Cheap High Speed Video?

July 12, 2007 12:59 PM

Best gear for inexpensive high-speed digital video capture?

What is the simplest, least expensive digital camera or video recorder I can buy for doing decent high-speed video recording? I want to capture balloon explosions and that sort of thing, possibly insects, and don't need the camera for anything else. (I already have a point-and-shoot digicam I'm quite satisfied with and am not otherwise 'into' photography or video capture.) I like small form factor stuff and would prefer a camera to a camcorder. My current camera for instance shoots VGA video at 30FPS...but perhaps a tape-based camcorder will work for high-speed extraction?

Is there any other special equipment I'll need, such as unusual artificial lighting or particular editing software?

Thanks.

posted by jjsonp to science & nature (7 comments total)

What values of "High Speed" are you looking for? Higher-than-30fps speeds might be affordable. If you're willing to parse an idiotic mailing list archive, this looks promising. You will need lots of light.
posted by Skorgu at 1:15 PM on July 12, 2007

1. Fast
2. Cheap
3. Good

Pick two.
posted by rhizome at 1:42 PM on July 12, 2007

it's not cheap at all, but the Phantom camera is an option. Software is included.

And yes, lots of light and a good lens.
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 1:47 PM on July 12, 2007

It might be cheaper to shoot film. I've seen some high-speed 16mm cameras go on eBay for pennies.
posted by popcassady at 2:25 PM on July 12, 2007

I've actually done work with Phantom before.

Look, it comes down to this:
Film - you have to crank footage (expensive + development) by the lens.

Electronic (Phantom and others): you need to read the CCD superfast.

Video; there are little video options - it's keyed into the idea that you'd have to push the the speed that the tape runs across a helical head.

The Electronic methods work best (and turn out to be the most affordable - after you buy the camera.) You just point it at what you want to record (it's always recording). The event happens, and then you hit the button to 'save' what has been going on.

Literally, you say "STOP RECORDING' after the instantaneous event has happened.

You're going to need over 300fps for the sort of stuff you want.
posted by filmgeek at 6:12 PM on July 12, 2007

A list of resources from the folks who started it all.
posted by TedW at 8:47 PM on July 12, 2007

I was searching around a bit and found some example videos and (what I assume are approximate) fps figures, so you can get an idea of how fast you need.
posted by Skorgu at 9:19 AM on July 13, 2007