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 were alerted yesterday by our reader Robert1200 and today again by James of a new development in low cost high quality slow motion cameras. The fps1000 is about to change the equation all over again. See the already funded Kickstarter Campaign here!
Meet the fps1000 camera by Graham Rowan
The camera is a reduced version of a professional hi speed camera in that it records a flash buffer and stores raw images in a MicroSD card and can be offloaded via USB. It will also be powered externally by any 5v USB charger plugged into the camera like that of any phone. This creates a cheaper camera and a lower internal heat since the camera has no battery or power supply inside.
The camera will be released in three versions:
fps1000 Silver
- 840fps at 640*480
- 16.5kfps at 64*64
- RAW Image Format 10 bit
- Color & B&W
- C Mount
- Sensor Size 1/4″ Global Shutter
- Pixel size 4.7 micron
- 16GB of memory
- 50mm f1.4 C mount lens
- £349 UK Pounds + £10 Shipping outside UK!
fps1000 Gold
- 200fps at 1280*1024 Highest res
- 290fps at 1280*720 HD res
- 840fps at 640*480
- RAW Image Format 10 bit
- Color and B&W
- 16.5kfps at 64*64
- C Mount
- Sensor Size 1/2″ Global Shutter
- Pixel size 4.7 micron
- 32GB of memory
- 50mm f1.4 C mount lens
- £599 UK Pounds + £10 Shipping outside UK!
fps1000 Platinum
- 75fps at 2560*2048 Highest res
- 200fps at 1920*1080 Full HD res
- 550fps at 1280*720 HD res
- 1500fps at VGA 640*480
- 18.5kfps at 64*64
- RAW Image Format 10 bit
- Color and B&W
- C Mount
- Sensor Size 1″ Global Shutter
- Pixel size 4.7 micron
- 32GB of memory
- 50mm f1.4 C mount lens
- £999 UK Pounds + £10 Shipping outside UK!
The samples on the kick starter page look blurry, out of focus and low resolution. These are VGA samples that were not properly focused or compressed for the web and a lot of detail was lost according to Graham the creator. He is working on HD samples that will be released over the coming days in order to quench the requests from many interested people including us. The camera records a RAW image so it should deliver clear performance per pixel.
What this camera proves is that a single gifted engineer much like the case of the “edgertronic” camera can create a piece of imaging hardware that upsets the balance of price vs performance in a big way. With today’s hardware it is no longer the case that a specialty slow motion camera made by research labs has to be 50k to 150k in cost to deliver good HD image quality. The components are there and can be arranged for a low cost to produce a camera that completely blows the hi speed market away. We saw it with the edgertronic last year but at under $1.7k USD the Platinum fps1000 camera completely shatters that record.
That is not to say that Vision Research or Photron are going to be out of business soon, they still produce scientifically perfect and 4k resolution cameras for big enterprise, Hollywood and the Military and they are way ahead in terms of features. But the low budget filmmaker will have a real alternative at low cost very soon. In 10 years 2000fps at 1080p for under $1000 USD would not be out of the question.
Depending on the image quality HD samples released we might have a new hi speed sheriff in town and that is the pet dream project of Graham Rowan from Hertfordshire, UK; the tiny but powerful fps1000 camera.
You can get a spot for camera at kickstarter for +- February 2015 release here! Closes Novemer 5th so hurry up!
Where can i buy a FPS1000 Gold
Hi, short answer… you can’t right now. See ourlatest post on the front page today about it. You needed to be a project backer before it ended in early November. In the future you might be able to order one at higher cost from fps1000 directly. As of now no cameras have shipped. They are expected to start shipping by Q2 2015.
When will the FPS1000 (all models) be released? (to non-backers). And how much will it cost?
It is estimated for May or June this year. You can see a pre order page with prices for non Kickstarter orders here: https://fps1000.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders Be advised that this site does not endorse buying any type of camera. It is only an information and opinion blog. We are not affiliated in any way besides being a backer for a camera with fps1000.
To Graham Rowan – secret man of mystery!!
Message forwarded to Graham Rowan!
Lee Tracey
I have forwarded your message to Mr. Graham Rowan. Be advised that we only report the developments on the high speed camera industry and are not affiliated with any of the manufacturers. The extent of our involvement with the fps1000 is that we backed it in Kickstarter. We are not receiving any commissions, discounts or kickbacks from the camera sales or manufacture. That Said we believe Mr. Graham Rowan is solid and if you dig around you can find a lot on his electronics background and product shipments through his career. The fps1000 camera is not a trivial product and one man is behind it while usually a team at a big corporation is needed for a camera release.
We have seen nothing but acceptable development and progress in the updates. We may even start to see images from the first built cameras in the next month or two. Good day!