High-Speed Photography and Video for Ergonomics

High-speed video and photography is getting a lot of attention these days.  This month's Wired Magazine  summarized the history of high-speed photography, from the work of Harold Edgerton to the recent use of lasers to capture images with shutter speeds of 300 x 10^-15 seconds!
(also see last year's article on The Ultimate High-Speed Photography Kit).

And just last week, Vision Research, makers of commercial-grade high-speed cameras, announced the Phantom V12 (inset photo), capable of recording one million pictures per second.

But from a practical point of view, the most intriguing news is the Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1. Due in March for an estimated $1000, this camera brings high-speed photography and video to the digital prosumer market.  Several unique features include:

• Ultra High Speed Burst Mode: Up to 60 shots at can be taken at once, so 60 shots per second for one second, or 5 shots per second for 12 seconds, are possible.
• High Speed digital movie recording of up to 1200 frames per second (fps)
• Full High Definition recording at standard speed

In addition to these impressive capabilities, the camera offers some novel user interaction feature such as a buffer to pre-record images prior to the shutter depression, allowing room for error when trying to capture a quick event; and Slow Motion View to review real-time events in slow-motion on the cameras LCD via a buffer.  And of course...stereo recording : )  All of these features are exciting from a gizmo geek's perspective - and there are plenty of reviews and videos from CES. 

But there's a tremendous opportunity to apply this technology to product design.  Specifically, I will be using the high speed burst mode and high speed digital movies to capture motion during rapid manual tasks  - such as the use of a construction tool, surgical instrument or mobile device keypad.  Extending visual perception to micro-seconds is likely to reveal interesting sub-patterns of movement and orientation that are overlooked or invisible at a standard time-scale.  Moreover, it introduces a new perspective on observing physical behavior that expands user research capabilities - at least as far as the presumably massive file storage and power needs of this unique camera will take you.