High-Performance High-Speed Camera System

New from Photron, a world leader in high speed camera development, the FASTCAM SA-X once again raises the bar of what can be expected from a high speed camera. The SA-X's CMOS sensor offers a square aspect ratio with a resolution of 1024 x 1024 pixels that can be maintained up to 12,500 frames per second (fps) and higher frame rates at reduced resolution. The SA-X delivers unrivalled light sensitivity with an ISO value of 25,000 (monochrome) measured with the industry standard ISO 12232 Ssat method; this impressive sensitivity has been achieved whilst maintaining the same 20µm pixel of the current SA range, by avoiding a larger pixel size more standard focal length objective lenses can be used.

Improved system design makes full use of the 12-bit output from the sensor's ADC and yields our best ever dynamic range, image quality and color fidelity. Improved sensitivity and dynamic range also allow Photron to implement an optional global shutter with a length of 293ns independent of frame rate and for continued support of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) or Digital Image Correlation (DIC) inter-frame times are kept to a minimum.

A host of other clever innovations greatly extend the SA-X's usability, these include:

An innovative hardware image trigger lets users trigger the camera by detecting predefined motion within the recorded image.
The ability to synchronize to any external reference signal, even non-stable frequencies, ensuring perfectly synchronized imagery.
Integrated mechanical shutter to enable automatic calibration of cameras located in remote locations.
Support for Nikon "G" type lenses that have no manual aperture control.
Remote control of lens aperture and focus.
Easy integration with data acquisition (DAC) systems to record external analog or digital data precisely synchronized with the recorded video data.

To address the issue of ever increasing data-rates, the FASTCAM SA-X also employs a novel Dual Gigabit Ethernet interface in conjunction with our award winning Photron Fastcam Viewer (PFV) camera control and image download software to minimize the time taken to transfer images from the camera memory to the PC; furthermore, all current products are supported by both MATLAB and LabVIEW with the freely distributed SDK. Recorded video can be edited both spatially and temporally before quickly downloading in one or more of the industry standard formats including AVI, MOV, TIFF, JPEG, PNG or BMP and our own loss-less RAW format. To review and present data, PFV supports synchronized play-back of multiple sequences and the ability to output multiple views into a single "tiled" video sequence. Dual HD-SDI and one RS-170 video output on the rear of the camera provide immediate access to the 'always live' video image or recorded sequences. Including 8, 16, 32 and 64 GB memory options (64 GB permits >4s record durations at 10,000 fps with mega-pixel resolution), the FASTCAM SA-X is the new flagship of Photron's extensive digital imaging family and with it comes the quality and reliability that Photron is renowned for.

About Photron:

Photron was founded in 1974 to provide manufacturing, sales and service of professional film and video equipment and photo- instrumentation. Since then, Photron has been offering photo optics and electronic technologies to manufacturing industries, the medical field, film laboratories, major movie and television studios, as well as to the military worldwide. The company name "PHOTRON" combines photon and electron, the basic elements that represent our state-of-the-art technologies.