New Camera Enables High Resolution Video Recording at Ultrahigh Speeds

A new video camera has been developed with specialized sensor technology that enables the achievement of record ultrahigh-speed continuous recording of high-resolution images.

High-speed video technology has been used as an important analysis tool in a variety of fields including microbiological and other microscopic phenomena, materials failure, explosions, and electric discharge. Shimadzu (Nakagyo-ku; Kyoto, Japan) now introduces the Hyper Vision HPV-X video camera, which allows observation of previously unobservable ultrahigh-speed phenomena with high temporal resolution. The camera is applicable to a broad range of fields requiring high-speed video, such as research in advanced science, engineering and medicine, space technology development, product development, and identification of causes of defects.


The HPV-X offers a choice of two modes of image resolution: “full pixel” (FP) for 100,000 pixel images and “half pixel” (HP) for 50,000 pixel images. It is also equipped with a newly developed proprietary high-speed FT-CMOS image sensor and has achieved ultrahigh-speed continuous recording at 10 million frames/second, a world's first, opening new doorways to high-speed recording. This feature is included in all Shimadzu’s Hyper Vision high-speed video cameras, but is not available from any other manufacturer. The HPV-X can record 5 million 100,000 pixel images per second (in FP mode) or 10 million 50,000 pixel images per second (in HP mode).

Recording storage capacity has been increased by increasing memory capacity and the higher frame capacity allows longer recording times. In FP resolution mode, the HPV-X can record 128 frames, which is 20% more than the previous HPV-2 model. In the HP mode, a double-memory function enables recording 256 consecutive frames for recording even longer periods. This gives the user the choice to prioritize either resolution or recording time. Near instantaneous phenomena can now be captured in even more detail: with conventional high-speed video cameras, the resolution drops as recording speed is increased, whereas with the HPV-X, recording can be performed at the maximum resolution of 400 × 250 pixels (in FP mode) regardless of the recording speed used, enabling detailed analysis of ultrahigh-speed phenomena.

Just like the previous model, the simple system configuration offers a compact and highly portable design that makes on-site setup especially simple. The HPV-X camera head just has to be connected to a laptop computer by cable. The camera also retains the same HPV software that has been so popular with users of the previous model, with intuitive features and easy-to-understand setting screens.

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