Schlieren Imaging has always been a very narrow and specialized field of imaging. It can visualize air perturbations in a fluid-like way that can show the reach in this case of someone’s breath and heat dissipation to see if a mask makes a large enough difference in transmission of infected airborne particles compared to no covering.

By using a Phantom VEO4k 990 slow motion camera at 938fps and a speckled background with specialized angled lighting, researchers were able to test a variety of masks while coughing to see the effects.  You can watch the video posted here and also check out the full study available here if you want to dig deeper.

Phantom Slow Motion Camera Coughing Research Video:

Coughing Research with Backgroud Oriented Schlieren Imaging and Phantom Cameras by Vision Research:

We also found a lower resolution slow motion video of the same technique from six years ago here:

Slow Motion Cough Spew by John Delatorre:

And if you want to see what a Phantom VEO4k 990 camera is all about here is the product page! If you are planning to buy one, the word on the street is that this camera will set you back about 60k USD if you need to purchase it. Ahem  🙂 – HSC