Camcorder with a High Frames per Second

[dagolfpro]

Hi Gang,

I'm a golf instructor looking for a camcorder with a highest possible frames per second for under $500. Everything I've liked so far is not compatible with Mac's. Any recommendations?

 

[TEG]

Anything with Firewire/iLink works just fine. Same goes for 99% of all others. The only reason they don't say they work is just that they aren't providing software, mainly because most Macs have the software built-in.

TEG

 

[dagolfpro]

Anything with Firewire/iLink works just fine. Same goes for 99% of all others. The only reason they don't say they work is just that they aren't providing software, mainly because most Macs have the software built-in.

TEG

Thank you. Any suggestions for a 60 fps camcorder for under $500?

 

[diamond.g]

Thank you. Any suggestions for a 60 fps camcorder for under $500?

Are you looking for a high speed camcorder or just a camcorder that records at 60fps? I am pretty sure most if not all US camcorders shoot at 60fps. I don't think you will find a high speed camcorder for under 500 dollars though.

 

[Carl Spackler]

You will not find a camcorder capable of high frame rates for around $500, let alone $5000. Don't confuse fields per second with frames per second. All U.S. consumer cameras will do 60 interlaced fields per second (60i), which play back at roughly 30 frames per second. Some will do 30 progressive frames per second (30p) and fewer still will do 24 frames per second (24P).

I assume you want to be able to go through swings at a frame-by-frame level. Your best bet, IMHO, is going to be to get an HD camera (for image quality) that will do 30p (for still frame accuracy). Set the shutter speed to the highest possible and shoot away.

More indepth details on frames vs. fields & Shutter speeds

Hope that helps.

 

[mchalebk]

My recommendation is to go to camcorderinfo.com. It's by far the best website I've found for researching camcorders. They have extensive in-depth reviews. They also have message boards. Here's a link:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/

 

[ftaok]

While not a camcorder, this Fuji boasts movies with frame rates up to 1000 fps!!!

I'm not sure what the resolution would be on these vids, but for a golf instructor, this could be pretty cool. I would guess that 240 fps (played at 24fps) would be the sweet spot for slow-mo golf swing videos.

 

[Makosuke]

Also, while there are now a few reasonably priced cameras capable of very high speed recording, the resolution decreases in proportion to the frame rate. Took me a surprising amount of hunting to find real numbers on Fuji's upcoming HS10, since they don't like to publish them in the specs (I can see why). According to a hands-on review:

At 120FPS, 640 x 480. "At 240 fps, you get 448 x 360 pixels; at 480 fps, you get 224 x 168 pixels; at 1000 fps, the HS10 captures a lowly 224 x 64 pixels." You also get near-HD 960 x 720 at 60 fps (and I think that is 60 frames, not 60 fields interlaced).

For novelty, sure. For certain uses probably still quite useful--I can imagine that even at low resolution high-speed photography of a golf swing or some other sports motion could be valuable. But you're not going to be filming an Olympic finish or Matrix action scene quite yet.

There's also the Nikon P100, which has similar high-speed capability.

 

[Kaisernator]

Sony HDR-CX100

This might be too late, but there is a pretty fine HD camcorder that is around $400-$600 that has a 3 second slo-mo that boosts the frame rate up to 240fps, but i don't know if it is compatible with mac, if it uses AVCHD I use final cut pro, and use the Log and transfer capability, Works great!

 

[Xse]

Casio Exilim EX-FC100 ($349.99 list)

Casio Exilim EX-FC100 ($349.99 list) It can take an high-speed 30 frames per-second burst rate and record slow motion videos at 1000 frames per second.