the groundsman explained they had spent a large amount of money having the pitch excavated, refilled with special bedding and laid with Cumberland turf. As grass only comes in one colour, the groundsman had marked each corner with a large bolt driven vertically into the ground, with the head visible at ground level to distinguish the pitch from the surrounding grass. Of course, with the passage of time the bolts had sunk and were no longer visible. The groundsman had a good idea where one corner of the pitch was and I located the marker bolt within a few minutes searching; after that it was very easy to measure to the next corner, locate the bolt and so on.

But I digress. A few weeks ago I had a call from a young lady who had lost her gold Rolex watch; a 21^st birthday present from her mother. She was convinced that she had lost it at a barbeque she attended the previous evening, so I met her there to make a search. The grassed areas were short and the gravel areas had no real depth to them so it didn’t look as if it could have been buried and was nowhere to be seen on the surface. I spent an hour detecting and looking around in every nook and cranny, in bushes and under features all to no avail. I asked her when and where she was when she realised the watch was missing and was told it was back at her home after the barbecue. I suggested she had a good look round at home. Start at the point where it was discovered missing and try and retrace steps from there back to the point when you were sure you had the watch. Where were you and what were you doing immediately before you found the watch missing? And before that? And before that? The lady later found her watch at home by the dishwasher!

I had a similar experience with my partner, Helen, a few weeks earlier. We were shopping and had just left B&Q, a hardware store, when Helen announced that she had lost one of her gold earrings. (Why do women wear expensive jewelry when they go shopping?) I must have lost it getting out of the car, she said. We went back to the car and it wasn’t there. “It must be at home then.” She said. If it turned out not to be at home, we would have lost all opportunity to find it so I said: “Let’s go back into B&Q.”

“No, no, it’ll be at home and we’ve got to get the groceries.” “OK, you start on the groceries and I’ll go and look in B&Q.” I said. I had only just walked through the door of B&Q and I could see gold glinting at me on the floor in front of me, fortunately it hadn’t been stood on or run over by a cart, so Helen got her earring back. As I said before, start where you realise the item is missing and work back from there.

In Search of King John’s Treasure (Part 2)

The only field that produced a good aura was the same field that had given the curious orbs with the camera on the AV setting. While not the recommended setting, it does indicate that other camera settings work – perhaps as good or better. We had photographed the field from different points on adjacent sides of the field and obtained auras in the same place from both points and with both lenses, so there is definitely a substantial quantity of metal buried here, which may be silver from the colours obtained in the photographs. I should perhaps mention that this is not the field that Garry Brooker indicated but it is close by.

We now needed to contact the landowner to discuss the possibility of undertaking a survey to try and establish what is buried there and at what depth. It has now become quite easy to use the Land Registry online: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry to establish ownership and in this case it only took a few minutes. Writing a letter to the landowner took somewhat longer and as yet we have received no reply. Still no news is good news, they say! Meanwhile Aquila is seeking Yamashita’s gold in the Philippines so I am awaiting his return before chasing this project up…

Olympus Digital Cameras

We have found three early Olympus digital cameras that are capable of photographing auras. The earliest is the D-360L, which will produce tiny orb auras and does not even need a filter. My friend Kybob has made a video of this camera in action: https://youtu.be/USOH2GnspHg

Note that there is a vehicle in the background in some of the shots, which will produce auras in its own right, being a substantial chunk of metal. This is the second video in a two part series. Part 1 covers the Canon camera: https://youtu.be/-4u9F3qOrmcThe other two cameras: D-490 Zoom and C-460 Zoom del Sol both need a filter. I am using 850nm, 90% pass filter material successfully in the Cokin Compact Camera holder: Amazon link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cokin-Digi-Holder-Cat-BAD700/dp/B0000AQ4N1/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=trutreboo-21&linkCode=w00&linkId=4fb7b0a2b30130c6c5dd74146690004b&creativeASIN=B0000AQ4N1

I have just been informed that Cokin also make a magnetic filter for compact cameras: Amazon link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cokin-Magnetic-A-Holder-BA400MM/dp/B000T8Z3Y6/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=trutreboo-21&linkCode=w00&linkId=ddc2a72f2e3b2827ca347a92d4405d6d&creativeASIN=B000T8Z3Y6

However, when I used a round filter on the D-490, attached to the front of the lens with poster putty, I found I needed a 950nm filter.The orb auras become larger as the megapixels increase, the C-460 ZdS at 4.0MP produces the largest orbs of the three.

