The Official High-Speed Camera Thread

[MrCrowley]

The problem with used ones are that usually the shipping is only to US.

There's always the Nikon J1. Be sure to click to the pages "Specification" and "Score" for more information. I see the J1 has a larger sensor and performs better in low light but there are advantages to the EX-F1 too. Since the J1 is heaps cheaper, I'd go for that.

J1:
HD: 1920 x 1080/60i
HD: 1920 x 1080/30p
HD: 1280 x 720/60p
Slow-motion: 640 x 240/400fps
Slow-motion: 320 x 120/1200fps

EX-F1:
HD: 1920 x 1080/60i
HD: 1280 x 720/30p
Hi-Speed: 512 x 384 (300 fps, 30-300 fps)
432 x 192 (600 fps)
336 x 96 (1200 fps)


The EX has greater versatility offering the 600fps option but the J1 has a slightly taller frame for the 1200fps option which is pretty useful. I think 400fps at 640x240 wont be too noticeably different from 600fps and its a decent frame size too.

[wyz2285]

I searched Nikon j1 on ebay, it's normally cheaper and doesn't say high speed video record, witch is pretty weird
This is the Nikon J1 you were talking about?
Edit: going to buy the Nikon J1, if anybody think it's a bad idea please speak up fast

[wyz2285]

Got my Nikon J1
Haven´t find anything interesting to film yet, just a short video at 400 FPS to try out
[youtube][/youtube]

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Would have been more interesting pointed at a target but good on you, I expect to see great videos from you in future

[wyz2285]

I did film another one at 1200 fps target shooting, but because the lighting the quality is not worth showing, but I'll upload more soon

[MrCrowley]

Any comments on the camera itself? Been thinking of getting one so would be good to hear what you think of it.

[wyz2285]

Considering the "hardware" it's that same as J2 and 200 euros cheaper, to me I'm very satisfied with it, the high speed record quality it's the same as the best casio camera can offer with only half the price. But at both 400 fps and 1200 fps it only records for 5 seconds, it doesn't have 600 fps either. It doesn't have full HD video recording, only 1080 and only allows 10min recording. For photography, nothing really special, you get what you pay for. My Nikon D3100 beats it at both at full HD recordin and photo taking. It also has a short range lens, only 10-30, but enough for high speed recording, witch is the only use I have for it, and it does a very price worthy job, I'd recommend it comparing to all the Casios.
Ps: one of the control bottom is multifunctional, very cool and handy and it doesn't have that little "window" that allows you to look through and taking photo without using the main screen, so it consumes more battery when comes to photographing.

[MrCrowley]

The J1 does have full HD (1080p), I just double-checked on the Nikon website too. Do you mean that it doesn't do full HD at 24fps?

The D3100 has been in my mind as I'm not looking for a high speed camera in particular but at this point in time I'm leaning towards the better photo quality of the Sony Nex-5N. I would like the robustness of a DSLR but the mirrorless cameras are really competitive in the price range of low-end DSLRs and have some other advantages.

[wyz2285]

Yeah, I just checked my camera, looks like full HD 1080, but the quality it's not as good as the full HD of Nikon D3100.

[wyz2285]

My friends came over today, brought their AGEs and springers with them, so after scare the shit out of my neighbors, I record some high-speed videos (1200 FPS) hope you all enjoy
[youtube][/youtube]

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Very nice

Next purchase, one of these:

[wyz2285]

Have it on my shopping list

[Technician1002]

Those lights on AC flicker at 120 HZ on 60 HZ power. Instead look for aircraft landing lights and run them on DC for flicker free operation.

[wyz2285]

Don't want to go off topic but isn't it more complicated to use DC considering the house power runs AC?

[Technician1002]

By a slight modification of an old computer power supply, you can input AC and get DC out off the main filter caps. You may need to use a variac to reduce the input voltage as the caps store the peak voltage and not the RMS AC value, EG 120 in will provide ~165 DC. A 300 W supply will supply a 300 W lamp just fine with filtered low ripple DC. This is before the regulator, so there will be some ripple.

Be careful, some (most) US supplies are in a voltage doubler configuration with 2 caps in series with a Nominal DC of about 300 volts end to end across them when the jumper or switch is in the 120 volt position. Change the jumper to 240 and run on 120 to prevent blown bulbs. Again use a variac to dial the output down to 120 DC for the bulb.

Countries with 240 volt supply may have a different input configuration.

Watch for this configuration of diodes and the main filter caps in computer supplies with a 120/240 jumper.


The clue they are configured this way are the pair of caps on the input side of the regulator as seen in this photo. The pair is often rated for a working voltage of 160 volts and they are connected in Series, eg the + of one connects to the - of the other.