Tag Archives: Chronos High Speed Camera

Chronos Camera m43 Lens Adapter with Speedbooster Support!

The two existing Chronos cameras, the 1.4c 720p at 1502fps & the Chronos 2.1 -HD 1t 1080p 1000fps are identical when seen from the outside but very different inside as they contain different sensor and memory boards. However one constant is that both use the C mount as the default for lens adapters. The camera usually comes with a Canon EF or Nikon F mount adapter depending on the buyer preference which screws on the C mount thread and allows for support of classic lenses from Macro to telephoto. 

One request from the community has been the support for other lens mounts like Micro 4/3ds which lets you adapt a variety of lens mounts and the much coveted speedbooster adapters which allow a 1 f-stop improvement in light gathering for micro 4/3ds systems. Today Krontech, the company behind the Chronos high-speed camera is introducing a passive Micro 4/3rds adapter for both the Chronos 1.4c and 2.1-HD and uses the body screw terminals near the lens thread mount to place a solid connection that allows such lenses. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Cronos HD 2.1 First footage samples surface!

Cronos HD 2.1 First footage samples

The team at Krontech.ca has been shipping the first units of the Chronos 2.1-HD 4/3″ Sensor high-speed camera to their customers and in turn, footage has started to become available online showing what this new super affordable 1080p slow-mo cam can do.  We will be reviewing a unit in the future once the firmware is more polished and will give it a good spin to finally rank it in our camera guide.

At first glance, we have a very positive reaction to the footage shown. The noise control and per-pixel detail are excellent and a clear cut above what the much smaller 2/3″ sensor on the Chronos 1.4c was able to deliver.   Larger sensors are a must for high-speed cameras to make use of more available light locations.   We have gathered some excellent video examples that will let you have a pretty good idea of what you can shoot and at what quality level with this camera.

Chronos 2.1 HD Main Specs:

  • 1080p, 4/3” format image sensor
  • 2.1 gigapixels per second
  • 1000fps @ 1080p
  • up to 24 046fps at
    lower resolutions
  • 8GB, 16GB and 32GB high-speed RAM buffer options for 2.7, 5.5 and 11.0 second record time respectively.
  • High sensitivity base ISO of 500 (Color) and 1000 (Monochrome) enables shooting with modest lighting.
  • l battery lasts for 1 hour of recording
  • Runs indefinitely on AC adapter or external power source
  • Many lenses supported: Nikon F, Canon EF and C mounts available as field-swappable options
  • Starting at USD $5,000.00
Resolution and Frame Rate Table as of February 2020 (Could differ in future firmware):

There is also a new monthly newsletter on the Krontech website so you are up to date with the news on these camerashttps://www.krontech.ca/chronos-newsletter/

Cronos HD 2.1 First footage samples:

A few notes before you look at these video samples: These are early beta firmware samples which means that the quality will probably improve from here in several aspects. The most obvious will be the vertical column banding artifact that can show up on higher frame rates and less than ideal lighting conditions.   We also see room for improvement in the color-science especially in reds and maybe some highlight tweaking.

However, at first glance, they look really good and a clear improvement from the earlier product from Krontech.ca the Chronos 1.4c.  This camera can now go head to head with much more expensive competitors as the image quality has increased greatly. Enjoy the samples!

Water Drop Slow Motion by Laurent NICOLET:

Chronos 2.1 HD Initial test at 1000fps 2142fps 3385fps 5406fps by Scott Aichner: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Chronos Kickstarter Camera One Year Later!

Chronos Kickstarter Camera

David Kronstein has published a walkthrough video of the Krontech warehouse, assembly installations, and offices located near Vancouver Canada, in what could be described as a rapid expansion of a startup that just a year ago was just coalescing.  With now 337 Chronos 1.4c cameras shipped to Kickstarter backers and also direct purchase buyers; this is a significant number of units for any high-speed camera and we can probably expect that number to increase!