I haven’t tested all the early Olympus cameras and many can be bought so cheaply now, they may be worth buying just to test. Ideally look for one of the above models, which we know work. If you want to try another model, get one which has a viewfinder or viewing port as it is impossible to use the backscreen with an IR filter in front of the lens. I can tell you that I have tried the C-460 and D-545, which did not produce auras on my test site.

HOW TO FIND BRITAIN’S BURIED TREASURE HOARDS

Every detectorist dreams of finding a hoard and this new book will increase your chances of doing so.

The rich history of the British Isles has led to the burial of thousands of hoards for many different reasons – some as offerings, some as savings or in an emergency, intended to be recovered later. Although of course nobody knows exactly where hoards are buried, understanding why hoards came to be in the ground will help you to search in the right places.

Covering the Bronze Age to modern times, this fascinating book, by David Villanueva,

also gives lots of advice on how to research possible hoard sites, from researching local maps and records to clues to look out for on Google Earth. Contents include:

• Tools & Resources
• The Bronze Age
• The Iron Age
• Roman Britain
• Saxons & Vikings
• Medieval Britain
• Religious Houses
• Battle Sites
• Modern Times
• Treasure Law

152 pages, A4, beautifully illustrated in colour. A must have book for all detectorists!

Available from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Find-Britains-Buried-Treasure-Hoards/dp/1897738625/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=trutreboo-21&linkCode=w00&linkId=961d0dcc489de094b4b206f9590071bd&creativeASIN=1897738625

The Colour of the Money

Buried metals interact with the earth’s magnetic field to emit electro-magnetic radiation. Radiation seems to be emitted across a spectrum of wavelengths from Near Infrared, through visible light to Ultraviolet. Different metals may have different dominant colours of radiation, as processed by the camera. This seems unrelated to the natural colour of the metal or alloy, since similarly coloured metals such as gold and brass do not necessarily produce the same colour radiation or aura. Colours can also change according to the size of the target. A single gold coin can produce a red aura and a bucketful will, presumably, also produce a red aura; a handful of iron junk, on the other hand, will produce a yellow aura but a lump the size of a car engine will produce a red aura. The colours do not work perfectly, unfortunately, but you can generally say that if the aura is not red then it will not be gold and you probably will not miss gold buried in an iron box. These colours are typical of the Canon camera using a long (Sigma) lens, which does not normally produce orbs.

The shorter Canon kit lens almost invariably produces an aura in the form of coloured orbs with a background colour. I believe the orbs form because of the geometry of the lens and is a function of radiation bouncing between the internal IR blocking filter or hot mirror and the rear of the external IR filter. Gold tends to produce multiple blue orbs on a red background and again, the size of the target may affect the numbers of orbs and colours. 

The day I got my hands on a real gold bar

On a recent trip to London, my partner and I visited the Bank of England Museum. The signage wasn’t very clear, or perhaps I should have gone to Specsavers the opticians, and we actually ended up in the Bank of England itself at the first attempt. The security man, in pink frock coat and top hat, told us where to go and we found the museum entrance in Bartholomew Lane running off Threadneedle Street down one side of the Bank building.

The museum collections were interesting and varied, covering a range of objects related to the bank’s history since its founding in 1694. Coins and banknotes, as you would expect, plus books and documents, furniture, silver, paintings and statues. The part that fascinated me though was the 400 troy ounces 999.9 fine gold bullion bar that was held captive in a plexi-glass case but which allowed you to insert your hand to grasp and lift the bar a couple of inches. At approx. 21.5 kg or 27.5 lbs it is surprisingly heavy. The value of the bar flashes up on a screen in front of you: over £400.000/ $500,000 at today’s prices. Unfortunately I couldn’t figure out how to remove it from its case without anyone noticing!

Treasure of Charles I

Another major project of Jimmy Longton's was locating Charles I treasure in the Firth of Forth,Scotland. Almost everyone knows that Charles I, the only British Monarch to be executed by his subjects, lost his head but very few know that he also lost a vast treasure, not once, but twice! The second treasure was melted down by Cromwell and largely consisted of an expensive replacement for the first, lost when a ferry, The Blessing of Burntisland, sank in Scotland’s Firth of Forth in 1633. Jimmy located a definite wreck believed to be the ferry and some seventeenth century artefacts have been recovered from the site but diving conditions are extremely difficult and there have been no reports of treasure as yet.

On the Third Day of Christmas…

…I dug up what you see.

Using the Anderson rod to guide my Detech EDS metal detector, I was delighted to find this third or fourth century gold Roman child’s finger ring. The engraving on the bezel is of a palm leaf or branch, having the possible intention of protecting the wearer from disease. These rings are said to be rare in Britain but common in the eastern Roman Empire.

