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Encyclopedia > High speed photography
Sequence of a race horse galloping. Photos taken by Eadweard Muybridge, first published in 1887.

High Speed Photography is the science of taking pictures of very fast phenomena. In 1948, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) defined high-speed photography as any set of photographs captured by a camera capable of 128 frames per second or greater and of at least three consecutive frames. Image File history File links Muybridge_race_horse_animated. ... Image File history File links Muybridge_race_horse_animated. ... Muybridges The Horse in Motion. ... The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers or SMPTE (pronounced simptee or sometimes sumptee) is an international professional association, based in the United States of America, of engineers working in the motion imaging industries. ...


In common usage, high speed photography may refer to either or both of the following meanings. The first is that the photograph itself may be taken in a way as to appear to freeze the motion, especially to reduce motion blur. The second is that a series of photographs may be taken at a high sampling frequency or frame rate. The first requires a sensor with good sensitivity and either a very good shuttering system or a very fast light. The second requires some means of capturing successive frames, either with a mechanical device or by moving data off electronic sensors very quickly. This section needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...


Other considerations for high speed photographers are record length, reciprocity breakdown, and spatial resolution. In photography, reciprocity refers to the relationship between different choices of aperture and shutter speed that result in identical exposure. ... Resolving power is the ability of a microscope or telescope to measure the angular separation of images that are close together. ...

Contents

Early applications and development

Nuclear explosion photographed by rapatronic camera less than 1 millisecond after detonation. From the Tumbler-Snapper test series in Nevada, 1952. The fireball is about 20 meters in diameter in this shot. The spikes at the bottom of the fireball is known as the rope trick effect.
Nuclear explosion photographed by rapatronic camera less than 1 millisecond after detonation. From the Tumbler-Snapper test series in Nevada, 1952. The fireball is about 20 meters in diameter in this shot. The spikes at the bottom of the fireball is known as the rope trick effect.

The first practical application of high-speed photography was Eadward Muybridge's 1878 investigation into whether horses' feet were actually all off the ground at once during a trot. Download high resolution version (926x852, 175 KB)Nuclear detonation from the Tumbler Snapper test series showing fireball and rope tricks File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (926x852, 175 KB)Nuclear detonation from the Tumbler Snapper test series showing fireball and rope tricks File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Nuclear explosion photographed by rapatronic camera less than 1 millisecond after detonation. ... Nuclear explosion photographed less than 1/1000 of a second after detonation. ... The Horse in Motion Eadweard Muybridge (April 9, 1830 – May 8, 1904) was a British-born photographer, known primarily for his early use of multiple cameras to capture motion. ... The trot is a gait of the horse where the diagonal pairs of legs move forwards at the same time, a diagonal gait. ...


Bell Telephone Laboratories was one of the first customers for a camera developed by Eastman Kodak in the early 1930s. Bell used the system, which ran 16 mm film at 1000 frame/s and had a 100 foot load capacity, to study relay bounce. When Kodak declined to develop a higher speed version, Bell Labs developed it themselves, calling it the Fastax. The Fastax was capable of 5,000 frame/s. Bell eventually sold the camera design to Western Electric, who in turn sold it to the Wollensak Optical Company. Wollensak further improved the design to achieve 10,000 frame/s. Redlake Laboratories introduced another 16 mm rotating prism camera, the Hycam, in the early 1960s. Photo-Sonics developed several models of rotating prism cameras capable of running 35 mm and 70 mm film in the 1960s. Visible Solutions introduced the Photec IV 16 mm camera in the 1980s. Bell Laboratories (also known as Bell Labs and formerly known as AT&T Bell Laboratories and Bell Telephone Laboratories) was the main research and development arm of the United States Bell System. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Undeveloped Arista black and white film, ISO 125. ... Electrical switches. ... Western Electric (sometimes abbreviated WE and WECo) was a US electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995 . ...


The D. B. Milliken company developed an intermittent, pin-registered, 16 mm camera for speeds of 400 frame/s in 1957. Mitchell, Redlake Laboratories, and Photo-Sonics eventually followed in the 1960s with a variety of 16, 35, and 70 mm intermittent cameras. Mitchell Camera Corporation was founded in 1919 by Henry Boger and George Mitchell. ...


