FPS1000HD high-speed camera teardown

[@AppliedScience]

Good analysis. At one point, the fps1000 creator advertised a "hex" model with a much higher datarate - like 720p at 7kfps or something. Maybe this is possible using the flash architecture and parallel fpgas. I haven't been following it, though.

[@NickMoore]

I had ordered a hex but the model was canceled and this one was offered in its place. I believe the HEX may have been based around a different sensor though as the fps1000hd was announced over a year later.

[@trey1531]

>2017 >using slotted screws

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Why does anyone use ( or even make) slotted screws these days?

[@krishna34674]

Yeah wtf...

[@erlendse]

I would guess they may be old stock

[@martynasmirauskas6977]

watch/clock makers. these look good, but not easy to work with.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Clever idea using flash but I do wonder about endurance issues, especially if you use stop-on-trigger mode a lot. Don't like the puny little 1.3mm power jack - looks pretty fragile. Also power button looks rather prone to accidental operation.

[@dos541]

I would use the standard 2.1mil jack and have a buck converter on the input so just about any adapter could be used on it 12v adapters and 19.5/18.5 volt laptop adapters are common now

[@nraynaud]

WRT injection molding: you can get aluminium molds for a few hundred parts (protomold is a company doing that).

[@paultrautner4578]

Thanks for the tear down, I have a FPS1000HD which I waited over 2.5 years to get and it's collecting dust due to the program issues. I have the latest version of the software but it's still buggy and very hard to use. I backed the chronos 1.4 also and can't wait to use the camera for a comparison. For now I will continue to use the Nikon 1 and Sony RX100 cameras

[@NickMoore]

When did you receive yours? I am still waiting to receive a camera from the first KickStart 3 years ago.

[@paultrautner4578]

slowmosage depends on how well chronos 1.4 works if I will sell it or not. I need portability and higher frame rates which FPS1000 gives just it very frustrating to use with how buggy the program is. I have access to fastcam SA-Z but it's a pain to travel with so it never goes along on trips.

[@paultrautner4578]

Nick Moore I received the camera end of January but the first software was completely useless because every setting was fixed. End of March I got the software update that allowed ISO control, and frame rate but still no shutter speed. I posted a video at 4000 FPS on my KZbin.

[@NickMoore]

That's a little disappointing. I have been planning to use the fps1000 to catch supersonic projectiles and lack of shutter control will make that very difficult. Thanks for the information.

[@paultrautner4578]

Nick Moore the other thing that is disappointing is the save speed. Graham is working on a way to save with USB 3.0 but right now using the SD card is painfully slow. I need to follow up with him on that part because that one of the biggest issues with the camera right now.

[@LEXTHE4]

oh come on! it has 512 GB of flash but she didn't even bother to seal the sensor from the open air. with fans blowing dust straight onto it?!?

[@TheUbuntuGuy]

Those Ultra-fire batteries are ultra-terrible and usually have falsely stated capacity.

[@ACTlVISION]

Protip: if "rated" capacity is physically impossible given energy density, and it weighs half as much as it should, and the label has "fire" anywhere on it, stay far away...

[@drkastenbrot]

Mark Furneaux it says 4000mah lol...

[@RizLazey]

drkastenbrot cylindrical Li-ion cant be 4000 MaH the highest for capacity for Cylindrical Li-ion is 2500 MaH unless if it was a Rectangle Li-ion much like in smart phones then yes they can reach 5000 MaH so stop being an idiotic bitch

[@taofledermaus]

Very interesting. I heard about this camera long before I heard of yours, but I know you were developing your early prototypes for a long time. Who was first to begin the journey?

[@tesla500]

Thanks! I'm not sure when Graham started actually, but he did an initial Kickstarter way before me, in October 2014. I've been dabbling in high-speed since 2007 though.

[@leon13noelspy]

@@tesla500 he ran out of money with the first campain due to sensor suppliers from china sending bad chips and alot more. I backed for the fps1000 silver and didn't get mine til this day sadly. I have not given up yet on that he sends out the compromise for the fps1000 silver backers that he announced ten months ago. But i dont know if this will happen at all. I would've backed the chronos but sadly I didn't have enough money to do so...

[@jcims]

I can't say I've been truly paying close attention over the past 7-8 years, but I don't recall ever seeing another single video on KZbin with comments from more KZbinrs I subscribe to than this one. It's like the nexus of nerd...I love it.