The bottom of the hoop has been flattened and this is so regularly executed that I believe this wasn’t accidental. As the child grew up, they would be unable to wear the ring on a finger and I wonder if it was flattened to wear, or possibly as a result of wearing, on a wrist strap. Under the British Treasure Act I have reported the find to the coroner and Finds Liaison Officer and we’ll see what comments the experts have.

I wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope you make some great finds in 2015.

Metal Detecting on the Coast: The Ultimate Guide by Edward Fletcher

Coastal detecting is quite neglected in Britain but if you know how to work beaches and foreshores it can be more consistently rewarding than searching inland sites. And not just for modern coinage and gold and silver jewellery aplenty, for with a little application you can make the same range of finds from Bronze Age to modern that you can make on inland sites.

 

There are very few British books on coastal detecting but Ted Fletcher’s, Metal Detecting on the Coast: The Ultimate Guide, first published in 1997 and reprinted in 2003, has stood the test of time. The principles explained in the book are still true today, quite simply because coastal forces re-distribute lost finds in much the same way they have always done, the World over. I bought a copy of this book soon after it was published and applying what I learnt, I have found Iron Age gold coins, as well as Roman, Saxon, medieval and modern silver coins, all on beaches and foreshores. So if you can get to the coast, there is much to be found and what’s more getting access is much easier than on farmland, as formal permission is rarely needed.

 

Edward (Ted) Fletcher has been writing books for metal detectorists ever since the hobby began in Britain, in fact I think he started the hobby here - he certainly got me started in metal detecting. Ted really knows his stuff and happily passes his great knowledge on to us all.

 

The topics in this indispensible book include:

 

• Why do holiday beaches make such good detecting sites?
• What happens to coins and jewellery after their owners lose them in sand or surf?
• Eyes only plus two sample tools: A beachcomber’s way to make finds on the foreshore.
• Metal detectors and accessories for coastal sites.
• Britain’s 100 best beaches and how to locate their gullies and glory holes.
• A look at some continental coasts and their top resorts.
• How to detect history around the coast.
• Legal aspects.

 

I have seen such high prices being asked for Metal Detecting on the Coast: The Ultimate Guide that it is probably in short supply, however I have managed to secure a small stock of brand new books from the 2003 printing that I am able to pass on at the very reasonable price of just £8.97 each, plus shipping. So pop along to www.truetreasurebooks.net and invest now and improve your coastal detecting before they are all gone!

Detecting with the Anderson Rod

Using the Anderson rod in one hand and my detector in the other worked surprisingly well. I had absolutely no issues balancing the Anderson, I suspect its weight keeps it stable. I did initially have a bit of a problem storing the Anderson when I needed to dig. I started by carrying a cloth to lay the Anderson on, when I put it on the ground, but that became a bit of a chore. Then I discovered that the Anderson could be rested across the handle and against the control box of my Detech EDS detector and would sit there quite happily when I was still holding my detector while digging. I do keep my hand on it though, as should it fall it may damage the antenna. The antenna is replaceable but why have the hassle of buying and importing a new one from the manufacturer? If the digging gets a bit tough I need to lie my detector down and I found that the Anderson will rest in the detector’s arm cup.

 

So I started by baiting the Anderson with silver and that seemed to work well in that I found silver coins and silver plated objects as well as copper-alloy (the Anderson is constructed of brass, I believe) and lead (old lead tends to contain silver as an impurity). So far so good!

 

I then baited the Anderson with gold, which I expected to turn up gold coins but that did not happen. Over the past 200 years many fields in the south of England have been fertilized with rag waste, which was contaminated with buttons and other metal objects associated with clothing.  The Anderson took a great liking to gold plated buttons (as in picture) and the like as well as copper-alloys. I guess this is because I was using almost pure gold bait and gold plating generally consists of high karat gold so to the Anderson it is a perfect match.

 

Now I was hoping to find Iron Age gold stater coins which have a variable mix of gold (70-80%), silver (10-20%) and copper (5-10%). This is a moving target effectively so even using a gold coin as bait there would be no guarantee that the coins buried scattered in the field would be a match. I could persevere with the gold bait or on the basis that all man-made gold objects contain either silver or copper or both I could switch back to silver bait…

Accidental Treasure Auras

 Auras can be photographed without even trying it seems.  I am grateful to Rich Labate who has given me permission to publish his photograph above.  Using a Nikon L1 pocket digital camera on automatic, with no filter, Rich was just taking a picture of the view across a valley in New Mexico. The resulting picture shows a bright green flash on the hillside – local knowledge says that there is a copper mine or copper deposit under the hill.

