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There are thousands of applications where ultra
high speed video is useful. SlowMo has captured a wide range
of events and movements in all types of locations, for example,
from filming birds out at sea to capturing huge explosions
to slowing down a fast moving production line. We will be
glad to advise you on your specialist high speed requirements.
More information on four particular areas, natural
history, television, production
line analysis and ballistics
and explosions, are also provided below.
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Filming wildlife with a high speed digital camera often requires special equipment, specific camera set-up, together with a certain level of knowledge in order to get the right shot under often difficult and time intensive conditions.
SlowMo will endeavour to provide the best high speed equipment and service to wildlife and natural history film makers and professional wildlife cameramen/women. SlowMo is glad to provide free ‘hands on’ training with the Photron cameras at its Altrincham base.
APX on location filming leaping salmon
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 The Photron SA-1 camera has a customised handle that can incorporate a viewfinder, mounting plate for supporting long lenses and special power cables for use with 12V car batteries and V-lok camera batteries.
Mark Johnson has recently gathered some stunning clips for natural history television and presented a high speed camera workshop at the Wildscreen Festival 2006.
Natural history subjects filmed at high speed by Mark himself or with cameras provided by SlowMo:
Hummingbird hawkmoths, salmon, horseshoe bats, butterflies, pigeons, kestrels, diving gannets, swallows, woodpeckers, tawny owls, puffball fungi, pilobolus fungi, various garden birds (tits, finches etc), dung beetles, bumblebees, pollinating orchids, gorse seed pods, diving ducklings, ballooning spiders, frogs, pond skaters, chameleons, geckos, spiders, shrews, cheetahs, capuchin monkeys and hippos. |
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Aside from Natural History, SlowMo has worked on other types of programmes such as consumer and current affairs, culture, pop videos, and product commercials for both national broadcast and Internet download. High speed is being shown more and more on television especially with adverts (Yellow Pages, Direct Line) and opening credits (Rugby world cup, Channel 5 - greyhounds).
In 2008, the SA-1 has been used on commercials for
Direct Line, Ribena and Finish. It was used on a major
ITV production to be shown in the autumn. It’s
high quality images at low light make it the perfect
camera for capturing scenes that are lit for normal
cameras. In addition it’s variable resolution
feature means that a true 16:9 can be recorded (1024
x 576). The SA-1 can be fitted with a viewfinder and
mounted on a dolly in order to get the best ultra high
speed shot. |
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 SlowMo is very experienced in working within an industrial/production environment. If there is a problem with your fast moving production line that needs detecting, digital high speed cameras are very effective in determining where the fault lies.
Reduce downtime caused by jams • Improve changeover
time • Lower wastage • Reduce maintenance
expenses.
A digital high speed camera can capture movement after
the event has occurred. It does this by continually buffering
images in the camera memory, and then waiting for a trigger
signal. The allocation of available memory can be set
to record those movements occurring before this trigger
so in essence recording something that just happened.
If a failure in the line is imminent then one can arm
the camera, wait until a line failure is seen and then
press the trigger button. You can then see exactly what
may have caused the fault. Answers can be found very quickly
when suddenly viewed at high speed. |
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Normally production line work is not that fast regards high speed applications and a frame rate of around 500fps is usually sufficient. The Photron APX camera with the mono head is the perfect camera for capturing movements deep inside a machine and even through guards.
SlowMo has filmed on many occasions in manufacturing, food
production, bottling and labelling plants, sterile chemical environments, and steel works.
 SlowMo always ensures that the video clips captured can be played back on your computer systems and also provides viewer software further analysis of the clips. |
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SlowMo has worked on several occasions with Ordnance companies covering military contracts. It has also been hired by independent production companies filming controlled explosions involving plastic explosives, gunpowder and ultra high voltages.
The APX camera with its mono head is often the ideal camera (when colour is not necessary) for capturing objects such as rocket propelled grenades and bullets. The mono head is very light sensitive and ideal when filming in low light conditions such as indoor firing ranges.
It is usually not possible to use slow motion clips of fast moving projectiles for broadcast purposes because of the small resolution. However the world's fastest camera, the SA-1 is capable of capturing 1024 x 576 (16:9) images at a staggering 9000fps. Reducing the width to 720 pixels will result in a frame rate of 13500fps. See the SA-1 datasheet for more information.
Image on the right: Non-safety glass test with bullet.
Camera: Photron APX. Frame rate: 24000fps. |
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