Have you ever sat back on a lovely weekday evening while watching the show Mythbusters and been in complete awe; not just from the tests the show’s cast and producers run through but by the concepts they came up with to run the tests and the mechanisms they actually during those demos. It really is tech enthusiasts, scientist, engineer, or almost any man’s dream to be able to “play” with all those machines…but what if you could?
What is High Speed Imaging?
Okay, so maybe you won’t be able to experiment with all of the gadgets that the team does on the show, but there are a few awesome mechanical devises out there that do some, if not more, of the insane things that you see on TV. High speed imaging for instance is leading the industry in analysis, testing, production and so much more. High speed cameras records details of extremely fast mechanical (or other) movements and then reverses and plays it back in slow motion (where the eye can see) for visual data intake. These spectacular devices are capable of more than meets the eye and have a wide range of usage in areas such as science, television, production cycles for industrial applications, car crash testing, biomechanical analysis, even in defense testing applications just to name a few.
High speed cameras are electronic and record over 1,000 (or more) frames per second into DRAM and they use either a CMOS active pixel sensor or a charge-coupled device (CCD) depending on the make, model and/or usage requirements. In film, high speed cameras are capable of filming up to a quarter of a million frames per second, whew… could you imagine the power behind that camera? Within the car industry they run crash testing after crash testing to ensure that their vehicles are running at optimal performance levels, in order to properly diagnose the results from such tests the leading industries require a device that is capable of capturing what is needed for proper analyzation.
Why High Speed Cameras?
A high speed camera can document precise details of what happens to passengers during a crash (generally high speed) to ensure proper safety methods are in place. Science is no stranger when it comes to utilizing some of the most advanced devices ever and high speed imagery is on the list of must haves. There are many movements, actions, that happen far too rapidly for proper documentation such as animal or sea creature’s movement. Can you imagine having a camera advanced enough to be able to capture a seahorse giving birth or a mosquito feeding then being able to play it back in slow motion to be able to visualize every detail? It would be extremely fascinating.
High speed cameras are in fact available to the public and many are used for under water videos for example. Whatever your passion or profession may be, it never hurts to learn more about the advancements in our technology and high speed imagery has surely blown many away by its effectiveness.