This is not an isolated case of auras accidentally appearing on photographs.  I was sent a photo of the site of an Iron Age village in continental Europe, culled from the Internet, which shows what can best be described as a fog patch immediately above the village site.  Similarly, my friend Dave was investigating a treasure site and turned up Google Earth aerial and street view photos of the site, which both showed a patch of isolated fog.  Unfortunately the site turned out to be a scheduled ancient monument so it cannot be investigated without government permission.

The moral of this story is to take a close look at any photographs of possible treasure sites you have, or come across and if you spot anything that looks as if it might be an aura, you could soon be digging up a fortune.

Can YOUR Digital Camera See Buried Treasure?

One of the most exciting recent developments in treasure hunting is aura photography and among the most frequently asked questions is: can my model of camera see auras? We know of a few cameras that definitely photograph auras and hope to add others to our list from the vast number of makes and models out there, once we are certain that they work. Meanwhile, here are some low cost ideas on testing your own digital camera and please let us know if your camera can see buried treasure.

The basic requirements for testing are:
A buried sample of either one ounce (30 grams) of relatively pure gold or two ounces (60 grams) of relatively pure silver. By relatively pure we mean around 90% precious metal so 22 carat gold or sterling silver (92.5%) will be ideal but if using 9 carat gold then you will need around 2.5 ounces (75 grams). Bury your sample in open ground or a planter for at least 24 hours.
Infrared filtering medium in the range 720nm to 1000nm. Digital cameras are extremely sensitive to infrared radiation and have to be fitted with an internal infrared blocking filter to prevent most infrared reaching the sensor. There is much variation in the amount of external infrared filtering necessary to photograph auras. Too little external infrared filtering produces false color infrared photographs and too much filtering results in pitch black images. Auras are photographed between false color and pitch black. The most reliable but more expensive option for testing is to buy either a 720nm infrared filter, or a range of filters, from a camera equipment supplier or Ebay. A minimal cost approach would be to use the black leading ends from exposed processed color film, which has infrared filtering characteristics (one sheet is approx 720nm; two sheets approx 850nm and three sheets approx 1000nm). These are the film pieces that were exposed to light (unless the film was loaded in a dark room, in which case the leading end pieces will be clear) when the film was run out over the sprockets during loading into the film camera. As most popular film is 35mm and some lenses are larger, you may have to mount the film in a slide or between thin card in which a suitable central aperture has first been cut.
Fix your filter material in front of the lens (try snug fit and leaving an air/light gap) then photograph your sample on a warm day, preferably above 13 deg. C / 55 deg. F with the Sun behind you. Adjust the level of filtering until you achieve a dark image that you will need to process with enhance, fix or gamma increase using photo editing software.

Beware the 'Professional' Photographer

A couple of weeks ago, I arranged for my colleague Brian to test his Canon EOS 400D (Rebel XTi), with my lenses on my buried targets. Brian is a keen amateur photographer and as such likes to take control of the camera so I let Brian shoot the targets in his own way. The results were very mixed and even using the Sigma macro lens (which gave the best results), Brian didn’t capture many auras and most shots just resulted in a ‘noisy’ blank. Strangely, shots of the same target produced auras on one shot but blank on another. My own experience was that if a target produced an aura once, all things being equal, it would produce an aura every time, so I went for a lie down in a darkened room to contemplate the problem…

Although I’m a technician by trade, I like to keep things simple especially with complex instruments like DSLR cameras so I put my camera on automatic and just point and shoot, letting the camera take care of everything, including focusing. Brian had set his camera on automatic but was pre-focussing without the IR pass filter in place (so the focus would lock on visible light), compared to my method which was to autofocus through the IR pass filter, and effectively focus on infrared light. Brian returned to retest his camera using the standard lens and autofocus through the IR pass filter. The results were great --The picture shows the aura on a single British gold sovereign coin. I used Brian’s camera hand-held and achieved an aura on all targets except the three aluminum beer cans; Brian used the camera hand-held and tripod-mounted and achieved auras on all targets. Brian achieved slightly better results than me, with tripod-mounted producing the best results and I put this down to operator technique – the more stable the camera is held the better the results.

A couple of other interesting facts emerged from these and other recent experiments. 1) The auras have definitely become stronger over the two years that the targets have been buried. 2) I removed the four gold coins for the benefit of the video and did not re-bury them. One week later we were still getting a faint aura over the empty hole.