[@u532n4m3]

Is it just me or do those boards look hastily autorouted (at least to some degree)? Lots of weird bends and joins, and would explain why no attempt at length matching or even differential LVDS routing was made.

[@spambot7110]

the 18650 holder was a really cool feature actually, i wanna see more larger cameras use that!

[@TilmanBaumann]

Pretty generous review.

[@jolesco]

I also agree in that the Chronos is the better coice, but it's nice to see more than one successful "High speed camera" kickstarter project. This video also gives good feedback to the FPS1000HD developer(s) on what to sort out in the next camera Rev

[@XFourty7]

If they didn't do equi-distant traces on the flash around the sensor + splitting the output could definitely be causing that odd refresh issue. Probably not actually a "refresh" issue as much as the data being sent in narrow rows that aren't in sync. Also, great tear-down & good on you for giving constructive criticism to the creator(s). :)

[@Konecny_M]

You don't have to length match around sensor necesarily, most modern FPGAs provide facilities on the IOB for callibrating out routing delays within reasonable bounds. If you look at highspeed Onsemi sensors, you will see the sensor itself provides training signal pattern during readout inactivity periods exactly for this purpose.

[@lbochtler]

correct me if im wrong, but isnt flash memory a bad idea in this application. Since the chips have a very limited amount of rewrites, as well as wright speed beeing slower then DRAM.

[@shocksplash6856]

I could see what your thinking, but flash is actually pretty hardy. Yes it is fully writing the disk as its recording, but it will take tens of thousands of cycles before it begins to error. And yes the write speed is quite slower than DRAM, which is why the fps1000 is limited to 1000fps. If it wrote to Memory then it would be able to hit 1500.

[@Chriva]

Not only a bad idea. I'd call it crazy.

[@kakureru]

this means that this device has manufactured finite life span. The chronos should outlast this device because of its use of ram over flash.

[@Chriva]

It's a MLC flash so I HIGHLY doubt that: MT29F512G08CKCCBH7-6R Only way it could handle several thousands of writes is if the author used wear-leveling. I bet my bottom dollar that is not the case and he writes it in a linear fashion. (He's not using a application specific controller for the flash) Edit: This is meant as a reply to ShockSplash.

[@czoknorris]

I think they have or will add some wear balancing to the FPGA config. And Flash is actually not so bad. Much better than a hard drive. If used correctly it can take hundreds of thousands of rewrites - especially if you have another 256GB of spares which can kick in as some regions become unusable. Other SSDs also have spare chips.

[@1800Supreme]

Use High Drain Vape batteries. IMO I like having the 18650 Battery option its better than the cronos.

[@antoineroquentin2297]

5 fans would probably be worse, because the warm air couldn't escape. Just stumbled upon this channel, i like it! Well done.

[@Monkeyheadtpc]

I was sweating here when you threw the pliers around from 9:23 onwards. I saw them hitting the sensor any second...

[@qwertyasdf66]

*tweezers

[@paultrautner4578]

I also noticed the same flange issue as you and told Graham but he had no reply. I measured the flange distance and it was a few mm too large for CS mount. Without a modified adapter I can't get infinity focus on a c mount lens.

[@muh1h1]

I am no expert in any way, but this thing looks pretty terrible to me... Slotted screws, tape everywhere, bodge resitor, sloppy fan connector, no length matching, tons of wasted space on the PCB... On the other hand really high quality injection molding with brass inserts, which costs a fortune! And not only procuction optimisation lacks behind, but also usability with those unlabled ports, missing hand grip and general architecture, writing directly to flash soldered to the boards seems like a terrible idea. Looks like a very early prototype to me, not like a finished product. Chronos sure isn't perfect in its current state, but it is miles ahead of this as far as design goes...

[@TheDanyschannel]

Hey! Never been so early to a video! Good stuff on High speed!

[@sunhuatom]

The 512GB flash may be used as raid to increase W/R speed, and also as redundancy.

[@pufero1]

the idea is not bad vs ram just why not a sd external raid cluster soo if the flash fails they can be easy fixed and can cut the price, customer choise his raid size on long range is no bad idea but well atm best idea is mini pci express nv sdd socket i think.

[@sunhuatom]

It's gonna be hard to route long traces for high speed stuff. But it's a good idea to make the flash modular and swapable.