David also goes shares his thanks to the people who helped make the camera project possible and where the company can grow from here. We expect great things from Krontech not that they have shown the ability to mass produce gear that works and as it continues to improve with software releases. We are excited about their future and congratulate them on their success thus far.

Chronos Kickstarter update – One year later Video:

We are eager to see what David and his team of software engineer coders and electrical engineers can cook up now that their first project is maturing.  We would love to see a 1080p camera with a larger sensor and possibly a 4k capable high-speed unit with windowing in the 1080p and 720p modes.  All of this with the touchscreen ability of the Chronos 1.4c which makes it a breeze to run and gun with the camera.

Chronos Kickstarter Camera announces- Open Source Code on Chronos 1.4c:

“At long last, the Chronos Camera application source is now available at the following git repository:

: chronos-cam-app

Currently, we only support Ubuntu 16.04 LTS as a build environment. 17.04 is known to NOT work due to different compiler versions included. You’re welcome to try other environments, please let us know what works and what doesn’t.

Follow the instructions in the repository readme to set up your build environment.

We suggest not doing any significant changes or customization right now. We are in the process of breaking out the low-level camera control into a daemon controlled over D-Bus. This will allow the cam app to talk to the camera seamlessly, whether local or operating remotely over a network connection. Ideally, the exact same application will be able to be compiled to run on the camera or on a PC.

Once you have the application compiling, you can connect to your camera over SSH. Plug the mini-USB port into your computer, and it will enumerate as a USB to Ethernet bridge (serial numbers 00050 and above, earlier cameras need an update, this should be available in the next day or two). You can then log into the camera using root/<no password>

I’m sure there will be many questions, please let us know any problems so we can provide better build instructions.

David”

It is encouraging to see that the source code for the Chronos 1.4c is already up, ready to be explored and played with by enthusiasts.  We expect many new features and improvements added by the community over time with the possibility as well of improved UI and automation.  The Chronos 1.4c code is still maturing with it still in the testing phase to support the majority of the ports on the camera side. The LAN support is taking longer than expected because it requires a host interface to be supported with it as well for it to be useful for the common user.

Releasing the code is a big first step and we can’t wait to see what talented coders are able to do with it.

We are also working on an initial look at the Chronos 1.4c which will have answers to several questions we have been asked. We will look into the quality and shooting experience as well as the continued feature evolution. We received a new camera last week that will allow us to review it without setbacks which caused a delay with an early unit we received. -HSC

For more information about the Chronos 1.4c camera and ordering information please visit:  http://www.krontech.ca –

“Please mention HSC if ordering a camera from any manufacturer, helps us measure the reach of our blog”.

Chronos 1.4 Software Update 0.2

Chronos 1.4 Software

The Chronos 1.4 Camera is getting its first firmware update from 0.1 to 0.2 to add a few feature, correct a few bugs and some interface changes.  The update is recommended for all owners and it is very easy to install. Be sure to have a FAT32 formatted USB stick in order to perform the update as it needs the root directory for file discovery.

We applied the update on our camera and were pleasantly surprised that the actual software update did not need the camera to be turned off after. It seems that the Chronos team is making updates on the internal SD memory and not on a firmware chip which also means you cannot brick the camera by updating. Very cool feature!

Chronos 1.4  0.2 Software update post:

By Krontech.ca:

Here’s the first software update!

Available here: http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?topic=38.msg257

Not a huge amount in this one, basically a few features requested by a few scientific users, and a bunch of low-hanging fruit . More major updates will probably have to wait until after the backlog of Kickstarter rewards and store preorders have shipped since it’s so busy leading up to production. Once we hire a software engineer, updates will be much more frequent and significant.

