The Chronos 1.4 High speed camera is getting a sensor firmware upgrade or “Wavetable” that allows for up to 38,565 fps at 336×96 pixels in windowed mode. This effectively allows the camera to go below the previous 640 pixel locked horizontal resolution which allows for even faster capture speeds.
Doc Edgerton was the scientist behind the modern high speed camera and imaging techniques. His experiments made slow motion and the possibility of freezing incredibly fast phenomena a possibility. The principles many decades later remain the same such as extreme amounts of light and ultra fast shutters along with a highly sensitive film or sensor for modern photo and video.
As a piece of history, Strobe Alley is a repository of technology and information from the early days of high speed and what it took to get us here. We found an old video that goes through the place with explanations about these aging strobes and gadgets. You can visit this place at MIT’s Edgerton center if you are ever there but you can also take a look through this footage.
Yesterday Canon unveiled the Canon EOS 77D, EOS T7i & the M6 Mirrorless. Al three are geared to photo enthusiasts and contain a video component that in some ways resembles the releases of other companies from 2014. The real improvement with these cameras comes in the way of dual pixel AF sensors that are able to track in video mode with precision.
The pricing on these cameras is very aggressive with the 77D @ $899.99 body only, T7i for $749.00 body only and M6 with 15-45mm lens for $899. You get a lot of still camera for your money and a somewhat competitive 1080p video camera with up to 60fps in that mode.
You have to hand it to Sony for their continued hardware innovation. The sensor technology that brought you the RX Camera series with stacked CMOS Technology; which is DRAM included as a middle layer along with signal processing makes it possible to capture data at tremendous pixel rates in the sensor block which leapfrogs competitors products.
That same 3-Layer stacked design is now unveiled on a cellphone geared sensor with a maximum performance at 1080p 1000fps and 4k 60fps. It is using the same buffer DRAM technology that will let you record for a limited time window and then save and process on your handset. Considering the speed quoted it is not out of the question to expect the Sony RX series of cameras to reach or exceed this level on upcoming iterations.
A new study released by Georgia Tech led by Alexis Noel, Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. student at that institution has revealed the hidden nature and mechanics of how frogs use their squishy and sticky tongues to eat their prey. With acceleration forces reaching 12 Gs these prey experiment over 4x that of astronauts in a rocket leaving the atmosphere at 3 Gs.
With the use of high speed video cameras at over 1,000fps the study was able to reveal the complex motion, eye retraction and viscous properties of the frog’s elastic tongue while catching prey. The frog uses a mucus like substance on the tongue to generate the stickiness necessary to envelop the insect prey without ejecting them off from the brutal speed and force generated.
Registration has started at Edgerton Center from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the yearly high speed imaging course geared at the principles of shooting and preparing slow motion setups. The course goes deep into the science and art of slow motion video and has access to some of the most capable high speed gear so that students can use and experiment with first hand experience.
Previous courses have been a great success and the imagery coming out of these classes is pretty jaw dropping. If you can attend the course in June this year it could be just what you were waiting for to jump into the slow motion realm. Access to this gear is few and far between for even experienced personnel and videographers; plus learning from experts in the field can come in very handy to get better knowledge about the process.