Video: Casio EX-F1 SuperSloMo is astounding...ly small

Casio's EX-F1 has been out for a few days in Japan and to our delight, super happy tech site Impress had the chance to review the new ultra-quick, 6 megapixel shooter. How quick? Try 60fps burst or up to 1,200fps video. We're not going to try and make sense of all the machine translated text. Instead, we'll wait for a full-on English review to make sure we capture all the nuance. Until then, check the trio of videos they shot after the break in 300fps (512 x 384), 600fps (432 x 192), and 1,200fps (336 x 96). Right, as the frame rate goes up (and playback slows down) you're left with some teeny weeny video. Still, the effect is amazing. $1,000-MSRP amazing is the question we're still asking ourselves. Hit up that read link if you want to read Impress' full review.

300fps


600fps


1,200fps

[saq @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:08AM]

Somebody please give this bad boy more ram and a faster processor! High speed video like this is awesome but at such reduced resolutions it really kills the effect. Some more horsepower behind this technology should allow for closer to full sensor range (unless its doing some kind of trick by using only a fraction of the sensor to capture the image, and rotating that fraction around, in which case more horsepower wouldn't help)

[andrew cooke @ Apr 9th 2008 9:09PM]

the small size at high frame rates might not be because they're trying to reduce storage requirements - it could be that they simply can't read the data out any faster. ccds are read out one pixel at a time (although you can split the ccd up into separate areas and read each area out in parallel) so the read time is proportional to the number of pixels.

[Jules @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:15AM]

You can also buy it in the Netherlands @ Dixons for €798!

[frisson @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:16AM]

@saq. Such cameras exist but cost up to £50k. This one is pretty remarkable for the price but significant upgrades would push the price up and reduce its appeal. A consumer drive towards faster cameras can only help to drive the costs for the speciality models down in the future though, and I'm sure we'll see better and better specs over the next few years or so.

I hate the term SuperSloMo though. It's a high speed camera recording high speed events which can be played back at any speed you want. Where's the slow motion here?

[Wolfticket @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:18AM]

I actually think the price for this kind of video capture is pretty good, even given the reduction in resolution. I'd only buy it if I had a specific use/need for high fps capture, not just for dicking about.

[Moo2 @ Apr 2nd 2008 9:52PM]

"not just for *dicking* about."

it would make some pretty interesting pr0nos

[Grandalf @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:43AM]

I'm pretty impressed it maintains such a clear and crisp picture, considering how little time it has to fixture the auto focus. I could easily live with 300 fps video and just frame rate reduce it in case I wanted it to be even slower, but still have the higher resolution.

[trancer @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:46AM]

thats really cool. its like watching some kind of Discovery documentary.
I wanna see a hummingbird captured with this camera.

[Douglas @ Apr 2nd 2008 5:29AM]

That's amazing, to be able to display how that bird flys. My God is awesome.

[Robert @ Apr 2nd 2008 9:00AM]

Not as awesome as mine...

[Weeliano @ Apr 2nd 2008 6:16AM]

This will be an excellent tool for Animators who want to shoot live motion reference!

[coolbee8 @ Apr 2nd 2008 6:17AM]

I prefer to have 1920x1200 videos than having to analyse each second I life 1200 times with a pair of glasses,in such low res as 336 x 96; fine, this camera is remarkable, but, guess it's not for everyone.

[coolbee8 @ Apr 2nd 2008 6:22AM]

Though 60 fps @ 6 mp is quite nice, doubt I memory card price will come down to make the process of using this affordable any time soon.

[Salem @ Apr 2nd 2008 7:52AM]

Actually, this camera does take HD video. According to the official specs it's at '1920 by 1080, at 60 fields per second' I don't know why they use the word fields, but I'm guessing it means the same as frames.

[rockintom @ Apr 2nd 2008 11:11AM]

The fields bit means it is shooting interlaced video at that point. Boo, but still impressive for the price.

[Armoured @ Apr 2nd 2008 6:20AM]

owning one of these cameras would be so fun! I just wouldn't stop photographing stuff and watching them in slow motion. small details in movement amaze me

[Juice @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:06AM]

Me too!