[@DoRC]

2.3a isn't exactly a big load for an 18650. but then again cheap ones might feel differently.

[@ACTlVISION]

Besides being likely underpowered IIRC most of these "-fire" brands are either factory rejects from reputable manufacturers or rebranded bottom shelf cells. I'd also be concerned with running 2 cells together because it's likely that their capacities won't be matched close enough with the nonexistent quality control that goes into them.

[@semifavorableuncircle6952]

That Fan "Connector" looks great. Oh well. Also i do see both FCC and CE marks yet no real filtering on the DC input and USB connectors? Thats gonna be interesting.

[@LazerLord10]

256GB? Dang!

[@johnfranks]

I wonder if the screen bezel and battery cover are possibly off-the-shelf?

[@FriedrichWinkler]

that was my first thought upon seeing them I could swear I saw that battery cover somewhere else

[@1st_ProCactus]

The back of an old casio keyboard ?

[@Gigawipf]

The pretty simple architecture is interesting and directly recording to flash sure has some advantages, but i guess that makes software development and adding features/fixing problems really hard later on with that kind of specialised hardware with 3 fpgas. Also the issue of flash aging and reliability/speed could pose a problem compared to using a ram buffer. Are those teary effects only present in the preview and how does the final video look like? That looks actually pretty terrible and might be pretty hard to fix later, if possible at all. One thing i like better on this one compared to your chronos is the battery choice. Single 18650 cells are small and easy to buy or replace. Well, if you have the right cells and not dubious *-fire cells and rely on the user to actually choose the right cells and handle them correctly. But that is just a preference and i mentioned that before ;)

[@Baigle1]

I have a question... how did rocket testing back in early 1950s have 100,000 fps cameras that used film? There are videos of the tests and the speeds they recorded at.. but how?

[@NickMoore]

Harold Edgerton built a camera that had film pass behind a lens like a normal film camera but at crazy high speeds. Instead of having a mechanical shutter expose the film there was a strobe light driven by the camera to flash at hundreds or thousands of times per second, that way the scene is only lit for that very short flash, recording the image and allowing the film to advance in darkness between flashes. It was nuts!

[@Baigle1]

Nick Moore Awesome, thanks for info!

[@Baigle1]

Wow, 120 feet per second (80x faster!) and that seems like a pretty early stage compared to the rocket testing and later cameras! i found an epic gallery about him, it has a lot of information ive never seen before regarding his work and 1950s life lol edgerton-digital-collections.org/

[@NickMoore]

*Bookmarked* Awesome, thanks! I've got some reading to do.

[@Spirit532]

That's not how it worked. It used a rotating prism instead of stopping film for every frame.

[@LukeSlowMo]

Maybe you get the chance to get your hands on the FPS4000-4K. I'm quite interested what changed in compared to the fps1000. By the way: Hope that I will hold a 4K Chronos-Camera in my hands some day in the future ;)

[@Dukey8668]

It's strange that there is an IR filter in the case as there appears to already be one directly on the sensor.

[@tesla500]

The sensor doesn't have an IR filter built in, it needs an external filter.

[@Dukey8668]

The color of the reflection in the sensor made me think that there was an IR filter but I suppose I was wrong. Thanks.

[@thom1218]

The sensor is composed of millions of individual sensors in a rectangular array. Together, they act as a diffraction grating and break apart reflected light into its component colors. The same effect is created by looking at light reflected off from the back of a compact disc, for example, in which the micrometer pits are arranged in a tight spiral for the player to read via its laser.

[@Kilohercas]

I look at the look of the board, and i see, it's made in Eurocircuits, and just when you show, i see order number on the side they put in, small world :)

[@recmy1982]

David can put a lens L series of canon front wing cronos (just put it in front does not matter that is not well subject) to look at the result I feel that the lenses of mountura c have little sharpness and aberration chromatic greetings I admire you a lot

[@Scyth3934]

Did you just have the specs/descriptions of all the random chips memorized somehow or was this scripted?

[@locouk]

I'm not big on electronics but, the sensor being open to the elements is awful. Even when I change the lens on my DSLR I'm worried about getting dust on the CMOS. I'd feel I wouldn't be able to use the the camera in many conditions that I might like to because if it.

[@spambot7110]

jeez, you couldn't have at least notch filtered out the buzzing?

[@1996misterio]

your camera looks a looooot of more polished in comparasion with this FPS1000HD, congrats.

