I recently had the chance to use the Freefly Ember S2.5K, and at $25,000, this is hands down the most expensive camera I’ve ever worked with. But, surprisingly, for what it can do, I actually think it’s a bargain.
Why I Needed a Slow-Motion Camera
I’ve never shot ultra slow-motion before, but I needed one for a concept I had for a commercial for my hot sauce brand Oliveum. My first thought was Phantom cameras, so I reached out to them. They weren’t interested in a loaner deal, and renting one was $3,500 per day—definitely not happening. That led me to Freefly, a company I had heard about because of their S5K, a high-speed camera capable of 600fps at 5K resolution. But just as I was looking, they announced the Ember S2.5K, which, while lower resolution, is way faster.
This camera can shoot over 2,200fps at full resolution and even 3,500fps if you crop the frame. Freefly was cool enough to loan me one, though they initially suggested the S5K since it offers higher resolution and dynamic range. But for my shoot, I needed speed, so I went with the S2.5K—and I think it was the right call.
What You Get for $25,000
At $25K, you’re only getting the camera body. It comes with a Canon EF mount, which is active, meaning I can adjust the aperture electronically using the camera or the iPhone app. You’ll probably want a V-mount battery system and a screen which are sold separately.
Ports & Connectivity
On the back, we’ve got:
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Power jack
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Ethernet port
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HDMI out (for external monitoring)
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USB-C (for app control and data transfer)
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GPIO port (for advanced timecode setups)
Controlling the Camera
The Ember has only four buttons: power, record, a select button, and a scroll wheel. While you can control it with an external monitor, I found that slow and clunky. Instead, I used the iPhone app, and when it works, it’s fantastic. The interface is super intuitive, letting me:
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Adjust resolution and frame rate
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Control white balance, ISO (100, 200, or 400)
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Adjust aperture and focus wirelessly
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Format the internal SSD (yes, no memory cards!)
Recording Modes & Playback
You can record in two modes:
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Normal Mode (press record to start/stop)
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Pre-Record Mode (camera is always recording, and pressing record saves the last few seconds)
Reviewing footage is simple. You scrub through in the app, set in and out points, and then export the clip directly to your iPhone at full resolution—wirelessly. That’s crazy convenient.
Workflow & Getting Footage Off the Camera
There are three ways to get footage off the Ember:
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Export directly from the iPhone app (slow but convenient)
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Use Freefly’s laptop app (more control, but slower than I’d like)
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Direct SSD access (fastest method)
I went with option #3. When you plug the Ember into a laptop, it mounts like an external SSD, and the clips are just MP4 files. I edited directly from the camera, cut up my selects, and then exported only what I needed. Way faster than using the app.
Image Quality & Shooting Considerations
At 2.5K resolution, this won’t win any sharpness awards, and it's 10-11 stops of dynamic range are worse than many consumer cameras sold today. At a max ISO of 400 it’s not a low-light beast. But you’re not paying for image quality—you’re paying for frame rate. And if you light your scene properly, this footage looks amazing.
One thing I wasn’t prepared for was how much light you need. Shooting at 3,000fps, even in direct sunlight with an f/1.2 lens at ISO 400, exposure was still too dark. I had to put my brightest video lights inches away from my subject to get proper exposure. Also, many lights flicker at high frame rates, which I only realized after reviewing footage—lesson learned.
What's wild is that the Phantom TMX 7510 is capable of shooting at 1.75 million frames per second. I cannot fathom how much light is needed to make this work.
Issues
When the camera and app worked, they worked so well. It's really one of the simplest cameras I've ever used. But, I had constant problems with the app on my phone and the app on my laptop glitching, lagging, freezing, and crashing. When I recorded the review video above, I was the only person I knew who had ever used this camera and I assumed that it was just a glitchy camera. Since then, I got to speak to someone who owns one and uses it daily for product videography. He said he has never once had any of the issues I had. This leads me to believe there may have been something wrong with my unit, and being that it had been mailed around the world for reviewers to use, I'm sure it had been beaten up. Maybe if you buy a new one, it will work perfectly.
Final Thoughts: Is It Worth $25K?
For most videographers, spending $25,000 on a slow-motion camera isn’t justifiable. But for rental houses, commercial filmmakers, or product videographers, it’s easily worth the investment. Compared to renting a Phantom for $3,500 a day, the Ember S2.5K is a steal. But of course, being that the Ember can shoot around 3,000fps and Phantom cameras can shoot up to 1,750,000fps, maybe it's not really a fair comparison.
That being said, it was the perfect camera for my needs, and you can see the finished Oliveum Hot Sauce commercial below.
