Need High Speed for Slowest Mo on the 300

nedcam

nedcam

Well-known member
I have my first 300 request where I need to go very slo mo, think I may need to rent a Phantom. What is the highest speed a 300 user has gone on this forum?

The client has a flexible lens to replace glass on street lights, he wants to demo it where a hammer or bowling ball hits the lens and the audience sees it flex. What would be the optimum setting, codec an frame rate? Or should I just rent something else?

Thanks!
 
I think 60 fps is the highest you can go in NTSC land and to get the effect that is wanted I think you will need a specialist camera that goes way beyond that.
 
For what its worth..I shoot 720 60fps with shutter @120 then drop it on a 24p timeline and output it. I do this on an HMC150.
 
Nedcam,

Do some tests... Shoot at 720/60p at a fast shutter speed. Your lighting will dictate how fast you can go. Then use the change speed settings in FC, if that's what you're editing in, and see if that gives you what you need. I've been able to get some really good SloMo that way.

Just a thought.

Good luck!
 
Having seen a LOT of high speed imagery, I think that you will need something significantly faster to achieve the shot our client wants. You are likely looking for at least 500fps and possibly several thousand fps depending on the tensile-strength of this flexible lens and the duration of the shot you'd like in the finished cut in relation to the duration of the event itself. I would suggest the use of a Phantom HD Gold or Phantom Flex for such a shot, but then again I'm a bit biased in such matters ... ;-)
 
I'm getting estimates in the $5000 range. The client will never go for that. Maybe animation instead...
 
nedcam said:
The client has a flexible lens to replace glass on street lights, he wants to demo it where a hammer or bowling ball hits the lens and the audience sees it flex. What would be the optimum setting, codec an frame rate? Or should I just rent something else?
Click to expand...

This is exactly the market that Phantom cameras are aimed at. A Phantom Flex is likely your answer. You're probably looking at a frame rate of 300 to 1000 fps. You'll probably want to film it at a number of frame rates just to see.

If you do rent a Phantom, make sure your lighting is up for it. High frame rates = short exposures -> lots 'o light. And non-flickering light at that. Tungsten will clearly work, as will high frequency Kinos. But the cheap fluorescents in office buildings (50/60 Hz) will certainly show flickering with a high speed camera.
 
I was inspired to look around because one of my clients has often mentioned how nice it would be to have some super slomo of his products. He has never hesitated however to mention how tight budget are these days. In my research I came across this for under $300.00.
CASIO EX-ZR100 high speed digital camera
However I just watched a review( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNut_kshlYM ) and it seems the older model the FC100 enables you to control the shutter speed and the new one above does not.
It certainly won't give you full frame but for a few hundred you might put two or three smaller frames from different angles comp together in post and get away with it. I know I am gonna buy one of the FC100's for sure and put it in the GoPro bag.
Brian
 
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Many of our Phantom Techs own Casio cameras to use for pre-vis. with clients. But the resolution drops very quickly as one raises the frame rate. The cameras have other issues as well in high speed, as have been noted in various reviews on the web. But for $300 bucks ...
 
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