Vision crosses the million-pictures-per-second with Phantom V12

Vision Research already has some pretty capable high-speed cameras under its belt, but the company looks to have outdone even itself with its latest model, which is apparently the first such camera to hit the one-million pictures-per-second mark. Of course, to grab that impressive burst of images you'll have to settle for a 256x8 resolution, although you'll still get a decent 6,315 pictures-per-second with the maximum 1280x800 resolution. Otherwise, you can expect 8GB, 16GB or 32GB of internal storage depending on the exact model (which includes both color and monochrome options), "unprecedented light sensitivity," and Vision's Extreme Dynamic Range feature, which'll let you capture two different exposures within one single frame. No word on a price, although some things are probably better left unsaid.

[Via Gadget Lab]

[CharlieX @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:32PM]

8 pixels doesn't get you much, does it?

[Bill @ Dec 11th 2008 11:25AM]

These cameras are used for testing things that happen in a very short window in time. Blast propagation, shock waves, ballistic testing. They have great color even a higher speeds and are required for some types of data. Most of you guys are idiots. Learn what applications they were designed for before you make dumb remarks.

[DJWhiplash2001 @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:32PM]

Wtf is anyone going to do with a million pictures that are 8 pixels wide.

[LesbianHam @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:38PM]

Correction: 8 pixels *tall*

[Flashpoint @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:45PM]

Are you kidding?

Now I can watch pr0n movies and see every individual sp3rm cell in a "money shot".

[LesbianHam @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:07PM]

Ultra-high *speed*, not *resolution*

[Garst @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:27PM]

6,315 pictures per second at 1280x800 would still pretty subtancial for capturing that image. It might actually be pretty repulsive at that kind of quality.

[Hung @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:06PM]

Well, they could have left it out, and people would have been all "man, they could let this thing do a million FPS at 256x8 pixels. Those cheap bastards!"

[King Mustard @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:33PM]

I don't see how the 256x8 resolution can be useful, but 6,315 FPS @ 1280x800 is really impressive. Would be interested to see the quality of the frames, though.

[SuperFly @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:35PM]

That is incredible, I would love to mess around with one of those. Probably overkill for all but the most ardent slo-mo fans!!

[sinai @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:35PM]

it's clearly a typo....
right?

[LesbianHam @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:08PM]

's what I'm thinkin

[dfivetwo @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:39PM]

The 8 pixel vertical resolution is not a typo. Have a look at the datasheet:
http://www.visionresearch.com/uploads/docs/Products/DS_v12.pdf

On page 3 there is a table with all the resolutions and the fps available at those resolutions.

Very impressive...

[Daniel @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:35PM]

That thing totally looks like an Ecto-trap...

[Flashpoint @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:43PM]

sonuvabitch beat me to it !

[Jason Pratt @ Jan 23rd 2008 4:39PM]

It does look like an Ecto-trap http://www.jdhancock.com/images/ghostbusters-trapL.jpg

6,315 HD pictures-per-second + Adam and Jamie = Mythbusters newest toy

[CapWKidd @ Jan 23rd 2008 6:00PM]

I was going to say, with is being so high tech, you would think they could make it look modern, not like a 70's camcorder!

[Electromodo @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:41PM]

So, if my calculations are correct, this camera can actually show you the end point of of light beam.

Since speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s and camera can take 1,000,000 pictures a second, you can point the camera at night on 600 meters wall, and turn on laser pointer.

Since light will travel 299 meters through 1 picture exposure, one of the pictures then should display the light beam reaching only the partial distance of the wall.

[Khris @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:43PM]

You need a hobby. :)

[Electromodo @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:45PM]

I forgot to mention, that for 600-meter wide wall you really need a powerful laser pointer, and it should have a wide beam to be noticed on 256x8 picture resolution.

But still amazing :)

[DT @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:18PM]

Some science mag (Scientific American I think) did this a few years ago with a new (at the time) million+ fps camera, but using mirrors to keep the beam in a single room and in one frame. They let out a miniscule light pulse, and you could see the leading edge and the trailing edge in one frame. Very cool.

