Warning: The parent company of FPS cameras “The Slow Motion Camera Company Ltd.” went out of business and entered liquidation proceedings. No further development of cameras is expected. More information here on Google Search! 

We had a few questions for Graham Rowan the creator of the fps1000 that our readers had requested answers to. We got a status update on development and some interesting tidbits!

Development Update:

• Updated circuit board layouts are  in development to incorporate the goal changes.  Board testing starts.
• Key components including memory and sensors have been requested to the OEMs and the order is secured for delivery.
• The sensors ordered are all brand new designs, which could mean many things like better performance and lower power consumption or no change. However the new Platinum sensor has a slightly higher clock rate so we should get a small performance increase.
• The case design is coming along well and  prototypes will arrive for testing in the next week or two.
• Hoping to get new boards this month; if so a new update on the Kickstarter page with pictures might be posted.
• Nothing visual to show yet but all is progressing well.

Q&A With fps1000 Project Creator Graham Rowan:

 HSC: Considering the boards and sensors what is the status?

Graham Rowan: I’m building sensor boards for all models including the 4k. The new design makes it easy for me to configure memory and sensor type.

HSC: Are there any alternatives to the CMOSIS 4k Sensor that have better low light performance at the expense of global shutter?

Graham Rowan: The CMOSIS chip is not the only 4K sensor I’m evaluating (more on that later). I’ll wait and see what the results are like.

HSC: Will the cameras be able to record to card memory in H.264 or other compressed format?

Graham Rowan: There will be in-camera compression to H.264 so saving to card memory will be faster where raw is not required.

HSC: How many cameras have been ordered outside of the kickstarter campaign using backerkit? Will it impact development or delivery?

Graham Rowan: I’m getting a steady trickle of pre-orders. When I press the button on production these will be included but won’t affect deliveries. Existing backers will of course receive theirs first.

HSC: Do you plan on carrying the brand further and establish a community website dedicated to the fps1000?

Graham Rowan: I’m keeping things low profile at the moment while getting things ready for production. But after that I will be promoting the brand. I have lots of ideas about where things could head in future.

HSC: Will people be able to use scripts or code patches made by a community of users to enhance the camera?

Graham Rowan: The architecture is really powerful and should lend itself to some cool applications. I will be providing more info on this soon.  I am very keen to open it up for user – developed software to be shared.

There you have it, the fps1000 is in full development and a lot of work is happening behind the scenes. We might get some updated information soon including pictures. Probably not in January. The unified board design will let the camera development progress faster so it will be easy to swap and test sensor boards with different performance and resolution. A unified platform is also a very smart way to keep costs under control.

Thank’s to Graham for answering our questions and giving us some information about the development!

It is possible to order an fps1000 camera outside the Kickstarter project here!

fps1000 Kickstarter campaign video.