What Is the Best Motion Analysis Setup for Simple Physics Experiments?

[Andy Resnick]

I'm hoping someone here an help out; I've gotten rather frustrated trying to do something simple.

A colleague asked me to help him put together a simple motion analysis setup (Physics I style) as a lab tool. Standard video rates (30 fps etc) are more than sufficient. What *is* important is the ability to freeze motion within a frame; I figured he needs a basic video camera that has an adjustable shutter speed. Well...

Apparently there is no such thing. At least, there is no such consumer-level thing. We end up either on the path of high-frame rate cameras (overkill and too expensive), or 'scientific' cameras that require being tethered to a computer- so we can't go outside and video something being dropped off the roof (for example).

The other suggestion I had was a basic video camera and a strobe set to 30 fps- the downside is that the room lights need to be turned off and any autofocus routine will grind the camera to a halt.

Help? I'm really at a loss here. It's bizarre, frankly.

 

[Andre]

You may want to go over the specs of this one

http://www.dpreview.com/products/casio/compacts/casio_exfh25

 

[Borek]

Strange as it sounds, EOS 7D does what you want. Not necessarily consumer level, but I wonder if EOS 60D is not similar enough.

 

[Andy Resnick]

You may want to go over the specs of this one

http://www.dpreview.com/products/casio/compacts/casio_exfh25

Thanks, but this is what I meant by 'getting steered down the road to a high-speed camera'. He doesn't need 400 fps- the resolution suffers, and he would first need to delete nearly 90% of the images to get a reasonably-sized dataset that could be analyzed. On the 'videography' specs, there is no information about shutter speed/acquisition time- is it controllable? No way to tell.

That said, the 'burst shoot' mode at 40 fps may be a reasonable approach- thanks!

 

[Andy Resnick]

Strange as it sounds, EOS 7D does what you want. Not necessarily consumer level, but I wonder if EOS 60D is not similar enough.

Thanks, but these are not what he's looking for- a camera suitable for use by a Physics I lab student.

 

[Andre]

...
That said, the 'burst shoot' mode at 40 fps may be a reasonable approach- thanks!

That's the idea since this 40pfs is about JPEG output with controllable shutter speed. However I don't have any idea about the resolution at that rate.

However any lab, looking for a low cost high speed graphical recording, may want to examine the Casio EXFH series (there are several models). They don't earn the best quality prices but they are still unique in speed.

Oh disclaimer for infraction hunters, I have no interest whatsoever selling camera's, just helping a friend.

 

[Andy Resnick]

I ended up recommending a camcorder- most of these have manual shutter settings:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/Basic-Budget.htm
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Panasonic-HDC-TM40-Camcorder-Review/Specs-and-Ratings.htm

It's just weird- I can get a basic camera that has both a shutter priority setting and takes video, but (apparently) can't do both at the same time...

 

[gernilam]

http://www.squidoo.com/nikond3200review
I ended up recommending a camcorder- most of these have manual shutter settings:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/Basic-Budget.htm
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Panasonic-HDC-TM40-Camcorder-Review/Specs-and-Ratings.htm

It's just weird- I can get a basic camera that has both a shutter priority setting and takes video, but (apparently) can't do both at the same time...

so did you find a workaround for the lights needing to be turned off and the autofocus problem?

 

[Andy Resnick]

so did you find a workaround for the lights needing to be turned off and the autofocus problem?

Heh... I had to go track the answer down; I'd completely forgotten about this. Apparently he ended up getting a camcorder, one of the Canon models IIRC, but hasn't done anything other than charge the battery.