8 Hours Left for Chronos 1.4 High Speed Camera Kickstarter
Duane Degn
Posts: 10,588
I imagine a lot of you are subscribed to EEVBlogs and have likely seen Dave talk about the Chronos 1.4 high speed camera but in case any of you missed it, I thought I'd mention the camera here.
The campaign ends in less than eight hours.
Here's Dave's video.
I saw Dave's video when it first went up and I managed to get in on one of the "Early Bird" deals. I still haven't made up my mind if I'm going to really back the project or not. I think it's a good camera for the money but these things are still expensive.
I'm sure I'll figure out how to use a Propeller to trigger the camera (if I get one). (This is my justification for making this post here in the Parallax forum.)
This camera sure looks like a lot of fun but I'm still not sure I can justify the expense.
Heck if I apparently needed a Puck.Js, I likely also need a Chronos 1.4. I just haven't figured out why I need it.
The campaign ends in less than eight hours.
Here's Dave's video.
I saw Dave's video when it first went up and I managed to get in on one of the "Early Bird" deals. I still haven't made up my mind if I'm going to really back the project or not. I think it's a good camera for the money but these things are still expensive.
I'm sure I'll figure out how to use a Propeller to trigger the camera (if I get one). (This is my justification for making this post here in the Parallax forum.)
This camera sure looks like a lot of fun but I'm still not sure I can justify the expense.
Heck if I apparently needed a Puck.Js, I likely also need a Chronos 1.4. I just haven't figured out why I need it.
Comments
I love the way it is built like a tank!
Problem is, even if 'er indoors sanctioned my backing it my bank manager might complain!
Even if it is an amazingly cheap high speed camera, it's a bit too much for my play pen.
Can you elaborate on how this sort of camera would be useful? I'm looking for some good excuses for not cancelling my pledge.
That's an interesting point about the low light capabilities of the sensor. I hadn't give this any thought myself but you present some interesting things to think about.
-Phil
Don't worry PhiPi,
Your 1982 240D will outlast any other car around you. They are indestructible, except rust.
Enjoy!
Mike
I look after a small factory. Generally, product is driven into place and extracted again as part of the machine function. It's the minimum required for rapid machine cycling. This mechanical loading and unloading often causes no end of frustration for the operators. Doesn't seem to matter which stage of the production,ie: which machine.
Sometimes I'm trying to fix a broken or lose part but want confirmation of where it is out of wack. Or, it's an adjustment problem but no one knows so I'm the one (Except for the printing presses, there's qualified printers on there.) that sits down with the instruction manual and tools to go over each step of setting the machine before giving guidance on improved setup.
Probably the most common situation is I simply have no clue of what's upsetting things and need to inspect the minute timing of motion between the product and the mechanisms driving it. I've used a simple cheap digital photo camera with success a number of times already but it really shows it's limits. Sometimes everything is just a blur, ie: not much better than eyeballing it.
My electrical engineer colleague looked at this and advised they set up a strobe lamp synch'ed to the machine cycle and watch it with that. By changing the phase of the strobe time one could watch the processes in slow motion!
Soon they had it tuned up and running faultlessly.
A high speed camera is great for debugging action like that.
I've thought the camera could be useful in tuning RC vehicles such as helicopters and quadcopters.
My wife ended up talking me into leaving my pledge in place. Since I'm an "early bird" I should be getting the camera in March.
I don't know if you guys have seen the Smarter Everyday channel or not but Destin has made some really cool videos using high speed cameras.
This one shows the cavitation caused by a bullet passing through water. A really cool shot (double meaning) starts at 7:15.
I also like this video which shows the differences in the way birds and bats fly. The slow motion bats start at 2:05.
I think Destin makes cool videos but I also think he found one of the worst applications for high speed video. I think the video on POV light displays could have been done without a high speed camera. The guy who programmed the display could have just slowed the speed of the motor and slowed how fast the LED display changed.
The high speed capture of the POV display starts at 4:45.
The Chronos 1.4 isn't as powerful as the cameras Destin used but I'm hoping to find fun things to "film".
While I was typing this post by bank's fraud protection service called. I had to assure them the Kickstarter charge was legitimate.
Look forward to seeing what you get up to with the Chronos.
I stopped using it after the novelty wore off. Way too much time & effort to unlock it, set it up, and spend hours getting the shots we needed. Based on a few (thirty) years of experience, I could intuitively diagnose and troubleshoot problems in one tenth of the time.
But for more boilerplate applications, it would certainly be a useful tool for you rich guys who can afford it.
Another "Smarter Every Day" fan here