Anybody know of a cheaper alternative to the FPS1000? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Ben321
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 21, 2017, 06:58:21 am
content: The FPS1000 is a high speed camera, that's much cheaper than ones made by major scientific high speed camera manufacturers like the Phantom Miro. Even so, it costs over $2000 for the cheapest one, but it didn't used to be that way. It used to sell for about $400. You see, the FPS1000 is no longer sold in cheap versions. The maker of FPS1000 used to have a range of versions from about $400 (silver) version to the $1200 (plantinum) version. So he really did have one he made that he was selling for about $400, but he no longer does, so I can't afford it any more. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford $400 back then either. You see, back when it was only $400, I didn't have a job. At some point, still before I got a job, he stopped manufacturing the cheaper FPS1000 units (in fact he stopped manufacturing even the platinum units) and instead started manufacturing even more advanced ones than the platinum version. These go for over $2000, with no option available for people who don't have that much money to spend. Now I have a job (got it back in early 2016), but I still can't afford the cheapest FPS1000 unit that he's currently selling, because of this price increase. Yes it comes with more features at this higher price, but he no longer offers a cheaper device with fewer features.So here's what I want to know. Is there anybody out there who's making high speed video cameras (maybe another Kickstarter project) and selling them around the $500 mark? And I don't mean a Nikon-1 J5 (which tops out at 1200fps). I mean something equivalent in capability to the original $400 FPS1000 Silver Edition (which could go up to well over 15000fps), at a price in the same range (anywhere from $400 to $600 would be reasonable).

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 21, 2017, 09:03:19 pm
content: Your comparison to the early bird limited promotional pricing is going to keep you stuck with unrealistic goals, the original price was £349 (approximately $600US) for people willing to take a chance on a Kickstarter. Think for a minute that perhaps the reality of running a business means its not possible for them to offer those prices forever.The Sony RX100 V is the entry point at the moment for high speed photography, it could theoretically do much higher frame rates but they kept it limited to 1000fps @ 1080p which is higher throughput (faster at the same resolution) than any of the offerings from The Slow Motion Camera Company. Beyond 1000fps what are you expecting to do? What are the actual needs? Lighting hardware for such shots is likely to exceed the price of the camera.

author: Ben321
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2017, 04:10:46 am
content: Quote from: Someone on December 21, 2017, 09:03:19 pmSony RX100 Mark5 allows 1000fps at 1080p?! O_oTHAT IS EPIC!!!!!!What is the maximum recording duration allowed at that frame rate? Does it offer even higher frame rates at lower resolutions, such as 1200fps at 720p, or even ultra high frame rates at much lower resolutions, such as 10000fps at 320x240? I heard that in order to show a bullet being fired, you need a frame rate at least as high as 10000fps.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2017, 06:34:40 am
content: I've always wanted a high speed camera, but these days there are enough people on YouTube with high end high speed cameras that I can find videos of practically anything I could imagine to film with one. My desire to own one myself is much lower than it used to be.

author: Ben321
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2017, 06:03:45 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on December 26, 2017, 06:34:40 amThe problem with those though, is you can't customize it. To make their video look cool, they usually change the playback speed partway through the event. For example they might show something exploding and it looks very slow, then sped up a bit, then slowed down again. They never play it back at constant speed. They are more entertainers than scientists. They never play it back at a constant rate, so that a person watching the video could analyze what was happening. If I know something is being recorded at 3000fps and played back at 30fps, I know that what I'm watching is 100 times slower than real-time. If they keep changing the playback frame rate for more interesting footage, to get more views on their Youtube video (which presumably is monetized, so it gets them more money for more views), then I don't know exactly how long the events being shown are actually taking. Until we get somebody who does PROPER uploads of high speed video footage to Youtube (playback at constant framerate), then we won't have any scientifically analyzable high speed videos on Youtube. Until such a time, it's better to go out and buy your own cheap high speed camera, which is why I'm still looking for a cheap alternative to the FPS1000. That is, I'm looking for a $500 camera that can record at speeds of at least 10000 fps.