Stroboscopy and laser applications

Doc Edgerton is generally credited with pioneering the use of the stroboscope to freeze fast motion. He eventually helped found EG&G, which used some of Edgerton's methods to capture the physics of explosions required to detonate nuclear weapons. See, for example, the photograph of an explosion using a Rapatronic camera. Shadowgraph of a . ... A stroboscope , also known as a strobe, is an instrument used to make a cyclically moving object appear to be slow-moving or stationary. ... EG&G logo EG&G is a defense contractor and provider of management and technical services. ... Nuclear explosion photographed by rapatronic camera less than 1 millisecond after detonation. ...


Advancing the idea of the stroboscope, researchers began using lasers to stop high speed motion. // Experiment using a (likely argon) laser. ...


High speed film cameras

A 5 milliseconds capture of coffee blown out of a straw.
A 5 milliseconds capture of coffee blown out of a straw.

As film and mechanical transports improved, the high-speed film camera became available for scientific research. Kodak eventually shifted its film from acetate base to Estar (Kodak's name for a Mylar-equivalent plastic), which enhanced the strength and allowed it to be pulled faster. The Estar was also more stable than acetate for more accurate measurement, and it was not as prone to fire. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1240, 266 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Canon EOS 350D User:Henningklevjer High speed photography Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1240, 266 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Canon EOS 350D User:Henningklevjer High speed photography Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added... Mylar is a trade name of DuPont Teijin Films of Hopewell, VA, United States, for biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BOPET) polyester film used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, and electrical insulation. ...


Each film type is available in many load sizes. These may be cut down and placed in magazines for easier loading. A 1200 foot magazine is typically the longest available for the 35 mm and 70 mm cameras. A 400 foot magazine is typical for 16 mm cameras, though 1000 foot magazines are available. The images on 35 mm high speed film are typically rectangular with the long side between the sprocket holes instead of parallel to the edges as in standard photography. 16 mm and 70 mm images are typically square rather than rectangular. A list of ANSI formats and sizes is available. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private, non-profit standards organization that produces industrial standards in the United States. ...


Rotary prism

The rotary prism camera allowed higher frame rates without placing as much stress on the film or transport mechanism. The film moves smoothly past a rotating prism which is synchronized to the main film sprocket. Each revolution of the prism "paints" the same number of frames onto the film as there are faces on the prism. A shutter also improves the results by only opening as the prism faces are nearly parallel, and then closing again.

  • 16 mm rotary prism - Redlake Hycam and Fastax cameras are capable of 10,000 frame/s with a full frame prism (4 facets), 20,000 frame/s with a half-frame kit, and 40,000 frame/s with a quarter-frame kit. Visible Solutions also makes the Photec IV.
  • 35 mm rotary prism - Photo-Sonics 4C cameras are capable of 2,000 frame/s with a full frame prism (4 facets), 4,000 frame/s with a half-frame kit, and 8,000 frame/s with a half-frame kit.
  • 70 mm rotary prism - Photo-Sonics 10B cameras are capable of 360 frame/s with a full frame prism (4 facets), and 720 frame/s with a half-frame kit.

Intermittent pin register

The intermittent pin register camera actually stops the film in the film gate while the photograph is being taken. In high speed photography, this requires a complex mechanism for keeping the film moving quickly through the camera from the supply reel, but then stopping it for imaging, and then starting it again to move it onto the takeup reel. In many cases, a loop is formed before and after the gate to create and then take up the slack. Pull-down claws grab the film and move it into place and then move it back out of the film gate after the exposure. Register pins secure the film while it is being exposed. In some cases, vacuum suction is used to keep the film, especially 35 mm and 70 mm film, flat so that the images are in focus across the entire frame. The film gate is the square opening in the front of a motion picture camera where the film is exposed to light. ... This movie film reel has film wrapped around it. ... Suction is the creation of a partial vacuum, or region of low pressure. ...

  • 16 mm pin register: D. B. Milliken Locam, capable of 500 frame/s; the design was eventually sold to Redlake. Photo-Sonics built a 16 mm pin-registered camera that was capable of 1000 frame/s, but eventually removed it from the market.
  • 70 mm pin register: Cameras include a model made by Hulcher, and Photo-Sonics 10A and 10R cameras, capable of 125 frame/s.

Technical Achievement Awards is an Academy Award given to those that have technical accomplishments that have contributed to the progress of the motion picture industry. ...

