High Speed camera under 5K?

1. bugmenot
   Member

   

   Is there a forum somewhere for discussing high speed videography (for slow motion playback)? I'm interested in cameras that gives the most bang for the buck, under $5K, or poor man's high speed videography. The camera does not have to be portable. Black and white camera is ok. The intended use is sports training analysis.

   There are a few consumer camcorders with slightly faster frame rate (e.g. sony hdr-sr12 at 240fps, samsung sc-hmx20 at 300fps, casio ex-fh20 at 1000fps but terrible resolution). These all sell for under $1000.

   The next step up is professional high speed video cameras with no pricing info on the web. I assume they cost $10K or more. So is there something to fill the gap between these two types?

   Posted 2 years ago #

2. composite1
   Moderator

   

   Bug,

   Canon XH-A1 1/8,000, 1/15,000 (clear scan mode) under $4k

   JVC GYHD-200U 1/10,000 under $4k

   Panasonic AG-HMC150 1/2,000 under $4k

   Sony HVR-Z7U 1/10,000 $5k+

   All specs and prices were pulled off of BH photo-video's site 5 MAR 09

   H.Wolfgang Porter, Composite Media Producer
   Dreaded Enterprises Unlimited, Inc.
   http://www.dreadedenterprises.com

   Posted 2 years ago #

3. robGRAUERT
   Member

   

    composite,

    the specs you listed are shutter speed, not fps.

   Rob Grauert, Jr
   http://www.robgrauert.com
   http://command-r.tumblr.com

   Posted 2 years ago #

4. robGRAUERT
   Member

   

    now that I think about it, is it worth buying a high speed camera? How often will you be using it? Will you do enough projects to make back the money you spend on the camera? I might be more cost effective to rent a high speed camera.

   Posted 2 years ago #

5. composite1
   Moderator

   

   Bug and Rob,

   The rest of the info I typed didn't go into my post last night. Apologies.

   Anyway, that is correct those are shutterspeeds. The camera's mentioned have a maximum have frame rate of 60p or i. But you can get a 'poorman's highspeed' video when you slow it down in post. There will be some motion blur and gaps in the action (which accounts for the 'strobed' look) but it's the cheapest option outside of rigging a series of cameras or renting or buying an actual high-speed video camera.

   Posted 2 years ago #

6. robGRAUERT
   Member

   

   hahaha...poorman's highspeed.

   Anyway, You actually can achieve a very nice, clear slow-mo if you drop 60p footage into a 30p or 24p timeline. The downside of doing this is you're limited to slowing your speed to 50% only (50%ish in 24p timeline).

    Maybe you can shoot 60p with a really fast shutter speed and drop it into 24p. That might work. Depends what post production software you have too.

   Posted 2 years ago #

7. composite1
   Moderator

   

   Definitely 'poorman's',

   I did some digging and couldn't find anything (what few would actually give a price) outfit that sold a highspeed rig for less than $20k. You're right about the potential of the software to properly slow down the footage and still get a good image. I've only ever used avid products intentionally for this and it's a good NLE for that using this method. I have recently used Premiere Pro CS3 to slow down some 60p HDV footage (not shot at highspeed) and it wasn't too shabby. I would figure the higher end software (Avid, FCP, Media 100, Grass Valley, Premiere, etc.) would be capable of doing a good job of it.

   Posted 2 years ago #

8. robGRAUERT
   Member

   

    I don't know about the other software you mentioned, but I know FCPs time remapping is crappy. It just blends frames.

    If you use FCP, you'd have to use the optical flow feature in Motion or Shake or purchase the Twixtor plug-in. Motion, Shake and Twixtor will actually create new frames to fill in gaps so you can have a nice looking slow mo.

   Posted 2 years ago #

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