Field Notes: Jumping Beans (Patreon)

Ever seen Mexican jumping beans at your local convenience store? Marketed as a fun toy for kids, they’re not actually beans. They’re small seed capsules of a shrub that’s been taken over by the tiny larvae of a gray moth (Cydia saltitans). As they grow, the larvae shimmy around inside the capsule to stay in the shade and keep cool in the hot Mexican desert where they live.

To capture the lively activity happening inside of the jumping beans, producer Mike Seely partnered up with cinematographer Kevin Collins. Collins demonstrates in this video how he filmed X-ray footage of the jumping beans by adapting a used mammogram machine. The camera is pointed at a 45-degree angled mirror, which looks up through a translucent white screen that has the jumping beans resting on it. The thick white plastic tube above the screen shoots the X-rays down at the jumping beans, and Collins’ 4K camera picks up the X-ray video, reflected off the mirror. (And note: He was never in the room while filming the X-ray footage and always remained at a safe distance.)

Photo credit: Kevin Collins

Collins also attached an endoscope –– which has a tiny camera located on the end of a tube that’s used in surgery –– to his camera with lens adapters. The light emanating from the bean is coming from the endoscope.

This episode premieres next Tuesday, March 23, but Patreon supporters will get a sneak peek this Friday!