In short, there are lots of reasons why someone might need one. Slow motion cameras have many uses for both professional and amateur film producers alike. In fact, slow motion cameras have been used in many Hollywood productions. They allow for amazing shots of action scenes, and you can see details that the human eye is unable to perceive even under the best of circumstances. They are used to shoot the most awe inspiring parts of many actions films, and the Matrix just wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for the slow motion shots.

While you don’t come across things like Neo dodging bullets in real life, it can be quite awe inspiring to see slow motion footage of ordinary occurrences slowed down to a crawl. Many artistic filmmakers use slow motion cameras to shoot footage of the ocean, falling snowflakes, insects, animals in motion, and other natural occurrences. For instance, slow motion footage can allow you to see the flickering of a fluorescent light or precisely see the way that water ripples from a stone being thrown in a pond.

In addition, slow motion can be used to film the movements of people. While this sort of footage is of something entirely ordinary, seeing ordinary occurrences in slow motion allows you to see things that are invisible to the eye. It can allow you to notice small facial expressions that likely wouldn’t be noticed by the eye, at least not consciously. For this reason, you can use slow motion even if you aren’t filming an action packed movie like The Matrix.

Slow Motion Cameras In The Industrial Sector:

Not everything filmed with a slow motion camera is likely to be the next box office hit, but these uses can be just as important. For instance, slow motion cameras are used in the crash testing of vehicles. This can allow the car companies to see exactly how the dummy responds to a crash. The fine detail can be used to improve upon vehicles to make them safer.

Furthermore, slow motion cameras are used during experiments of various kinds that involve an object moving at high velocity. Slow motion cameras are able to capture the motion of objects that are moving at hundreds or even thousands of miles an hour, such as a speeding bullet. For that reason, slow motion cameras have important uses in ballistics testing.

Watching Baseball Or The X-Games Just Wouldn’t Be The Same Without Slow Motion:

Slow motion cameras also have uses for people filming sporting events. In fact, slow motion film is used to shoot many professional sporting events. When you use a slow motion camera, it is possible to see every detail of the action. You are able to see the ball entering the glove of the catcher, the baseball bat striking a ball, or the details of a linebacker catching a football in mid-air. You can even see the dust rising and falling as a player slides into a base!

Slow motion cameras are particularly common in sports with particularly fast action, such as archery and range shooting. These cameras allow you to actually see a speeding bullet or arrow hitting the target. Slow motion is also used to film skateboarders and snowboarders doing tricks. A lot of times, it would be impossible to see the details of the tricks and how they are performed without the use of a slow motion camera capturing all the action.

So, How Do Slow Motion Cameras Work?

Film appears the same way that images appear to the eye. However, it actually uses a series of photographs. The photographs are then shown at such a fast pace that it appears to be a flowing image when viewed. The eye is unable to perceive the individual photographs (called frames), but they are used by all cameras.

Ordinary cameras shoot film at 24 frames per second. Television uses a speed of 25 frames per second. These frame rates are enough to keep the image from flickering. The frame rate might seem pretty fast, but it’s not quite fast enough to see a speeding bullet. In fact, it isn’t even close.

Slow motion cameras shoot the frames much faster, which means that they have a higher frame rate. They shoot at 250 frames per second or higher. However, there are some slow motion cameras that are able to shoot a much higher frame rate. In fact, there are some cameras that are able to shoot at thousands of frames per second. The higher the frame rate, the more slow motion detail is captured by the camera. Not only are there slow motion cameras that can see a speeding bullet, but there are slow motion cameras that would be able to actually see it rotate in mid air!

Where Do The Images Go Once They Are Captured?

There are different ways that slow motion cameras can store the images. Some slow motion cameras use film. However, this type of slow mo camera is becoming less common. In the past, film was the only way that any sort of film, slow motion or not, could be captured. However, there is a drawback to the use of film. It has to be developed. Many slow motion film cameras have multiple settings that allowed them to shoot film either in slow motion or for use at full speed.

Waiting for the film to get developed can get boring. You just want to check out the action in slow motion, but you have to wait until your local film developer is done processing the footage. Nowadays, you do not need to wait anymore. Most slow motion cameras use electronic memory. This is similar to the digital cameras that are used to take ordinary photographs. The images are stored electronically instead. These cameras are an extremely popular way to take slow motion footage. You can immediately get the slow motion film on Youtube or other video streaming platforms, and it could go viral!

