Kodak Motion Corder high-speed video system teardown

A look inside a video camera capable of recording 10,000 frames per second

[@tesla500]

Excellent tear down! I love seeing old specialist equipment like this. It's amazing how far we've come, today this entire system could easily be built into something half the size of the camera head. I wasn't expecting a CCD sensor. I guess CMOS tech wasn't up to the task at the time. I was also expecting the RAM to take up much more space, but it was quite small. I'm surprised they didn't use PC memory modules as well.

[@lost4468yt]

>"It's amazing how far we've come, today this entire system could easily be built into something half the size of the camera head." Hi, it's 2021 now and we have phones which can record at 2,000 fps in 720p! Oh and they record in full colour and don't even need external lighting for most shots. It's crazy how far camera tech has come. I really hope we see IR sensors going up in resolution and down in value, it'd be great to have an affordable high resolution IR camera on my phone.

[@Mistamudd]

Hi Mike. In our flat we don't have cable. There's no Sky dish either but I don't care that we cant get The Discovery Channel.... We've got YOUR channel ! Love it.

[@akompsupport]

Thanks so much for this tear down. This is free education at it's finest. Thank you for donating your time and knowledge to the world at large.

[@SonicWaffles]

That drillbit clip is so elegant.

[@ACA332]

Consistently posting some of the best vids on youtube. Thank you!

[@SirDrinksAlot69]

I've been going to your website since around 2000, I've been wanting a Nixie Clock ever since. Also a long time subscriber! This is all good stuff

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Many carefuly-crafted saved searches and regular browsing!

[@FrankSandqvist]

Very nice. Love the soldering slo-mo!

[@azyfloof]

Amazing slo-mo stuff, Mike! I LOVE the idea of using gooseneck mic holders for lighting rigs, might have to borrow that idea for some of my photography work :D

[@Tjousk]

An excellent teardown followed by some excellent high speed clips, thanks (: Nice to see the bleed on the coin spin, gives me a fairly good idea of the lighting requirements (assuming all the high speed used the two 20w halogens)

[@robstorms]

Love the vids ! Thanks Mike ! Rob, Rochester NY (Home of Kodak , sad story)

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Re. memory modules,. It could be that the design pre-dated availability of suitably fast modules, and there may also have been robustness concerns. Could also have been the width wasn't a good fit. Early kodak desitgns used an NMOS sensor, but I think this one is CCD judging by the drivers

[@arcadeuk]

wow super bargain! Thanks love these teardown vids

[@NanoCottage]

Great find! Fantastic build quality, Japanese electronics of that vintage all looks the same.

[@PhattyMo]

Ohh,look at all those purple Os-Con caps.. love those things.

[@liammk96]

Amazing footage! Impressive ebay skills!

[@mikeselectricstuff]

It tends to bleed over at high light levels - I think it's inherent in the type of sensor

[@StormadoMan]

This is some solid gear! great one..

[@arcadeuk]

Is there a fault or an adjustment that needs to be made to deal with high brightness, whenever a metallic object reflected light back at the camera there was a huge chunk of noise on the image. Maybe you need a soft filter on the lighting?

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

That thing is awesome!!!!

[@mikeselectricstuff]

It's about the same res at 1000fps - slightly higher at other resolutions, but less memory. The intensified image on the old system is handy, but this one is a lot smaller and more convenient to use.

[@acecodemaster1337]

I have an early Video Logic Instar high speed camera system that records to a reel of one inch tape if you want it. 200fps max and uses a vidicon tube.

[@giammyzanna]

What are the specs of that big Fuji lens?

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Triggering isn't a huge problem, as you can post-trigger, but getting the light level right, especially from something producing flames, is tricky.

[@Scyth3934]

May I ask how you even came across it on eBay?

[@JeebuzCrist]

Love your shirt.

[@randacnam7321]

The supply for the auxiliary lights might be dead because it was run with no load. The oscillator design that most of them use will fry without a proper load as the load is needed to keep them stable.

[@killernoob756]

can we know some of them, carefuly-crafted saved searches?

[@MrDubje]

That's a bargain. Very interesting stuf, it's even faster as your ektapro.

