I always loved when someone at Myth Busters crashed or blew something up and they showed it in super slow motion. Why do we love seeing stuff in super slow motion? Because we are able to see things we wouldn’t see in normal life.
Cameras like the Phantom Gold / Flex or the Weisscam are capable of shooting up to 2570fps (Phantom Flex) at FullHD resolution. That’s over a hundred times more than our everyday workhorse like the Canon 5D.
Tom Guilmette (I met him at NAB 2011) made a fun video before he shot some sports stuff with it: www.vimeo.com
I know, after watching the video you’re asking: how much???
Well, at least 2500 Euros per DAY for renting it. If you got 2500 Euros for renting it, you still need someone to operate it. It’s basically a computer with the shape of a camera and a lens in front of it.
Same with the Weisscam.
No 2500 fps for most of us…
Plus: those cams are HUGE, so you won’t be able to just go skiing with it.
Now after NAB, the market is going to change somehow.
Companies like Fastec, Weisscam and Olympus are focusing more on the midrange framerates like 500 – 750fps which is more than enough for most of our needs.
The ones I’m very interested in are the Weisscam “T” (company from Munich) http://www.follow-the-t.com/ and the Fastec TS3 Cine.
More informations here:
Standard Features
System Design Stand alone, battery powered, portable with multiple PC I/O ports Sensor CMOS sensor Resolution 1280 x 1024 pixel Native Light Sensitivity 3,200 ISO monochrome, 1,600 ISO color Record Rate 500 fps at 1280 x 1024, 720 fps at 720p resolution, optional frame rates up to 20,000 at reduced resolutions Shutter Global electronic shutter from 2 µsec to 1 second Memory 8GB buffer, Build in 128GB SSD (256GB SSD option) Removable Storage SDHC Multi-Sequence Mode 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 individual recording partitions File Formats BMP, TIFF Stack, Cinema DNG (RAW), JPG, AVI Lens Mount C-Mount or F-Mount (Nikon), optional PL mount Built-in Monitor Ultra bright, 178mm diag. (7”), WVGA LCD Ports USB(2), SD, GigE PC Interface PC or Mac compatible via Gigabit Ethernet or USB 2.0 Control Software MAC, Windows or Linux OS compatible Trigger Contact Closure or TTL Sync External sync inputs via BNC Video Out HDMI Clean Feed 1080P (no overlays) Construction Machined Aluminum Housing Power Rechargeable removable Battery Pack – 3 hours, or 10-26 VDC external power supply Power Consumption 7.5 W maximum Operating Environment 0ºF to 104ºF Size and Weight 8.97″ x 4.48″ x 3.50″ 3.96lbs Built-In Storage Solid State Drive (SSD) 128GB Standard, 256GB Optional Standard Frame Rates and Resolutions
Frame Rate Resolution 8 GB Buffer Capacity Rate H. V. Time (sec.) Frames 125 1280 1024 52.4 6,558 250 1280 1024 26.2 6,558 506 1280 1024 13.0 6,558 720 1280 720 13.0 9,320 816 1024 768 13.4 10,935 1085 1024 576 13.4 14,539
I hope I will get my hands on one of those cameras as soon as possible! We will propably set up a pilot project in August/September and a camera that shoots 500fps and up would fit perfectly