Rotary mirror

The Cordin Dynafax held a strip of film still while a mirror rotated at high speeds. At the appropriate moment, the capping shutter was opened and the mirror steered images onto the film. This type of system was capable of 1,000,000 frame/s for a few hundred frames.


Streak, shadowgraph, and motion compensation photography

By removing the prism from the rotary prism cameras, and using a very narrow slit in place of the shutter, it is possible to take images whose exposure is proportional to the film speed across the slit. The image that results has several useful properties. The film advance direction is essentially a measure of time. If the subject's motion is perpendicular to the slit, it may show growth or motion perpendicular to the slit.


When the motion of the film is opposite to that of the subject with an inverting (positive) lens, and synchronized appropriately, the images show events as a function of time. Objects remaining motionless show up as streaks. This is the technique used for finish line photographs. At no time is it possible to take a still photograph that duplicates the results of a finish line photograph taken with this method. A still is a photograph in time, a streak photograph is a photograph of time.


By combining this technique with a diffracted wavefront of light, as by a knife-edge, it is possible to take photographs of phase perturbations within a homogeneous media. For example, it is possible to capture shockwaves of bullets and other high-speed objects. See, for example, Shadowgraph and Schlieren photography. a) prehistoric shadowgraphy, b) sunlight shadowgram of a martini glass, c) focused shadowgram of a common firecracker explosion, d) Edgerton shadowgram of the firing of a legendary AK-47 submachine gun (images and artwork by G.S. Settles, Penn State Gas Dynamics Lab) Shadowgraph is an optical method that reveals... Schlieren photography is a visual process that is used to photograph the flow of air (or other compressible fluids) around objects. ...


Video

Early video cameras using tubes (such as the Vidicon) suffered from severe "ghosting" due to the fact that the latent image on the target remained even after the subject had moved. Furthermore, as the system scanned the target, the motion of the scanning relative to the subject resulted in artifacts that compromised the image. The target in Vidicon type camera tubes can be made of various photoconductive chemicals such as Sb2S3, PbO, and others with various image "stick" properties. The Farnsworth Image Dissector did not suffer from image "stick" of the type Vidicons exhibit, and so related special Image Converter tubes might be used to capture short frame sequences at very high speed. In older video cameras, prior to the 1990s, a video camera tube or pickup tube was used instead of a charge-coupled device (CCD). ...


The mechanical shutter, invented by Pat Keller et al at China Lake in the 1980s, helped freeze the action and eliminate ghosting. This was a mechanical shutter similar to the one used in high speed film cameras, a disk with a wedge removed. The opening was synchronized to the frame rate, and the size of the opening was proportional to the integration time. By making the opening very small, the motion could be stopped. NASA satellite photo showing the main runways at NAWS China Lake The Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (NAWS China Lake) is an airborne weapons testing and training range operated by the United States Navy and its contractors. ...


Despite these improvements in the image quality, the systems were still limited to 60 frame/s.


CCD

The introduction of the CCD revolutionized high speed photography in the 1980s. The staring array configuration of the sensor eliminated the scanning artifacts. Precise control of the integration time replaced the use of the mechanical shutter. However, the CCD architecture limited the rate at which images could be read off of the sensor. Most of these systems still ran at NTSC rates (approximately 60 frame/s), but some, especially those built by the Kodak Spin Physics group, ran faster and recorded onto specially constructed video tape cassettes. Eventually, the Kodak group managed to develop the HG2000, a camera that could run at 1000 frame/s with a 512 x 384 pixel sensor for 2s. A specially developed CCD used for ultraviolet imaging in a wire bonded package. ... NTSC is the analog television system in use in Korea, Japan, United States, Canada and certain other places, mostly in the Americas (see map). ... This example shows an image with a portion greatly enlarged, in which the individual pixels are rendered as little squares and can easily be seen. ...


By adding an image intensifier to a CCD, it is possible to capture a single frame of a very fast event. Hadland uses this technique for a range of high speed cameras capable of running at 1,000,000 frame/s. An image intensifier is a device that amplifies visable and near-infrared light from an image so that a dimly lit scene can be viewed by a camera or by eye. ...


