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by TeMPOraL 2097 days ago
I shocked myself a few times with these too, in the process of disassembling the cameras. I needed components (capacitors and the flash circuit) for the ignition system for the rocket engines we were building with a friend, so I went to a local photo store and asked nicely for used cameras with flash. They gave me a bag with some 20 of them.

(The shocks I got were through carelessness; I used a kitchen knife to discharge the caps after ripping off the plastic shell of the camera, but sometimes I touched the wrong thing while disassembling. Roughly half the cameras I got had the caps charged to the point they'd spark brightly on discharge, and one of them damaged the knife.)

Context for those too young to remember: back before digital cameras were available and affordable, you could buy disposable cameras in kiosks and stores cheaply. These would come pre-loaded with a single roll of film, and after you used it up (~30 photos), you'd take the whole camera to a photo store. The photo store people would rip the roll out of the camera, develop your photos, and throw the camera away. Some models came with flash, so if you could get the used ones from the store (or their trash), you got a free source of high-voltage capacitors.)