[Henry @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:36PM]

Yes DT, I think that was a rotating mirror camera that could only expose 12 frames. Still pretty cool.

[Timerider @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:39PM]

@DT:
I remember seeing something like that in Popular Science that showed a light beam bouncing between mirrors. But the image would be of where the light beam was by the time the light reaches the camera.

[tamoghno @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:42PM]

Slow motion . err.. Slooooooooooooooooooooooooooow motioooooooooon.

[Dont Blink @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:43PM]

A million frames per second, huh?

So to VIEW that one-second's worth at, say, 30FPS it'll take =9+ hours=?

I think I'll wait til the book comes out...

[John @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:42PM]

256x8 = 2048 pixels. 1,000,000 fps = 2,048,000,000 or 2.048 billion pixels per second. If it's using truecolor, that's 6144000000 bytes or 5.722 gigs per second. Even with highcolor, you're looking at 3.815 gigs per second.

At the 1200x800 at 6315 fps, you're looking at 6062400000 pixels per second, or 11.29 gigs per second at 16 bit color.

I'm sure there's something you want that sort of detail for, but I'm at a loss at to what it is...

[Richard @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:13PM]

Porn.

[DT @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:14PM]

It's gotta be B&W at a million frames a second. Still, that's a lot of pixels.

[macona @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:39PM]

All sorts of stuff. Studying how explosives work. High speed mechanisms, etc

[sinai @ Jan 23rd 2008 4:36PM]

good luck getting a nipple in frame on 8 pixels

[Zapata @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:56PM]

These cameras are for scientific experiments. I have used similarly high speed cameras for analyzing plasma pulses in a spheromak.

[DJWhiplash2001 @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:58PM]

Nerd.

[fashionista @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:03PM]

sphero-what?

[Khris @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:19PM]

You know.....the do-hicky that's connected to the what-cha-ma-call-it, next to the thing-a-ma-bob.

[Henry @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:38PM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spheromak

[Khris @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:55PM]

Oh!!! One of THOOOOOOOOOSE! Why didn't you say so!

[Warhorse @ Jan 23rd 2008 5:29PM]

Ahhh, one of those new coffee makers.

[DT @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:13PM]

"Let's see that again in SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SLOW MOTION!"

[Dark Light @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:14PM]

Gee, if you shot a laser off at the moon and watched it get there and come back, you would only use up a half-second's worth of "filming"!

The question is, however, would you REALLY see "incremental motion" or would that beam just be there or not...

Damn Einstein, anyway!

[Timerider @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:33PM]

I want one of these. Or some kind of high-speed camera. 2,000 fps is usually enough. I love seeing explosions when they're slowed down.

[däniel @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:39PM]

it would be 256x160 to have the same aspect ratio as 1280x800 (which is 16:10)

yes, i am that bored...

[däniel @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:40PM]

assuming that the 256x8 is a typo, of course ;)

[Chem E Sam @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:50PM]

Nice! We use a lot of Vision cameras (phantom 7) at work but i think the ones we have max out at 100,000 fps. this is cool.

[Garst @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:27PM]

Now when you say, "which includes both color and monochrome options," are you talking about the camera itself or are you talking about the pictures it takes?

[w00t @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:34PM]

Cool... Someone should film a CRT with this so you can watch the beam run across the scanlines!

I can't really think of a good reason why, but it'd be fun to watch :)

[Anachronism Reigns @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:48PM]

What's a "CRT"?

(...)

[Khris @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:55PM]

CRT = Cathode Ray Tube = Old computer monitor

[DarkLightConnection @ Jan 23rd 2008 7:47PM]

= what you have in your avatar.

[Alexandre Ludolf @ Jan 23rd 2008 5:07PM]

I believe theres LOTS os practial application for this kind of tech.

any real life application such as deformation tests, or any kind of lab experiment.

nano seconds for this stuff can be seen as a movie lol

[admin @ Jan 24th 2008 4:04PM]

Interesting, very cool... But how does multiple exposures at one time work without two different systems in the high dynamic range mode?