CMOS

The introduction of CMOS sensor technology again revolutionized high speed photography in the late 1990s and serves as a classic example of a disruptive technology. Based on the same materials as computer memory, the CMOS process was cheaper to build than CCD and easier to integrate with on-chip memory and processing functions, though the image quality and quantum efficiency of CCD still compare favorably. The first patent of an Active Pixel Sensor (APS), submitted by JPL's Eric Fossum, led to the spin-off of Photobit, which was eventually bought by Micron Technology. However, Photobit's first interest was in the standard video market; the first high speed CMOS system was brought to market by Vision Research. Their Phantom v4 camera, with a sensor designed at the Belgian Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC), quickly made inroads into the 16 mm high speed film camera market despite resolution and record times (0.25 Mpixel, 4 s at full frame and 1000 frame/s) that suffered in comparison to existing film systems. IMEC later spun the design group off as FillFactory, which was later purchased by Cypress Semiconductor. Photobit eventually introduced a 500 frame/s 1.3 Mpixel sensor, a device found in many low-end (high speed) systems. Static CMOS Inverter Complementary-symmetry/metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) (see-moss, IPA:), is a major class of integrated circuits. ... A disruptive technology or disruptive innovation is a technological innovation, product, or service that eventually overturns the existing dominant technology or product in the market. ... The JPL complex in Pasadena, Ca. ... A spin-off (or spinoff) is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one such as a new company formed from a university research group. ... Micron Technology (Micron) NYSE: MU is a multinational company based in Boise, Idaho best known for producing many forms of semiconductor memory. ... IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) is a microelectronics research facility on the outskirts of Leuven, Belgium. ... Cypress Semiconductor began operations in 1982 and listed publicly in 1986. ...


Subsequently, several camera manufacturers compete in the high speed digital video market, including Fastec Imaging, NAC, Photron, Weinberger, Olympus, Redlake, and others, with sensors developed by Photobit, Cypress, and in-house designers.


Infrared

High speed infrared photography has become possible with the introduction of the Amber Radiance, and later the Indigo Phoenix. Amber was purchased by Raytheon, the Amber design team left and formed Indigo, and Indigo is now owned by FLIR Systems. Santa Barbara Focal Plane, CEDIP, and Electrophysics have also introduced high speed infrared systems. Raytheon Company NYSE: RTN is a major United States military contractor based in Waltham, Massachusetts. ...


References

  • Edgerton, Harold E., and Killian, James R. (1939). Flash!: Seeing the Unseen By Ultra High-speed Photography. ASIN B00085INJ.
  • Edgerton, Harold E. (1987). Electronic flash, strobe, 3rd Ed. ISBN 0-262-55014-8.
  • Pendley, Gil (July 2003). "High-Speed Imaging Technology; Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow". Proceedings of SPIE; 25th International Congress on High-Speed Photography and Photonics 4948: 110-113.
  • Ray, S. F. (1997). High speed photography and photonics. Oxford, UK: Focal Press.
  • Settles, G. S. (2001). Schlieren and shadowgraph techniques: Visualizing phenomena in transparent media. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 3-540-66155-7.

See also

  • High speed camera

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Slow_motion. ...

External links

  • David Alciatore's collection of high speed video clips
  • Andrew Davidhazy's collection of streak photography applications, overview of high speed imaging, and High Speed 101
  • A history of early (19th century) high speed photography by Lincoln Endelman
  • OSA - The Optical Society of America
  • SPIE - The Society of Photo-Instrumentation Engineers
  • IMEC - a Belgian research consortium
  • http://www.mne.psu.edu/PSGDL The Penn State University Gas Dynamics Lab, showing high-speed schlieren and shadowgraph imaging research
  • Liquid Art - High speed photography as art. A collection of droplet photos

  Results from FactBites:
 
High Speed Photography | Birds in Flight | Motion Analysis | Electronic Flash | Strobe | Camera Triggers (971 words)
The field of high speed photography involves using cameras to capture events that occur too fast for the eye to see.
Most high speed pictures are taken with very specialized framing cameras that capture hundreds or thousands of pictures per second using either motion picture film or electronic imaging sensors.
With many high speed subjects this delay would be too long to allow capturing the event at the decisive moment.
High Speed Photography (5325 words)
The two main methods of taking high speed still photographs are the use of a suitable high speed shutter system, and the use of a short duration flash while the shutter is open.
High speed shutter systems may be magneto-optical, electro- optical, or electronic units using image converter tubes.
High speed still cameras have been used in almost every field of scientific and industrial research, permitting the study of subjects whose changes are far too rapid for the unaided human eye to perceive.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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