Features added and bugs fixed:

  • Added Triggered Exposure and Shutter Gating modes
  • Fixed bug where video can be saved to the mount point if no storage device is present
  • Fixed minimum exposure time (now 1uS instead of an impossible 10ns)
  • Added “About” tab to Util window, showing software version, serial number, and camera info
  • Added missing backer Jared Reabow in backers list
  • Added support for LUX1310 image sensor silicon revision 2
  • Fixed incorrect bitrate computation in save settings window
  • Disabled H264 profile and level controls (certain lower levels caused encoder to crash)
  • Fixed incorrect shutter slider and exposure text after changing resolution
  • Fixed incorrect updating of ROI indicator in Record Settings
  • Fixed allowable range of window offset to proper multiples (16, 2). Record settings would not be applied if offset was set other than proper multiple
  • Moved close button on keyboard to bottom right
  • Changed arrows on keyboard from text eg. “Up” to unicode arrow characters

Known bugs in added features:

  • Horizontal line issue is present in Triggered Exposure and Shutter Gating modes, to be fixed

Chronos 1.4 Update Procedure:

-Unzip the Zip file into the root directory of a FAT32 formatted USB stick-Unzip the Zip file into the root directory of

-Unzip the Zip file into the root directory of a FAT32 formatted USB stick This should result in a camUpdate folder in the root directory of the stick

-Boot up the camera and insert the USB stick-Backup your calibration data. Tap “Backup calibration data” and wait for this to complete (about 5 seconds). The cal data is now backed up on the USB drive as cal_[serial number].tar

-To install the update, tap Apply Software Update

-A message box should pop up indicating the software update was found. Tap Yes to install the update.

-The screen will go blank for a few seconds, then the updated application will start.

-Done! No need to restart the camera.

What if something goes wrong?
Don’t worry, it’s impossible to brick the camera. If the update fails for some reason and the camera won’t boot, you can reflash the OS SD card yourself to recover the camera. If you need the image file to do this, let us know. It’s just like flashing the OS card for a Raspberry Pi. You will need to restore the backed up calibration data after reflashing the card. If you don’t have a backup, we have a copy of the original factory cal, available on request.

Next updates in the pipeline:

  • Proper trigger delay setting (Timeline/slider, pretrigger percentage, and setting by time rather than frames)
  • Remembering settings across reboots
  • Indication of dropped frames on save
  • Proper boot splash screen

HSC’s Take- So there you have it, updates will probably be more fluid once the software engineer is dedicated to improving the camera. The painless update process is also welcome and the separation from a firmware chip makes it easier to try new things without bricking the camera. A re-flash of the internal memory card is all that is needed if you run into trouble by reverting to stock software.  The software will probably be very different in a few months with all sorts of bells and whistles. We are excited for the future of the Chronos 1.4 and other cameras that may come down the pipeline from krontech.ca.

We took the camera out for a quick test with firmware 0.2 and found it to be stable and with no issues. We like the new improvements and really are eager to see what the camera will become with improvements. The software is a work in progress and will become much more powerful as a scientific and all around shooter as it matures.

We took the camera out for a quick test with firmware 0.2 and found it to be stable and with no issues. We like the new improvements and really are eager to see what the camera will become with improvements. The software is a work in progress and will become much more powerful as a scientific and all around shooter as it matures.

Our quick unprocessed footage below from Firmware 0.2:

Chronos 1.4 – Butterflies & Moths Test Software 0.2:

For more information about the Chronos 1.4 Camera and how to order one visit the official website at: http://www.krontech.ca/

 

Chronos 1.4 Mods Make Improvements!

Chronos 1.4 Mods

We would like to share a few modifications users of the Chronos 1.4 have made to the camera in the few short weeks they have had to put it through its paces.  In our case, we got the Pro AM 5″ Sunshade for LCD screens and had great success curing what could have been a big nuisance for the camera.  In bright daylight, the Chronos screen completely washes out like most phones out there and makes it impossible to judge focus, controls and reviewing clips.

