Researchers at MIT have recently shown off the world’s fastest video camera, clocking in at a whopping trillion frames per second of video recorded. To put this into a bit of perspective, keep in mind that feature films are recorded and played at 24 frames per second. It’s unclear if the nerves between the human eye and brain can even process more than 100 per second. But what’s the purpose of a camera that can record a trillion frames per second?
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- A slow-captured picture compared to this new overcranking camera.
In the world of cinema, recording more than 24 frames per second is often used to create the effect of overcranking, which is that silky-looking slow motion. You may recall how cool the slow motion dream sequences in Inception were. To pull that off, special high frame rate cameras were used to record 1,000 frames per second, which could then be played back at normal speed. That was just a mere one thousand frames per second. What can we record with a trillion? Playing back a trillion frames per second at standard cinema speeds would be terrible for an action sequence. It would be like staring at a still picture for an hour. However, at this speed, we can actually watch light move. That’s right, this camera can record faster than the speed of light itself.
This could allow for all kinds of interesting studies in physics and light, not to mention serve as a tool for analyzing materials and shapes. For example, when recording a laser beam aimed at a soda bottle, we can actually see how the light is scattered and dispersed through the plastic. Or how light reflects off of certain shapes like an apple. In the official MIT video, some possible suggestions are offered for consumer use of this technology, but considering the size and complexity of operating this camera, I wouldn’t expect to see anything hit the consumer market anytime soon.
Watch the full video to hear it explained in glorious technical jargon, as well as catch a few clips of sequences shot with it.
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Neat. One quibble: the human eye does not really work in frames per second (FPS). It is analog, with different neurons firing and charging at different times. Here’s an excellent article about it: http://amo.net/NT/02-21-01FPS.html
To clarify, my point is the eye can see well in excess of 100 FPS as the above referenced article points out.
Indeed, I am well aware that the human eye does not process in frames per second.
That is why the words above were carefully chosen-
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It’s unclear if the nerves between the human eye and brain can even process more than 100 per second.” While you can technically “see” an unlimited amount of frames per second, there is a limit to how much of it your brain can actually process quickly enough before it no longer registers as visible.
It is widely believed that a single frame spliced into anything more than 100fps would be difficult if not impossible to notice.
There’s an article on this somewhere, if I can dig it up again I’ll post it.