[@goyabee3200]

Mike, what is the maximum video resolution at 24fps that would be feasible for a frame capture device which connects to a computer via rs232?

[@AureliusR]

There are SO many more things you would need to know. What is the data format? What is the maximum baud rate (determined by cable length)? Can the camera chip support compression (Which many modern chips do)? Are you bound to RS-232 or is there another protocol you can use?

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Is your shed your office? Can see it on the CCTV and looks like your backgarden

[@RetroGamerVX]

Wow, what a steal!!! well done Mike! :o) I love your lens, made me say 'Bloody hell' lol. Wonderful thing to have :o)

[@mikeselectricstuff]

There are plenty of high-end high-speed cams available, all with very high price tags.

[@marcelh85]

What a bargain. nice find!!

[@hateercenor]

PAL only video output or can you switch it?

[@turbochargedbrick]

What are the specs on the massive lens?

[@DonaldDuckMovies]

Yes please.

[@giammyzanna]

Is that monitor behind you connected to a security camera?

[@grassulo]

could you attach a SCSI hard disc (or possibly SSD) to it for more recording time or is the interface strictly for data download only?

[@AureliusR]

No, that wouldn't work. The limitation is DRAM. When recording, the data goes directly to RAM because it's the only thing capable of taking that much data that quickly (at least at the time). Nowadays you could send this over Thunderbolt or USB3.0 directly into a computer's memory and get ages of recording time. Just like with his old high-speed camera (which he did a great write-up on reverse engineering on his website) you could, given enough time, reverse-engineer this and either add a lot more DRAM or just have it send the data to an FPGA which routes the data through Thunderbolt/USB/cable of your choice. Even Wi-Fi would be fast enough nowadays!

[@zidane2k1]

How many FPS were the sample clips at the end?

[@tesla500]

Boards are in production for that (finally), should be here in a couple of weeks. I'm also getting around to doing proper enclosed version of my old 640x480 camera, I don't see anyone making a budget high speed camera, so I figure I'll give it a go. It should sell for well under $1k.

[@AureliusR]

What sensor could you possibly get for anywhere near a price that would enable a $1000 product that can do high-speed video?

[@blogsterification]

did you get this on a misspell mike.excellent stuff at the end.are you going to view some hv with it sometime ?

[@mckaymatts]

Is the flicker from 60Hz AC?

[@CampKohler]

Neat! I've seen some high-speed cams that go for over $100K. You got a bargain.

[@Zagroseckt]

oh you got sooo lucky i've allways wanted to get ahold of a high speed camra :) or slow motion as it wer :p

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Probably single output - multi-output DC-DC's are quite common

[@bgdwiepp]

Where do you find this stuff on ebay? Gosh!

[@TheCrazyInventor]

Ah, that was an awesome deal. Very interesting toy. :)

[@donpalmera]

I've never bought hardware like this on ebay.. but I'm managed to buy high value parts like FPGAs from ebay for a lot less than their normal price a few times. You just have to keep searching until a decent deal turns up. I search every other day to see if any big SRAMs turn up for example.

[@accentgrave1]

great find! I'll be on the look-out for one of these at.50£...

[@douro20]

Hmm...I read that the Ektapro uses an NMOS sensor made by Plessey...

[@mikeselectricstuff]

500 & 1000

[@rocketman221projects]

That camera has a really good picture for being 14 years old. How much RAM does it have?

[@douro20]

tesla500 has been building his own high-speed cameras for quite a while; if I remember right he's been working on an HD one.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

I think it's probably NTSC - don't recall if it's switchable but most monitors these days don't care

[@Andrew_Sparrow]

It's probably sad that I recognised the duck! The same colour changing duck I bought my wife where the battery NEVER needs replacing... until it does and you have to cut and pry the thing out :) - Liked the wood drilling. Looking forward to seeing what uses you come up with for the two cameras (is enough balloon pops etc on youtube). Does this make your previous high speed camera you fixed up obsolete?

[@myozone]

Nice ebay find ! I'm looking for a ANPR system ? - cheap !? - for messing with

[@Nexfero]

2:44 that looks like the power cable connector for the orignal xbox 360

[@Coolkeys2009]

Awesome, now you have a thermal image camera and a high speed camera your gonna have to find some interesting ways of blowing stuff up.

