Motion Analysis

For this situation, a JVC HM100 or Panaasonic HMC150 would be good but they cost quite a bit. Maybe you can find a used Panasonic SD9 for a decent price. They are all CCD based camcorders and that's probably what you need.

It depends on your needs. There are some pro-ish ones like they use in that time warp show. Or whatever they're calling it this week. Like head rush is to mythbusters. Those cameras can do 1,000fps in Full HD. The faster your fps, the faster the shutter so you'll likely need some lighting. And if you're going to do motion analysis, you probably want one of those backdrops with units of measurement like they tend to make/use on mythbusters, err head rush.

A few 60p in Full HD options in consumer land. Some with 10 second bursts at higher frame rates, but lower resolutions. Which might not meet your needs. A red one can do 120fps and 4K resolution, and many other options out there these days, that weren't out there just a few years ago.

Maybe some kind of budget would really help. Big difference in 600 dollars and 1600 dollars for this type of application.

The main issue with consumer grade camcorders is that with lots of motion you run into bitrate issues. Even with a fast shutter for sharp images, that bitrate will blur the results to almost unusable for anything "scientific" that involves a lot of motion. Not all hope is lost as you can capture HDMI out before compression in some cases and with a decent capture card / computer you can push the limits. But even those have limits. And even something like a nano flash will run beyond that budget pretty easily. And most of those things are limited to traditional frame rates. i.e. slow frame rates.

Basically it's difficult to get off cheap for that purpose. You could run a camcorder grid of budget camcorders to compensate for the limits of the gear. But 9x * $500 isn't cheap either. You might look into renting?

What are you trying to discern from the recording of your tests? I don't see how you would see anything useful without a high speed camera doing at least 500 - 2000 fps focused on a specific failure point. Cams in that range are $6 - $30k.

If all you're trying to do is determine the first failure location, a $350 camcorder with 1/1000 shutter and a ton of extra lighting will suffice.

Over a number of years doing composites testing and manufacture I've found that the more you learn the more you realize you can't afford what it takes to really see what's going on

Cheers,
Pete

Quite a few 60p capable consumer camcorders. No 120 or more yet. At full HD. But many have 10 second bursts of 500 fps at less than SD resolutions. The specs for which might be obscured in the actual manual / specs sheets. i.e. 10 second limit might not be explicitly stated.

For a fast shutter speed, all you need is MORE LIGHT. Probably in the neighborhood of 500W to 1000W of lights. Although you can get by with less if you use high ISO settings / gain. Or more if your lights are reflected or filtered, and not directly pointed at the subject. The hardware store is your friend.

EDIT:
I've got a couple clamp work lights that I put on the edge of a bookshelf. Which I use with a bunch of low wattage (usage) LED lights. i.e. 10W of power consumed for 40W of actual light delivered. x6 and for 60W of power (traditional lighting wattage), you get 240W of light. The other advantage is that LEDs don't put out a lot of radiant heat. But they can be quite hefty / heavy and expensive per bulb.

According to amazon.jp the jvc gc-px1 is going to be about 108,000 yen-roughly 1,300 bucks I guess. If you want to trust me with that money 4 months from now I can pick one up for you...or you could take a trip. Be a little more expensive...but awfully fun, and looks pretty solid for your application.

If you want to have true high speed footage to evaluate motion in fine detail, you shouldn't look at camcorders at all (consumer or professional.)

You should be looking at dedicated high speed cameras.

We use For A cameras at work to get a good look at the fast moving bits. They are way past your budget, but there are places around that rent dedicated high speed recording setups by the day. If you just have a couple days worth of testing/investigation, this may be feasible.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...igh_Speed.html

In any case, whatever camera you use (be it dedicated highspeed or your consumer cam) get as much light on your subject as you can. It will enable your camcorder to run at the highest shutter speed (minimizing detail destroying motion blur within each frame.)

-Suntan

This is so far out of my price range I have never really paid attention to it, so I dont even know for sure if it is a good deal, or if it would work for your application. BUT I have read pretty amazing things about it...60D DSLR 1100

http://dealspl.us/Cameras_deals/p_ca...-18-135mm-lens

The Phantom Flex is the camera you really want;

http://vimeo.com/19819283

There are probably less than a dozen right now, and they rent for 3 grand/day, with a 4 day minimum. To buy one, they go for between 50 grand, to over 150 grand, depending on options. But, you better reserve that far in advance, because this is the hottest high speed HD video camera out there right now. Also, that price does not include a lens. a T2.0 or less Cine lens is recommended. They rent for upwards of a grand a day, or more.

Read the specs here;
http://www.abelcine.com/store/Phanto...-Speed-Camera/

Also, to do very high speed video, you need a TON of light. We're talking super-bright, very expensive lights. While the Phantom Flex has a native ISO of 1000, it still takes a butt load of light to shoot at it's highest frames rates.

I'm sorry, but there is no cheap, industrial high-speed camera's. High speed video is still very specialized, and very expensive.

That's complete overkill. You don't need that much kit to get a good look at motion. Especially at the relatively slow speeds their model is being excited at.

As for lighting, a good number of bright shop lights does the job. You don't need good quality light. Just a good *quantity* of light.

-Suntan

Considering the mans budget and comparison video...I think this might be a little overkill for what his true purpose is.

Are you a student? What is your end objective?

I mean, if it is to make new architectural advances...then investment is required...but, I seriously doubt that is the goal. OP?

You can get a Casio camera that shoots high fps, but it won't be HD in those modes.

Casio Exilim EX-FH20 9.1 MP Digital Camera $469.95
Hi-Speed Movies: 480 x 360 (210 fps, 30-210 fps), 224 x 168 (420 fps), 224 x 56 (1000 fps)

http://exilim.casio.com/products_exfh20.shtml

http://www.amazon.com/Casio-Exilim-E...8002500&sr=1-6



Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 Digital Camera $1,598.00
Hi-Speed Movies: 512 × 384 (300 fps), 432 × 192 (600 fps), 336 × 96 (1200 fps)


http://www.exilim.com/intl/ex_f1/overview.html

http://www.amazon.com/Casio-Digital-...8002500&sr=1-7

Of course it's overkill. But, did you watch the video and see the specs on the camera???!!!!!
Say goodbye to the Photron.....
I'm just blown away at the specs/quality that the camera can produce, and hope to be using one for some projects in the future.

Not all camcorders have 1/1000 shutter speeds.

I think that my FH1 only goes up to 1/500. Which is like aperture 2.0, no zoom, and a VERY sunny day. And pointed at the cloudless sky. Where aperture 4-ish and 1/125 or 1/250 might be more ideal for the conditions. Unless the sun is in the shot, and/or reflecting off of a water body. While light will help your shutter speed needs, that's a heck of a lot of light that you'll need for 1/1000 indoors. It looks like on my FH1, that 1/500 is only available if you're at like aperture 4 or higher. At aperture 2 you can only go to 1/250. But I was testing indoors at night, perhaps things will unlock when actually in the presence of strong light. But I doubt it.