Some slow mo cameras are high speed streak cameras. These cameras can either use film or electronic means of storing the frames. They work by measuring variation in the intensity of light pulses. They store all of the frames as line sized images, and they can be easily played in slow motion.

Some slow motion cameras are high speed framing cameras. These slow motion cameras can use film, but they can also use electronic methods of storing the image, using a CCD network. They record all the images on to the same image plane, and they can create a quality slow motion film.

What Should I Look For In A Slow Motion Camera?

There are a number of things to consider when you are choosing a slow motion camera. It’s important to consider the frame rate of the camera that you are choosing. This will determine just how slow you will be able to play the footage and whether or not you’ll be able to see the wobbling of a water droplet or whatever it is that you’re shooting.

It is particularly important to choose a camera with a high frame rate, if you are using it for certain industrial purposes, such as crash testing or ballistic testing. However, a high frame rate is also necessary for the filming of some action scenes and certain types of sporting events. If you are simply looking to get a few cool slow mo shots of things in your yard or your pets, you might not need the frame rate to be quite as high.

In addition, it’s important to consider the aperture of the lens of the camera. The higher the aperture, the better the film quality will be in low light conditions. If you are going to be shooting in low light conditions, you will absolutely need a camera that has a high aperture.

Furthermore, you should carefully consider the brand of the camera that you are choosing. While there are smaller brands that produce high quality cameras, it is important to be familiar with the brand prior to purchasing your camera. Make sure that other people have had positive experiences with the specific type of slow motion camera that you are considering buying. You’ll want to be able to shoot slow motion footage for a long time, so it’s important that the camera you choose will last a long time.

It also is important to consider what you intend to do with the slow motion footage. If you intend to show the slow motion footage using electronic means, such as showing the footage on your laptop, you’ll want a camera that stores the film electronically. It would be a difficult process to get slow motion footage from a film camera saved on to your computer. Still, it can be done. When you get slow motion footage on to your computer, it is quite easy to burn the footage on to a DVD. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why film slow motion cameras are less common nowadays.

In addition, you should consider how the footage is stored and how it can be transferred to your computer. You certainly wouldn’t want to get a lot of cool slow motion shots and not be able to show it to people on your iPhone.

However, if you are using the slow motion camera for professional filmmaking, there could potentially be advantages to using a film camera. Many experts feel that slow motion cameras that use film have a better quality than digital camera footage.

 

Casio offers some very good and cheap slow motion cameras:
Casio High Speed Exilim Ex-zr1000 Digital Camera
Casio EX-FH100 10.1MP High Speed 1,000 fps Camera

How Much Should I Spend On A Slow Motion Camera?

Well, that depends entirely on what you are looking for. If you are simply looking to experience creating your own slow motion film for the first time, it’s possible to get a cheap slow motion camera for less than 100 dollars. While this might be a great choice for someone simply starting out with slow motion film, it certainly won’t make the cut for the next Hollywood production. There are higher quality cameras that are available in the range of a couple thousand dollars, but there are even better slow motion cameras that can cost much more.

While it won’t be necessary to spend thousands of dollars on a slow motion camera if you are simply looking to take some slow motion footage at a little league game, you still don’t want to just grab the cheapest slow mo camera that you can find. Many of the cheapest cameras could have unpleasant surprises with the quality.

GoPro Hero5

Running around $400, perhaps the most affordable and popular cheap slow motion camera is the GoPro Hero5. This camera has become synonymous with adventure. Starting at 60fps, this camera captures 2.7K slow-motion all the way up to 120fps. This means that if a surfer rides a strong wave, the speed will be so slow the waves will look still. The dynamic zig zag of someone skiing downhill in slow-motion or the slow-motion movement of a dolphin diving underwater coming towards the videographer are actions that could be captured with the GoPro Hero5.

With technology constantly changing, today slow-motion cameras have become less expensive and more accessible. Aspiring filmmakers no longer have to pay post-production companies to produce slow-motion special effects. The purchase of a cheap slow-motion camera is a great investment. In addition to capturing fast frames per second, providing file conversions and producing professional film.