Edgertronic: the affordable high-speed camera
Other high-speed cameras can have asking prices in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Edgertronic achieves a similar effect for just US$5000.
- Webby Award honoree, 2x Gold Telly Award winner
Want to shoot high-speed video? You may need to take out a mortgage just to afford the equipment.
Not anymore, says Edgertronic, a camera designed to bring affordable high-speed photography to everyone. It is a Kickstarter alumnus and was successfully funded at the end of 2013. Now, it's available to buy for real.
From the outside, the Edgertronic looks like an unassuming box with a lens attached to it. The camera uses the Nikon F-mount which means that it's instantly compatible with hundreds of Nikon lenses straight out of the box. If you're wondering what you do with one of these cameras, the answer is simple — make slow-motion videos.
Though not as fast as cameras such as the Phantom range, the frame rates are still very impressive for the money you pay. The camera can capture resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 at 500fps, though you can achieve 17,791fps with 192 x 96 resolution.
Inside the Edgertronic is a sensor that is just a bit smaller than any regular CMOS sensor found on an APS-C SLR. The main point of difference is that the photo sites are enormous compared to a regular sensor — 14 microns wide. This means that the quality of light that the sensor is able to capture is going to be better, a crucial factor when considering the incredibly fast shutter speeds that the camera can achieve.
Another point of difference with the camera is that everything is controlled through a web browser. The Edgertronic has a built-in web server that connects via Ethernet, constantly capturing a minimum of 8 seconds of footage in its buffer. Once it is triggered, the camera encodes this video into H.264 format onto an SD card.
The second shipment of cameras is due to ship in Q1 2014, so in the next month or so. The full colour version is available for AU$5495 on pre-order, while the monochrome version costs US$5695. Check out a couple of example videos below.