High Speed Cameras

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I need help finding a high speed camera that can take ~1000 frames per second that can be connected to a computer for processing the video in real time. We can assume that the computer will *not* be a bottleneck in any of this.

In terms of price range, no idea, but I called up a few companies from very basic google searches and was quoted in the range of $15,000 to up to $40,000. When I was told "15k" by one person, I wasn't sure if he was referring to some kind of spec or price... something cheaper would be nice, ideally, under 2-3 thousand, but if that can't do it, I need to know what it takes.

I need to be able to fire a gun and track a bullet.

Edit: If there are any cheaper ones that can do maybe 100-150 FPS, that would be nice too. I don't have a requirement on resolution yet, but 800x600 would probably be ideal, or anything somewhat close to that. 640x480 might be usable.

 

[Wekiva]

I know in the last few Pop Photo and/or Outdoor Photo mags there is an add for a camera that shoots in the 60 FPS range I believe. I'll check tonight and let you know. In the add they show a hummingbird w/ its wings frozen.

(I realize this is below your spec...but it's as close as I've seen recently that won't be real expensive)

 

[OdiN]

I seriously doubt that you will find a 1000 FPS camera at 800x600 resolution in that price range you specified. Usually the faster ones have a lower resolution than that. More like 320x240.

 

[touchmyichi]

How about a video camera ? Seriously, there's no real point in owning a camera if you are essentially using it to capture an entire sequence of motion. Photography is all about isolating movement and life into one frame.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: touchmyichi
How about a video camera ? Seriously, there's no real point in owning a camera if you are essentially using it to capture an entire sequence of motion. Photography is all about isolating movement and life into one frame.

This forum isn't just for photography. It's for video cameras as well.

 

[pennylane]

I don't know if this will help you but I remember jpeyton talking about the Casio EX-F1 in another thread.

 

[Wekiva]

Originally posted by: fanerman91
I don't know if this will help you but I remember jpeyton talking about the Casio EX-F1 in another thread.

Well I'm home now and looked in my magazines...it is the Casio EX-F1 I was also talking about. But it is only 60 FPS. I say only because you're looking for 1000 FPS.

HERE is a pretty cool example of what it can do.

***EDIT***
Apparently this thing can shoot at 1,200 FPS according to posts I'm finding on the internet. This might be what you need.

 

[Fardringle]

The EX-F1 is an intriguing little toy if you need very high frame rates on a budget. You're not going to get anything remotely approximating the results of the pro level $40K cameras, but it does have some potential. It has a 60FPS burst mode at full 6 megapixel resolution and has video modes of 300FPS at 512x384 resolution, 600FPS at 423x192 resolution, and 1200FPS at 333x96 resolution. The videos in the link that fanerman91 posted give some decent examples of what you can expect from the camera in its high speed video modes.