The Coming "Highspeed Revolution"?

[Tom Lowe]

Lately, I have a new obsession: high-speed cinematography.

Just as with timelapse, I think there is an inherent poetry in highspeed shots. One of the best examples I have seen recently was the Nile Croc ambush from Planet Earth. Check out the shot at 2:47!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttsnqWGBG7U

Poetry in motion!!

But for every shot like that one, there are 100 uninspired Phantom HD shots of ice cubes dropping into martini glasses, women in flowing robes, and bullets flying through apples. People seem to mainly use these cameras for staged, gimmicky shots.

Why? The cost of owning one. The high price of the Phantom HD camera -- about $200K USD -- is an issue. VR doesn't get to benefit from economies of scale, so this camera is simply beyond the means of most shooters. To me, this is holding back artists who might otherwise be breaking new ground in the area of highspeed.

Imagine if the only way someone could shoot timelapse is by purchasing or renting $200,000 timelapse cameras? I doubt there would be very many timelapse shooters in the world! It would be the domain of the few, the elite. And when people did rent the rigs, they would be for specific commercial projects -- just like we see with the Phantom. There would really be no such thing as "hobbyist" timelapse shooters. Because how would you learn? Fortunately, the spread of DSLR cameras and cheap motion mounts has spawned a true revolution in timelapse. Any teenager with $1,000 worth of gear can produce beautiful sequences. With about $5,000 worth of gear, you can replicate 65mm 3-axis motion-control moves that used to require hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gear.

So, can Jim do the same thing for highspeed? Can we get highspeed cameras into the hands of amateurs and hobbyists? Can we democratize highspeed, the way we have video and timelapse?

Knowing his foresight, this is probably something that Jim literally already has in the works. Obviously, the 3K 120fps Scarlet is a great start! But once shooters get a taste of 120fps...they will be craving 500fps, then 600fps, then 1000fps and so on! What is the next step? How about an S35 3K camera that shoots 1000fps... under $30K?

Anyway, thanks for listening to my ramblings.

[sander kamp]

Yes, high speed cameras are fascinating. But in reality the number of subjects is kind of limited. Cameras that do 1000fps are mostly used for shooting liquids. TV commercials for drinks, cars that ride through water, exploding water balloons - those kind of things. For explosions, bullets and shattering glass you need much higher frame rates, from 10,000 up to one million fps.

And then you need light. Outside on a sunny day is okay, but in a studio getting flicker free light is not easy. It works with 5,000 Watt plus tungsten lights or 4,000 Watt plus HMI lights. Not something you normally have lying around to play with.

[Tom Lowe]

Yeah, but like you say, you can "play" at 1000fps easily in sunlight.

[Felix K.]

I agree, the uses are limited. You can only see a bullet explode in highspeed (1.000.000 fps was in a thread here in the forum) that many times. In scientific research it might have a lasting justification but outside of that there is no reason.
For me Matrix is one of the movies with the most obvious and frequent slow-motion scenes. And that is an action-stuffed movie par excellence and they probably never go further than 1000fps.
120-150 fps with Scarlet will make me more than happy!

P.S.: It is of course an artform and thus can stand for itself (like timelapse movies), but I'm talking about high framerates as a narrative device. Water, explosions, FX including scaled models, that's about it for the really high ones. Every thing else (slow-mo on a face to highlight an emotional reaction) can be down with much less. Just my 2c.

[Alex Fostvedt]

Tom, I think highspeed photography is the "cameramans crack"! I love it too! Highspeed can take an ordinary shot and make it extraordinary. The biggest draw of highspeed shots is that they are mini segments. There is a beginning, middle and end. Of course there is a fine line between over indulgence and abstinence. Cheers

[Tom Lowe]

Hehe, crack. I think you might be right. Or maybe a better comparison is cocaine itself, considering the price of highspeed cameras!

Just to be clear, I am not really talking about cinema or narrative shooting. I do realize highspeed is only of limited use on those shows, just like timelapse.

[Stephen Strangways]

A DoP I know shot this music video on the Phantom HD, and I think it makes good use of highspeed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wdwcRx5HyQ

[Felix K.]

Just to be clear, I am not really talking about cinema or narrative shooting. I do realize highspeed is only of limited use on those shows, just like timelapse.

Oh, gotcha! Well, yes. To indulge in beautiful motion imagery it's perfect.

[Peter Hoare]

I have worked with the Phantom HD a few times, and whilst I think the uses of 1000fps video is useful, there are a few restrictions on this camera (and all others of its type) that make it quite difficult to use.

First off, for those speeds, it has to be tethered to a laptop. You shoot the shot to volatile memory inside the camera then trans fur it to the laptop down an ethernet cable. You can transfer it to the cinemag (which is a seperate item ontop of the camera) but this is only 500gb and fills up quickly. For setting the camera up its best to have it all connected to the computer.

You can shoot 450fps direct to the cinemag, which is an option.

Also you need a LOT of light for hishspeed. I am borrowing the newest VR camera in the next few weeks (the v710) to film a tennis ball cannon I built for a bbc tv show. The cannon shoots the ball over mach1, and we are using a framerate of 50,000 fps to catch the ball. At these speeds, the shutter is so fast, we need 30kw of light to light the subject properly. We have had to borrow a special lablight designed for this application, which is effectivly a camera flash. It kicks out 30kw of light for ten seconds before the bulb melts and the ballast needs to recharge itself.

Highspeed is definatly a good tool but it has restrictions. The Phantom HD is a fantatsic camera but requires planning and a bit of thought.

The v710 which will do up to 1.4 million FPS (at low frame sizes) is more of a research camera, designed for ballistics and science.

Either way, I cant wait to see the mach1 tennis ball in proper slow motion.

[Steve Gibby]

Check out the Discovery series "Time Warp" - very cool programs featuring high speed footage of various things in motion. Its on Wednesday night in the USA.

When I shoot wildlife and sports, I'm always dreaming of higher frame rates to get those glass-smooth slow motion sequences. Epic will be a great step in that direction. Don't ever assume that RED will stop there though...

There are more applications and uses for high speed shooting than most people realize. Looking forward, IMO the market for such will continue to grow. There's a whole big production world out there beyond the usual 23.98 and 29.97 :)