Highspeed Slow Motion Video of Tigers
 

This is a video of one year old Bengal tigers filmed at a zoo. It was recorded at 300 fps with a Casio EX-F1 Exilim Pro camera. For a short time visitors were allowed into an area within a foot or two of the tigers, separated by glass. In shooting the video at high speed, in this case at 300 frames per second, it allows for slow motion playback. By observing a tiger in slow motion, it is possible to see behaviors and movements not normally visible in real time. It opens up an interesting new world of wildlife.

Here is a link to the video-
http://rockfowl.com/archive/2008/05/08/tiger-time.aspx

Ruth,


I really like what the camera can do!! Curiously, when shooting 300 frames a minute what restrictions on light on light would you have??

Next, what kind of software is needed to download the files and edit them to place them in real time?

As you know I shoot mostly birds, would that camera be easy enough to actually shoot birds?

At 300 frames a minute how long would I be able to shoot a bird in flight???

What is the resolution at the accelerated frames???


I would love to see some bird footage!!!!!!!!!!!

Next year was the plan to go HD for me, however: slow motion birds would be a huge advantage for me!!! and the price of the camera is reasonable, wherre the Red is 17,000 dollars!!!


I look forward to more posts of your footage!!!

Beautiful footage, great slow motion!!

Dale and Helen,

Helen, glad you liked it. I am continually fascinated by what I can see by using this camera- behaviors I could only imagine in the past. Dale, this camera does require light, but this particular footage was actually shot in the rain on a cloudy day, and did fine with the available light. Indoors, it is necessary to add extra light. The major downside is the image size- at 300 fps, you get 512 by 384. Of course, up until now, to get even 640 by 480, that camera cost $9000. And to get true HD quality, closer to $100,000. So for my purposes- mainly posting to the web, it is a real bargain. Plus, you can also shoot 60fps in photo mode (better than HD video quality, though limited to 1 second at 60 frames or 2 at 30fps) and this camera also shoots in HD, pretty good quality. You can shoot up to 30 minutes, so for birds in flight, it is pretty easy. Just focus on some birds, let it run, and eventually you will get them flying. The problem is, the footage is of course in slow motion, so if you shoot a minute, you get much more. So what I usually do is focus on some likely action- bird, otter, whatever, shoot a minute, and if nothing happens, I delete in camera and then try again. If it's something not likely to happen again, I let it run for several minutes, and then edit in the computer to delete the unwanted sections. No special software is needed- it is just like any other video. I use Vegas 8, which I use for all my other footage as well.

This morning I was out in the forest near my home and got some birds, so I will sort through that footage and see if I can find some to post- I got a brief shot of a pileated flying away after excavating a dead tree, some warblers, chickadees, juncos, etc. As soon as I have the time, I will compile some of these and send you a link.

Ruth