9 replies to this topic

[lew]

Does anyone know of a reasonably cheap high speed digi camera?

I have a reasonably good samsung camera that cost about £200.

in video mode, it shoots a max of 30 frames per second. while this is quite good for 'normal' video, it is not so good for shooting pyro clips (rockets, fountains and shells etc).

i like to slow the video down to 'examine' the result afterwards, and 30 fps is quite jerky at any speed more than 4x slower.

any ideas on a cheapish camera with a much higher frames per second ratio?

cheers.

[BrightStar]

I know that some of the Canon Ixus range will do 60 fps at half resolution (ie 320 * 240). I considered buying one for pyro movies, but instead went with the Fuji F30 (30 fps at 640 * 480) due to its remarkable low noise sensor - great for high ISO work in the dark.

So far, high quality 30 fps has been good enough for me - imported into VirtualDub the individual movie frames clearly show the first moments of the lift or break of a shell, the single frame where the landscape is lit up from an aerial flash salute etc. etc.

Edited by BrightStar, 13 May 2007 - 06:40 AM.

[pyrotrev]

Interesting to hear your comment on the F30 Joseph, I was thinking of getting a DV cam, but was wondering whether a normal digicam with good video facilities might be easier. Looking at the specs it's low-light capability is quite amazing, up with the very best emulsion films - nice brocade and willow shots! - but can you stop it down far enough to cope with bright stuff and still get good colour? I've found this to be a big problem, normally use a correction filter on my Olympus to get a few extra stops.

[BrightStar]

To paraphrase dpreview.com, the the Fuji F30 boasts an amazing sensor with a very good lens in a reasonably good camera. The low light performance is very impressive - you can shoot at ISO 800 without noticing too much grain, and ISO 1600 is usable for web photos and small prints. There is certainly a 2-stop advantage over other digi-cams. I bought mine at a good discount when my 15-year old Canon EOS SLR finally died, on the basis that these days you need both a compact and a DSLR, and urgently needing something to record my pyro experiments. Since getting it have held back on springing for a 400D because the Fuji keeps surprising me.

As far as movies go, the picture is certainly of high quality and you get about 20 minutes footage on a cheap 1Gb XD card. There are some downsides though - like all digicams, the movie mode is truly point and shoot so you have no control over exposure or ISO and cannot zoom while recording. Having said that, the exposure is dynamically adjusted while filming and as typical with the Fuji, the automatic mode tends to get it just about right...

Most of my movies on the forum have been taken with the F30 and then further compressed - take a look at the rather shaky (no tripod) Harmonious Swan cake, the Heckington vids or Titanium Gerbe movies for examples...

I wonder what would happen if I ever lost the F30 - it's currently stuffed full of interesting pyro tests that might be a bit alarming to the man in the street

Edited by BrightStar, 14 May 2007 - 08:50 AM.

[sasman]

I bought a canon ixus 750 for my GF Birthday and the main reason for that was its 60 FPS movie mode. it works s treat the quality is pretty good....But the best Slomotion capture i have seen is with my Sony HDR-HC3 camcorder it can capture at 240 or 250 Frames per sec.. Its brilliant..its real slow motion..you are limted to capturing only 3 seconds but that works ok for my needs..

I have not used it yet for fireworks.. but it should work really well for timing my BP speed burn test...

[maxman]

It might be of help if members mentioned what make and model camera they used when posting video clips so we can see the quality. I know the electronics market changes so fast and anything that is a year old is ancient, but anyone who has got a current model and is just testing it out. Also if the clip has been compressed for uploading. It might help people (like me) who are looking to buy.

[paul]

Hey guys. I got my PowerShot A550 today! I really like the quality of it, it´s only 120€!!! and can do everything the Ixus 70&75 can do. What I especially like about that camera is that it has got a 4x optical zoom and seems to be great to take firework pix!

It´s able to record 60fps movies as well in a reasonable quality. You can´t do anything wrong with that camera! Tomorrow there´s quite a big firework display in town, I think I´ll put my new camera to the test!

Here´s a sample pic. Interesting what such a cheap cam can do...

Klick me (again for 7.1MP size)

Edited by paul, 06 October 2007 - 02:21 PM.

[Creepin_pyro]

This article should be of some interest:

http://www.dpreview....casio300fps.asp

This is the only consumer camera I'm aware of that will capture video at those speeds.

300FPS in VGA!

[marble]

wow 300fps

I love going frame by frame through my videos which i shoot at 60fps, only problem is that the resolution is low. Would be cool watching a banger go off at 300fps, frame by frame.

[Creepin_pyro]

There are some interesting slo-mo pyro clips at lucidmovement:

All taken with rather more expensive equipment though : )

http://www.lucidmovement.com/?cat=25