There are also case mods and more strap accessories that have made the camera better.   While the software is still in the early stages, the camera is fully functional and has been able to deliver outstanding image quality.  There are a few image artifacts that firmware will address in the future, that are pushing back our full review of the camera. For those that have been asking, rest assured we are on it!

Chronos 1.4 Mods Rundown:

We found the  ProAm USA 5″ LCD Video Monitor Hood / Sunshade at the Amazon.com website for $17.99 including free shipping. It was a crap shoot as we would not know if it would fit the Chronos 1.4 and make it usable at the same time.  To our surprise, it was near perfect in the way it was able to fit the screen and avoid the jog wheel on the right side.  It is also extremely easy to take on and off. Furthermore, the lower flap is completely removable which allows you to use the camera’s touch screen with your hand and not collide with a barrier. We chose to not install the lower flap and it has functioned perfectly.

The included velcro strip tape is slim enough to be installed on the sides of the camera without having to cut the excess. We decided to give it a bit of room aside from the display in order to easily operate the controls. You may try different placement and see what works for you.

The shade visor makes a real difference in usability with perfect coverage in very bright sunlight.  Notice the right Jog wheel is still left with usable space and since the screen is detachable indoor use remains unaffected with movement freedom.

Make your own case for the Chronos 1.4:

Chronos owner Anton4Video has gone ahead and made a camera case custom set of foam inserts to accommodate the Chronos, Power supply, and 3 batteries.  The case he used is the – Pelican iM Storm 2100 $97.10 at Amazon, – which is both sturdy and very secure with dual side lock ports if needed. It also has the pressure equalization valve to adjust when being transported on airplanes.  He used custom foam inserts made by hand which we also found gave it a very nice touch.

Chronos 1.4 hard case V1.0 by anton4video:

 We added a couple of videos below so you can learn how to draw and cut custom foam shapes for cases.  Stay safe, some of this methods can cause injury. Always use protective gear like gloves and protective eye-wear.

How to Cut Clean Details in Foam by Punished Props:

Pelican Case Foam Cutting – WAY TOO MUCH FUN! by TiborasaurusRex:

Another Camera Neck Strap for the Chronos:

We talked about straps on a previous post here with our own solution but another Chronos user Gyppor has also been creative.

Mounting a neck strap to a Chronos 1.4 camera by Gyppor:

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 More Chronos 1.4 Video Samples:

What good is a camera if it is not able to show what it can do? Well we have gathered some recent Chronos 1.4 clips for your enjoyment as a bonus below.  Remember to support the people that created these videos and accessories by subscribing to their channels.

Satisfying Crazy Firecracker Explosions Chronos 1.4C Ultra Slowmotion! by SLOWMOTION EXPERIMENT:

Drilling aluminium in slow motion ( Chronos 1.4 ) by Gyppor:

Air cannon vs. Tennis racket by Antti Hara:

Super Slow Motion Waterballoon Assault | Chronos 1.4 by Paul Bryan TV:

Pounding rusty nails in SUPER slow motion (Chronos 1.4 – 13k-38k fps) by Gyppor:

For more information about the Chronos 1.4 Camera and ordering info go to the official website: http://www.krontech.ca/

Chronos Camera Must Have Accessories!

Chronos Camera Must Have Accessories

So now that many Kickstarter backers have received the Chronos 1.4 including HSC, we have had a few days to test it out and see what kind of accessories the camera needs to be customized for full usability.  There are quite a few hardware cages that may fit it but we rather use the camera as is with some clever low-cost fixes.

The camera is performing well with operation being solid for the 4 days we have taken it through its paces.  Some things do scream out as essentials in order for the camera to be safe from drops and shield it from the sun in order to see the LCD screen properly which is not particularly good in direct sunlight as most LCDs suffer from this.

Chronos 1.4 Must Have Accessories:

Grip / Support:

The Chronos 1.4 is a heavy all-metal camera with a molded hand grip with some thumb cross hatch texture that helps give some grip but not much.  That is why you need to attack some strap anchors with the help of the Right and Top side 1/4″ inch screw holes. These are the same as standard tripod screws.

