Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 Voucher

Adam D. Shomsky (Detroit, MI USA) : One thing you may or may not be aware of is the amount of light required to shoot high speed video. High speed video, by definition, requires very fast shutter speeds. You must use at least 1/300th, 1/600th, or 1/1200th shutter speed to shoot 300, 600, or 1200 frames per second, respectively. Basically that means you need very bright lights or daylight. I can shoot 300 fps indoors with the aperture wide open at ISO 400 using 600W of light pointed directly on the subject. Anything less than that and your video will come out dark and/or grainy. See my youtube video on the subject called "Casio EX-F1 noise level test": [...]

Skaven252 (Finland) : The key features in this camera are its overall versatility and its much touted high speed video. In fact, at the time of writing this article, this is the only consumer level digital camera that can do this (some HD video cameras, such as Samsung VP-HMX20C also have this feature, but with take length limitations). Mind you, the high speed video can only be done in limited resolution. At top speed of 1200 frames per second, the resolution drops to 336 × 96, which looks like viewing the action through a half-closed letterbox. As the shutter speed is high, you will also need plenty of light. Indoor lighting won't do at 1200fps, you will need daylight. At 300 fps the resolution is 512 × 384, which is OK for Youtube. Actually, if you're looking for sample videos, try searching Youtube for "EX F1".

Chuckiebuckets : I wanted a high speed camera to troubleshoot machine problems at work. After much research, I found this Casio EX-F1, seems to be the only pro-sumer high speed video camer available under $14,000. After more research, found that this camera came out in 2008 for $1000(haven't figured out why it sells for $2800 now)and they discontinued it in 2010. There wasn't much info available in using this in a factory environment, but I decided to spend the $2800 vs. $14000. I also bought a seperate light, which is really needed if shooting faster than 300 fps. Like other reviewers have noted, the resolution at 600 fps was not great, but, after the first troubleshooting session, I was able to find our problem and correct it. The price was well justified with just this one incident. I haven't tried out any other features of this camera since I only needed it for the high speed video. As long as you don't need a higher resolution, I would recommend this camera. Pretty fun to play with also. I really hope that Casio or another manufacturer will come out with an updated version that would still be available at pro-sumer prices.