Although technology moves at an exponential rate, a recent technological breakthrough is more staggering than most. A team of Canadian researchers has designed a system allowing frame capture speeds previously unheard of.
The article, which you can read here, reports on current technology that can be used in sensors previously only capable of 100 frames per second. The technique is called compressed optical-streaking ultra-high-speed photography, or COSUP.
But before you get too excited, you should know that this technology will likely be applied to scientific applications (microscopes and telescopes) before being available for a DSLR near you.
We photographers should be in the picture before too long. A professor at the IRNS school where COSUP technology was developed has said: "Using different CCD and CMOS cameras with COSUP also allows the method to be used for a wide range of wavelengths.”
The article does not explicitly mention still photography, but acknowledges that this new technology could be a game-changer for slow-motion videography. The team of Canadian researchers is also working on creating a miniature version of the system to implement for smartphones.
For more technical information on how COSUP works, follow this link.
The breakneck speed of camera technology advancements has me thinking more about the accessibility of camera gear these days. Just the other day I saw an ad for "Pro Mobile Photography and Filmmaking" kits. Do you feel excited by this advancement in sensor technology, or do you feel threatened by the ever-increasing abilities of non-professional shooters? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
I already hear some MILC fanboys crying for such photocamera sensor cramed into their camera !!! Hope they already invest in huge storage bays :-D
Oh crikey, that's gonna fill your disk, real fast.
And no, not threatened by people who aren't skilled. They'll just take a lot of bad images, real fast.
Which reminds me of a joke - two boffins staring at a computer: 'In the space of .001 second, the computer has multiplied the error 6 million times.'
The Shimadzu HPVX2 camera is capable of 10M fps, and has been around for a number of years. https://hadlandimaging.com/shimadzu-hyper-vision-hpv-x2/