What would you do if you could stop time?
Would you go back at look at every single step that lead to that state winning pole vault jump during your junior year of high school? Maybe you would examine every split second of the moments you had from when you planted the pole and launched your body into flight. Rewatch those moments of flight where you turn your body and head over the bar with your face lifted to the cloudless sky. Perhaps what you really would like to capture is the look on your parents’ and your coach’s faces as they realize that not only have you captured the gold medal, but that you have surpassed your personal best by two inches.
Maybe instead of stopping time to reexamine an athletic victory you would instead go back and look at the surprise on your grandmother’s face when she realized that her family had pitched in so that she could take an Alaskan cruise. Having already visited the 49 others, your grandmother had always hoped that she would get to check the last state off. the look on her face was priceless. Spin time ahead a few extra seconds to when she found out that not only would she be traveling to Alaska, but so would her oldest and youngest granddaughters. Tears of joy came so quickly to her face that her happiness was contagious.
Stopping Time with 1000 FPS Cameras Help Photographers Capture Memories and History
Although scientists may have not yet found a way to truly stop time, today’s high frame rate cameras appear to be able to come close. As the frames per second (FPS) continue to increase, photographers can capture the tears on a grandmother’s face as easily as the seat on a pole vaulter’s body. With a ultrahigh-speed camera like the newest 1000 FPS cameras, stopping motion and breaking it down to very minute details is more possible than ever before. Used by amateur photographers to capture their children’s athletic adventures and by scientists who are attempting to break down the division of cells, high speed cameras find their new uses as soon as they are developed.
For example, depending on which optical system is used, it is now possible to reach more than 1 million frames a second. These incredible lens are far beyond the more affordable 1000 FPS cameras, but they are used in both scientific and medical research. For instance, high speed photography has long been a major tool in the development of biomechanics and its research methods. With the use of a standard movie camera, for example, images can be recorded at a rate of 18 frames a second. Specialized cameras can operate even faster, operating at thousands of frames per second. Essentially, these cameras are able to slow the motion to the point where it can be carefully analyzed in great detail.
In a time when scientists, researchers, and doctors continue to search for more ways to get the information they need about the subjects they are studying, it seems that high speed cameras may be the secret to their future discoveries. And while 1000 FPS cameras may have first been developed for the use of amateur and professional photographers, these break throughs in the study of motion have effects far beyond family and sports photography.
Once You Can Stop Motion the Sky Is the Limit
What is your dream? Do you want to invent the next new hurdling technique that can shave a second of your time? Maybe your research team wants to be famous for discovering a new species of insect that moves so quickly they have been difficult to study. Who knows, you may be the next great stop motion photographer following in the steps of Eadweard Muybridge and Doctor Harold Edgerton. What ever your goal, whatever your passion, the science of motion photography may be the key to your progress. With the help of vision research, slow motion cameras, and high speed cameras you may be able to unlock the secret that you have been looking for.
We live in a fast paced world and the answer to many of the biggest questions may be in slowing down for examination and exploration.