[Khoa Khuong @ Apr 2nd 2008 7:51AM]

WOW! That 600fps video is particularly impressive, with wings flapping in the way they are. 1200fps is too slow (for birds, anyway) and too small (even for YouTube!). Sadly, none of these SuperSloMo modes are big enough to fill an SDTV, but they are a good fit for the web.

[bala mani @ Apr 2nd 2008 7:54AM]

i like this.... very nice

[Chris @ Apr 2nd 2008 7:56AM]

they should have done 4 videos ... 1 regular speed... but they should have done it of something like a baloon popping with water inside that would have showed off the power better.

[nebulus @ Apr 2nd 2008 9:13AM]

The casio home page has a nice selection of movies, including the water balloon pop that you'd like to see....

http://www.exilim.com/intl/ex_f1/features2.html

[dosguy @ Apr 2nd 2008 8:01AM]

Wait 6 months and they'll be on Amazon for two hundred bucks.

[farfisa @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:39AM]

512 x 384 @ 300 fps is pretty damn good considering the competition at this price point is... nothing!
Pretty much perfect for blending videos though. No, I'm not asking if it will blend and neither should you.

[akratunis @ Apr 2nd 2008 11:01AM]

I cant tell if the slo-mo is great or my web connection is bad...

[rektide @ Apr 2nd 2008 12:33PM]

I thought this camera was going to change everything. I had the highest hopes.

But its bunk. The fine print is that the high FPS rates are a BURST MODE. at max FPS you only get 60S recording.

I'll go back to my philips SPC900NC thanks much. 90FPS VGA.

[Valgas @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:31PM]

I have a lot of cool things to capture in slo mo with this baby. Will add another X to XXX.

[B.C. @ Apr 2nd 2008 3:34PM]

Ducks are funny.
Also what kind are those?

[Oreoleo @ Apr 2nd 2008 5:50PM]

This is going to be great for some aspect of the pron industry...

[jitty @ Apr 2nd 2008 6:58PM]

Meh, it's what I expected, crappy quality at even 300fps. Even low end real slow motion camera's can do 1000fps at 640 by 480 at good video quality. But I guess they do cost A LOT more...

[jamesFF @ Apr 3rd 2008 12:16AM]

Now I can make my own version of Mythbusters.

[Karsten @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:02AM]

I can't believe all the negative comments! This is a true HD cam (1080p), it takes 6MP stills (60 in burst mode) and on top, if you so desire lets you do slow mo movies. Be real, that is just cool! The slow mo stuff is novelty and in all reality most people will just play with it, but there is NOTHING on the market that gives you all these features for 1k!
So if you don't like it move on, but this is an amazing an ground breaking new cam that sets a new standard. And yes, just like always, in 2-3 years other people will do it better, but for right now it is a one of a kind.

[Kurt @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:09AM]

Played with one of these at PMA. It's pretty sweet for the price. Fun, but you also need quite a bit of light, doesn't work well indoors in lower light.

I've done a bit of high-speed photography, cinema film, and video. And when we were capturing the shockwave of a bullet at 25,000 fps, the frames were ridiculously small, and that was using a Dynafax. That's just the nature of high-speed. Is it as good as a Phantom? Of course not... but it's tens of thousands of dollars cheaper, so what do you want? Price out a Phantom V12.

Anything looks epic at 1,000 fps, even if it's really small res. It's pretty cool toy.

[Dave @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:07AM]

What I like is supposedly you can set up the 60f @ 6mp in kind of a time freeze mode to where it's constantly looking at frames and when you push the shutter. It will record 30 frames before the shutter push and 30f after the shutter push. For those of us who take pictures of racing events etc the burst is perfect. We will also be using the high speed for stuff like suspension and engine motion events. To combine a shop digi cam with a high speed cam and a HD cam all for under 1g is a perfect deal for us.

[Seth @ May 9th 2008 10:00PM]

oooo....another cool solution in search of a problem!