[@snap-n-shoot]

At least Chronos is available... FPS1000 cameras are becoming a myth with the slow production of them. I know of people who purchased an FPS1000 2 years ago and they still have not received it..

[@accidic2187]

I know the guy you got the back gun profile picture from I helped build the toy gun it is pretty cool I guess it's a small world

[@JOELwindows7]

5:17 Galaxy Note 7 on the go! 😂👌

[@xenonram]

Wow, did they send you a prototype? that thing looks like someone put it together in their garage. The metal bezel around the io isn't even screen printed or laser engraved.

[@tesla500]

Someone who bought one let me borrow it for teardown

[@ElectraFlarefire]

Whats wrong with "put it together in their garage"? There is a long and proud tradition of this! From the start I loved Chronos's own 'home designed' aspect, including all the 'I had more prototypes but the cat happened and now i have one less' bits. And that the camera I've got on order will be made on the same benches that it was designed and tested on by the same people who care about every single last one.

[@AmericanLocomotive1]

What in that looks "garage made"?

[@xenonram]

Electra Flarefire There is nothing wrong with garage made. But when you're trying to market something to the public, of whose money you took to produce it, it should be a bit more polished than this. I love garage made, but the main point of "garage made," among others, is so you don't have to pay for "factory made." You can tell that they went bankrupt by the places where corners were cut. 1: No screen printing/laser engraving. 2: No charger included. 3: No batteries. (Actually a lack of a proper prismatic cell altogether.) 4: A bargain basement lens. (He obviously had plans for a better one, and since he said he would provide a lens, he had to stick a bottom tier lens in the box.) This is what happens when you expect an inventor to design, prototype, build, "mass produce," and market a product. He didn't know how to budget the money. and is why he ran out of money and cut corners in some places, and went overboard in others. I'm not blaming him. It's more than I've ever done. i was just pointing that out. It doesn't look like a finished product. (Which is what it's supposed to be.... a 100% completed, consumer grade, product.)

[@xenonram]

American Locomotive If you went to best buy to buy a Sony camera, or went online to buy a Phantom, and you received this, would you be satisfied? I'm not expecting him to produce a product up to Sony/Phantom quality, but this just looks rushed, compromised, and not like a consumer product.

[@btwbrand]

MY LEFT EAR!

[@pirateman1966]

How many times can one write to these flashes, before having to throw away the camera? I would've used RAM. Poor design all around. Length matching, at these speeds, is a must. Not impressed. Excellent tear-down.

[@imeakdo7]

i guess you now have some competitor to improve upon! i have many ideas.

[@felipetrentin6629]

teardown!!!!!

[@Болгарин-т5р]

Охренеть, деталей на 20 баксов, а цена как у крыла боинга! ЗА ЧТОООО?

[@maqm8481]

Sensor technology is really advancing nowadays

[@photocanonn]

use a NCP panasonic batteries 3200mAmps

[@grunthostheflatulent269]

To their credit, the rudefully-coined (yeah, Dave's gotta work on his couth,) "bodge" resistor should be forgiven on a prototype -- especially because those PCBs likely cost more to make/test than the chipset. Otherwise, the project reflects upon its worth by the choice to employ slot screws... I concur as stated below: who t.h. uses such fasteners?! Mock!

[@meganie8]

Looks pretty fail compared to the Chronos.

[@witeshade]

meganie8 I think "fail" is definitely not the right word to use at all. It's definitely aimed at a lower segment of the market, and it is not without significant flaws, but as an entry level product it seems like it does a pretty decent job.

[@RizLazey]

Basically Poor man’s High speed camera

[@TheAmmoniacal]

JoergSprave wants a Chronos, offer him a discount!

[@tratori9121]

TheAmmoniacal thats not how it works....

[@TheAmmoniacal]

Why not? :D

[@muh1h1]

i can tell you right now that the 18650 cells you have there are pretty much the worst of the worst. Ultrafire cells are known to be exceptionally bad quality and also don't meet their specs at all...

[@shocksplash6856]

Chronos is better!

[@vincei4252]

Interesting and rather spartan design.

[@RyeOnHam]

I looked around. This company is dead. Web site is dead. Probably lots of money up in smoke and no support from the original maker.

[@blogsdey4463]

quisiera q hablará en castellano sería muxo mejor no entiendo :(

[@TheChipburner]

touch screen UI = fail