in those old videos of atomic bomb tests destroying buildings, how does the camera/footage survive?

Question

I’m referring to those old black and white videos of US atomic bomb tests – it always shows buildings and other constructions being literally blown away but the camera seems fine

In: 81

Answer 1

In nuclear weapons testing, the shock and blast for above ground nuclear weapon tests were generally estimated and allowed for the experiment designers to place both “sacrificial” sensors and equipment (like cameras) in areas they knew were going to be destroyed, and regular equipment that was outside the projected blast radius.

In other tests, special bunkers or shelters were used to mitigate shock and blast effects of the detonation. In both cases the units storing the footage were either projected to survive (and did), or had reinforcements on the unit storing the footage to mitigate both blast effect and radiation effect damage.