These screws are cheap at under $2 dollars and you will only need 2 for connecting a strap.  We also include below, a few neoprene camera straps if you do not have one handy.

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Camera LCD Sun Shade & Elements Protection:

One aspect of the Chronos that will become easily apparent after just a few seconds of use while outside on a sunny day will be the fact that the LCD is almost unreadable in heavy sunlight. This is a common problem on many cameras and phone screens which probably; the Chronos is using a Phone LCD 5″ diagonal screen.

While the Lens Skirt above is not ideal, it does help the camera in 3 ways: It protects the camera from immediate water splashes

  • 1) It protects the camera from immediate water splashes!
  • 2) Creates a Sunshade for the LCD screen that is adjustable!
  • 3) Shields the camera from the sun and maintains the temperature cooler.

However, the Lens Skirt is a solution that is not waterproof and the recording button needs you to fight it in order to get your hand in there. That is why we favor going for the LCD 5″ Sun Shade, and The Camera Rain Cover for shielding the Chronos from damage.  Both intakes of the fan and grill holes are in the front of the camera and offer no protection against the elements.

As an extra, we also added an LCD Screen Protector with Anti Glare  for 5″ Screens that should fit the Chronos. See our selections below:

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Extra Batteries and Dedicated Charger:

The Chronos loves to eat EN-EL4a batteries and while recording it can eat up a battery in less than 50 minutes. The camera has no sleep mode so it means the power is continuously being drained. This means either operating it with the included AC adapter and a power source or exchange batteries often while shooting on the go.   The Nikon EN-EL4a original battery that ships with the Chronos is great but it is quite expensive as batteries go at $119 USD.  We Purchased a Newmowa compatible battery and we found that it lasted as much as the original Nikon battery while using it in camera. They may be using the exact same cells.  These batteries are good to use in the Nikon Cameras as many users have positive reviews. We would not go and search for other brands like Wasabi for this specific battery as reviews tend to be bad.  We only recommend the Newmowa as it is the one we have tested with success.

Since the batteries can be charged in the Chronos 1.4 Camera you do not have to buy a dedicated charger especially since the OEM Nikon one is so pricey at $129.   However, the Kastar dual charger below with LCD for just $33.99 at Amazon is a good alternative but see the warning below.

Above the Kastar charger with informational LCD charge display can juice up two batteries at once for a reasonable price.

Warning about Kastar charger: We had the charger give off a spark when connecting the voltage lead in the charger from the main. Spark went away after we connected the lead with the diamond logo ♦ on the cable end down “Looking at the floor” After that no more sparks and the batteries charged fine.  We believe there is a lack of power inversion circuitry when connecting the plug. And since you can connect it in any direction it can cause a short.  Just place the diamond part to the bottom.  Connect the charger and test it first on a power brick to avoid a short on your equipment. Once it is working fine you should mark the correct direction of the cable to the charger for worry free operation.  The main reason other chargers can only connect one way is exactly because of this current inversion problem. Sadly the Kastar charger is not spending extra resources on a simple shaped plug.   Test it, mark it correctly and save $. We have charged both batteries 3 times in 4 days no problem.  

If you are weary just get the official OEM Nikon charger here!

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Final Thoughts:

There you have it! Cameras tend to require accessories from time to time and the Chronos is really a  better camera with them.  We suggest you get a few of them and have some piece of mind when it comes to supporting the camera at least.

One thing you will also need is a tripod and you will need one that supports about 3kg if you want to attach lenses to the camera with adapters. We include some ideas below:

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We will post new ideas and test of accessories for the Chronos if we stumble upon them. Until then feel free to comment below and recommend some accessories of your own. More info on the Chronos Camera here: http://www.krontech.ca/

Thanks for reading -HSC