[@arious-uk]

You know that everyone will now want see exploding electronic components like resistors, caps and ICs in slow mo. Atleast I do!

[@ndyag100]

A FLIR a high speed video capture system, is there no end of cool stuff that Mike finds on Ebay.

[@BulletMagnet83]

Mike, you jammy sod ;-) You always find the best stuff on eBay.

[@ligangyi]

I want one. :)

[@Monkeh616]

"Can't actually see a spec on that" The part number on it pretty much says it all: BTU12-3.3S16A. 12V in, 3.3V out, 16A. Not entirely sure what the S stands for.

[@uTube486]

Thanks Mike...That was great!!! BTW, where's your PayPal button?

[@xhighalert]

You know I always have wanted to see a slow-mo LED exploding from ~20v.

[@hyvahyva]

I want that shirt

[@tekvax]

Wow! seriously, how do you find this stuff on e-bay? every time I look for cool stuff like this, NOTHING!

[@AureliusR]

That's because you can't *look* for stuff. You have to use saved searches with email notifications. It's the only way to get the cool stuff because it sells fast.

[@Wren6991]

You also need to be clever with your saved searches. Searching for misspelled manufacturers' names is a good one, because you find people who don't really know what they're selling.

[@OliverONeill]

I'm disappointed that you didn't show something exploding ;)

[@mikeselectricstuff]

128Mbytes

[@gryzman]

shame you didn't blow up and caps or zener diodes. But then, it would be hard to trigger the camera at the right time.

[@arcadeuk]

dont forget to replace that battery pack before it leaks

[@rjnerd]

Jealous.... Around here, rental on a camera of that frame rate is >200 pounds/day. It is amazing to watch a large mechanical system at those frame rates, seeing what feel like very rigid structures going all wobbly.. Hell even just cutting a piece of taught string is amusing.

[@douro20]

Nowadays they could fit all of the gate-array logic in one chip...

[@blogsterification]

ha ha nice croc dundee joke with the lens.

[@rocketman221projects]

Check out phantom if you happen to have about $250,000 laying around.

[@sallsto5225]

I just picked up one of these machines with the camera, extra lens, carry case, instruction manual, and everything if anyone is interested. strobe Light, wires, sony video cam corder. Looking to sell it.

[@Spirit532]

Where are you located, and how much do you want?

[@sallsto5225]

call or text me on cell 518-502-3339. Kodak Motion Corder

[@Spirit532]

Are you willing to fund the halfway around the world international call? :) That, and it's probably a very unwise idea to share your number online.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

No, 50Hz..!

[@00101110o]

even for 2 seconds, 10k FPS is worth a lot. 20,000/30=666.66- or about 11min of 30FPS footage.

[@wolfy9005]

50 quid for a 10,000fps camera. Best deal ever

[@Orcinus24x5]

FIFTY FUCKIN' QUID?!?!?! >:O SONUVA....!!! >:E

[@roastysprouts8705]

I had one of those but as I didn't use it I sold it on ebay for 50 quid.

[@killernoob756]

because i dont ave like 70AUD plus shipping, i just want to look

[@amyshaw893]

£50? I think the guy meant to do £5000, but it came out as £50.00

[@wrestletube1]

It would be cool if they remade that with the new HD ratio format as well as the high speed. That would make the best video camera in the world if they did that and it would be the standard for fast movement HD broadcasting.

[@berni8k]

Why would he let others snatch his cool stuff

[@BBC1ish]

Nice toy at a bargain price!

[@berni8k]

Actually they is a camera like that, just google "Phantom Flex" it does 2500fps in color 1080p and up to 10000fps at reduced resolution

[@douro20]

Made by Photron...

[@Landrew0]

I wouldn't take advantage of a seller who didn't know what he was selling.

[@cekdark]

How is it 'taking advantage' when mike paid exactly what the seller wanted for the camera? Win-Win.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

If you really want one, check out Ebay item 320936869976 - go for it!

[@matooo95]

try to shoot lighter ignite, balloon pop, gun shot ...

[@LevonAvagyan]

Seller dislikes this video :-D

[@TheH0nk]

hihi like everything else you got from ebay was just boring shit, right?