A few friends and I are looking to capture some footage of some high-hypersonic ~7km/s bodies from a meteorite study they are performing. Does anyone have a connection for a group that rents equipment such as this? They are looking to perform the experiments in mid-late April.
Please let me know!
The Slo Mo guys in Austin have a recommended camera rental service:
What are you intending to capture? What do you expect to see in the frames? At that frame rate you’re not going to get much in terms of resolution (single digit or double digit pixel vertical resolution). Expect to spend a few thousand dollars per day for rentals. There are tons of rental companies including directly from manufacturers that can mail the equipment anywhere in the world. Quality of cameras, lenses, software, recording duration, light sensitivity, dynamic range, resolution, and other features vary wildly so the details of what you’re trying to do are critical. You might need other equipment depending on what you’re trying to do (lights, stands, tripods, meters, etc.).
@lukeiamyourfather, generally, the experiment will be testing a number of different materials / geometries of various projectiles with the camera serving as a means of measuring their peak velocities. They will be in flight for just a little less than a meter before impacting a ballistic pendulum / backstop / berm, so, with something going at a maximum velocity of 7km/s, that gives us ~142 frames at 1m fps - which should be plenty of their purposes.
The closest thing I could possibly compare this to is the experiments that the slo mo guys in austin participated in, here => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVnck7nWaB4&t=822s&ab_channel=TheSlowMoGuys
So, resolution matters insofar as our ability to utilize the camera to track position of one of these projectiles against the backdrop / horizon.
Reached out to them!
Sounds like you’re on the right track. If you don’t have someone with experience in this field already, try to get someone with experience on the team. There are tons of little things to handle the day of the testing that add up really quickly. Especially if the site is far away from anything else. A trip to get a mirror or cable or sand bags or whatever thing can delay timelines significantly. In the past I’ve worked with EMPI near Austin (and their range near Burnet) and it was a pretty good experience. I don’t think their cameras are as fast as what you need but they might be able to help with other aspects of the setup and testing if you’re looking for help in that area.
I’ll reach out to them - thank you, Luke!