High speed cameras are amazing tools. They allow visual analysis of incredible detail on processes that are far too fast for human senses to track.
They also produce stunning imagery. High end cameras can take frame rates of tens of thousands of pictures per second where our eyes stop being able to distinguish it at around 150 fps. That is why a 120 Hz refresh rate looks very smooth to us and 240 Hz is almost always overkill. Our eyes can physically distinguish up to 1,000 fps but our brain cannot do anything with the information. Even 60 Hz of refresh generally produces a smooth enough picture for us to be happy entertainment wise with detailed gaming environments benefiting the most from higher rates.
For reference, Hz and a fps are parallel terms in this instance. Hz is the number of times per second an image on a screen is refreshed while fps is the number of pictures that were taken during a second. So to produce an incredibly clear and lifelike video you need a camera that can take a high resolution shot at 150 fps and to display it on a screen that has an equivalent or better refresh rate.
What you get with high speed cameras is the ability to slow imagery down to those detailed refresh rates that the eye can track. A camera snapping images at 28,000 fps can stretch one second of observation into a nearly 4 minute window when displayed at 120 fps. The trick is obviously getting all the details right because 10 seconds of footage is 280,000 hi-res images. It is a data hog. And if your focus, light settings, range, or anything else isn’t on it is a lot of data to delete.
So, enjoy! Thanks to Slow Mo Guys for doing awesome things with expensive toys that are different than my expensive toys.
