Looking for a recommendation for an AFFORDABLE high speed camera

[Shaun Roemich]

Working on a web series and wondering if anyone has some experience and advice on consumer level cameras shooting between 150 and 300 frames per second (like the Fujifilm HS10/11/20 or the equivalent Casio)?

SD or smaller resolution is acceptable as this will be included alongside traditional HD footage for effect.

$400ish budget (again, the Fujifilm cameras meet this requirement so we aren't being unrealistic)

ADDENDUM: Producer just okayed up to $2000 if that significantly increases our options and/or resolution.

And no, we can't rent. This needs to be a purchase for reasons that shall remain undisclosed.

[Greg Fiske]

How about one of the new sony's vdslr's that just came out with a little twixtor to interpolate the missing frames?

[Trond Saetre]

Hi,
You might contact Ruth Happel. She used a high speed camera for at least one UWOL contest a while ago.

[Shaun Roemich]

Thanks Greg. We ARE looking at Twixtor as PART of the solution but the event in question is quite brief so we need more frames with the occurrence to interpolate.

[Shaun Roemich]

Thanks Trond.

[Giroud Francois]

depends how fast and how long you need to go, but for the price the best ratio is the Casio Ex-F1 at $1400 , 300fps at 512x384.
if you just need to be fast, for $400 you get some camera shooting 120fps at 640x480 for a lot cheaper.
120 fps for natural takes is darn fast, and you can stretch it to 240fps in post easily.
but if you are looking for stunning ultra slow motion, often seen in macro photography, 300 fps is the way to go knowing you can stretch it it 600fps.
Only you can know what you are looking for.

[Shaun Roemich]

Thanks Giroud. No "stunning" slo mo. Not doing nature hummingbirds in flight. Just a brief occurence (similar to a water balloon being exploded with a pin).

So far we have been experimenting with an AF100 in 60FPS overcrank and retimed to 24P. Our Sony FS100 arrives next week. Can't get the demo of Twixtor to work properly so we are looking for someone locally with a functioning install to help us test it. I'm sure it's worth the price but we need to establish it will do what WE need it to, understanding we have very few frames of the occurence in question to extract from.

Appreciate the help. So far the leaders are the Casio and the Fujifilm if we need more frames.

Thanks all and please keep the advice coming!

[Allan Black]

G'day Shaun, maybe this'll fit the role, if price and availability work in ...

News

Cheers.

[Bob Hart]

Shaun.


There was a workaround referred to here a while back relating to twixtor and a bug which stops it from working in Premiere CS5. The symptom I think is a truncated clip.

Basically it meant importing the desired clip into another sequence, then adding enough footage to the end to be rendered so that the entire required clip is rendered before the clip is cut short, then that rendered clip imported back into the main project and trimmed to suit.

I think the workaround is published by the Twixtor vendor on Youtube.

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Allan Black

G'day Shaun, maybe this'll fit the role, if price and availability work in ...

Good thing I won that lottery yesterday! <laughs>

SIGH... I WISH this one was fully funded but it's a bit of a vanity project rolled into a proof of concept rolled into a camera test...

I'm usually the one looking for PRO level solutions at pro level prices but we will do the best we can within the budget we have this time around. The SloMo portion is actually quite small but we figured we'd see what we can do on a budget since it appears EVERYONE is pulling the collective belts in tighter these days...

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Bob Hart

There was a workaround referred to here a while back relating to twixtor and a bug which stops it from working in Premiere CS5. The symptom I think is a truncated clip.

Thanks Bob, I'll look around when I get a chance. Good to know it isn't just me...

[Steve Kalle]

Hey Shaun,

Is there a particular reason you want to use Twixtor?

For retiming, I use Kronos from The Foundry which runs only in AE but is GPU accelerated. Its only $120 per license (or $170 for a floating license). On a side note, I also use their CameraTracker plugin. While its no Boujou or Syntheyes, it does work very well for 3D tracking.

[Shaun Roemich]

Thanks Steve. I'm not CURRENTLY running AE here (but may well if I can spring for the Adobe Production Premium crossgrade package before the 50% off deal ends later this month) so I was going on the advice on The Interwebs. Happy to give your suggestion a try if/when I get a seat of AE in here. Might even consider the free trial download of AE to try Kronos if they have a trial version. I'll go look...

Historically I haven't done enough motion graphics/effects stuff to justify owning AE but I'm definitely moving more in that direction these days so it might well be time...