I worked on a movie this weekend out in the Mojave desert, and saw a demo of a new HD movie camera that has some really great possibilities for firearms testing and design.

It is an ultra,ultra-high speed[!!!], HD digital camera that has the ability to shoot tens of thousands of times faster than any film camera made.

For those unfamiliar with motion picture cameras...to project “slow motion†with the finished product the camera is set for a faster speed for originally filming the incident. Movie projectors run at 24 frames per second so something filmed at 48 frames a second will be on the screen twice as long and the effect is slow motion to the viewer. “Normal†35mm movie cameras have a top shooting speed of about 120 frames per second. Some very specialized cameras can shoot at speeds of up to five or six times that fast, but they are notorious for shredding film and jamming, and they are extremely expensive.

Part of this companies demo reel showed a pistol being fired at a mirror that was placed at a angle to the camera (in a protected housing) which gave the appearance of the bullet traveling straight into the lens of the camera. It took FOREVER[!!] (as projected) for the bullet to leave the barrel and finally bust through the mirror and end the shot. During that time you could literally follow ever single movement of the bullet, the muzzle flash, and the weapon. There were a couple of spots where you could actually see tiny pieces of something flying off the bullet. Couldn’t tell exactly what they were, jacket material perhaps, but they were quite visable even on the small screen we were watching it on.

Think of the possibilities if you set up of a bunch of these cameras and a rile, with a grid square backdrop to accurately gauge movement. Fire the rifle and see how far the weapon moves before the bullet actually exits the barrel. You could set cameras up to cover the bullets entire path to the target and see when it stabilizes, the exact trajectory, and exactly what it is doing during its entire flight. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

These cameras are brand new and the first place you will probably being seeing their work is in commercials. I’m sure as they become more available industry will be using them to watch high speed machines at work to view what is actually going on during operation. Up till now high speed shutter still cameras, using high speed flash systems, were about all that could accomplish that. Those famous shots of the .22 bullet going through an egg were shot with a bank of high shutter speed still cameras and a huge bank of high speed flash units...but these new cameras will allow the same basic effect with a “moving picture†of the entire incident and without the need for “special†lighting equipment. That alone, will soon place this technology in the hands of us normal guys with normal sized wallets.

AMAZING...is the only word I could utter after watching the demo.

Rick, are you a movie star

quote:

Originally posted by Gringo Cazador:
Rick, are you a movie star

Not hardly, brother...I fall down for a living, I don’t talk!

Yet another new toy that all guys just have to get... then convince the wife that it's a good investment.

quote:

Originally posted by Steel Slinger:
Yet another new toy that all guys just have to get... then convince the wife that it's a good investment.

That’s why us single guys have an edge!

Think of this though...how would you like to have access to these cameras and set up a training film to show the exact disbursement of shrapnel from some Mortar and Arty rounds you just called in? Or how about using them to study IED’s?

Like I said, the list is almost endless...and I wish I had a piece of the company that came up with them, because then I wouldn’t have to beat the crap out of myself to make a living!

Rick who is making the camera?

Actually Rick, you really have a point. Those things could be great military assets for studying all kinds of weapon systems, armor, and other protective devices. Plus they're just really cool.

quote:

Originally posted by D Humbarger:
Rick who is making the camera?

The guy with the demo tape didn’t say, but I will be back working on the show next week and will get as much info as I can and post it.

I had a real short break between a couple of shots and one of the crew guys called me over to show me the demo tape. I only got to see a portion of it, but luckily it was the part with the pistol being fired, then I had to go back to work and didn’t get all the particulars before we wrapped for the day.

Rick , what movies can we see you in doing stunts? Any Westerns?

Can you get me in the movies?? Id like to be in a western and get in a Gun fight with Kevin Costner!! I went to highschool in the same town as Costner but dont remember him .

Rick

If I do a good job, you aren’t supposed to see “me“...that’s so the actors can tell everyone they do all their own stunts! They can have the glory...I’ll settle for the money they pay me.

I haven’t worked with Costner, but a good friend of mine (Norman Howell) doubles him and does all his pictures. I know allot of guys that would pay you to shoot it out with him for real.

If you want to see me that bad rent Dumb and Dumber and flip to the restaurant scene where Jim Carrey beats up the waiter who is flirting with Loren Holly...that’s me...just 11 or so years younger and with less grey hair. The grey I have now got added to allot by doing four pictures with that egotistical maniac.

As far as getting you into the business...you’ll have to get in line for that one. The business has gotten pretty crowded over the years and just about anyone that has ever fallen off a bar stool has moved to Hollywood to try and become a stuntman.

Just jokin about the movie business. I avoided LA and Hollywood like the plague when I was young . I lived in OC in the old days when it was nice there! There were Orange groves every where and strawberry fields back then. You could duck hunt where Irvine is now.

Rick

I was an extra in the Tom McGlaughlin film "The Master Gunfighter" back in the early 70's. If you haven't seen the movie count yourself lucky. Try to imagine samurais and cowboys in early California mission days. The first 10 minutes of it put half the audience to sleep and drove the rest out of the theater.

quote:

Originally posted by GSP7:
Just jokin about the movie business. I avoided LA and Hollywood like the plague when I was young . I lived in OC in the old days when it was nice there! There were Orange groves every where and strawberry fields back then. You could duck hunt where Irvine is now.

Rick

Rick,

You got that right!

I remember as a kid going to Disneyland when it first opened in 1955...it was waaaaay out in the country with nothing but fields and orchards around it for miles and miles. Aneheim was a really small, quiet farming town.

Knott’s Berry farm was just that back then...a Berry farm.

How its changed!

Rick, you get paid for falling down? I remember (well I have a dim memory - it was dim when it happened to be honest) doing that a lot on weekends when I was in college and I did it for free! I was there trying to learn something useful where I could make a living and it was right there in front of my face, and sometimes nose, all the time.

quote:

Originally posted by Customstox:
Rick, you get paid for falling down? I remember (well I have a dim memory - it was dim when it happened to be honest) doing that a lot on weekends when I was in college and I did it for free! I was there trying to learn something useful where I could make a living and it was right there in front of my face, and sometimes nose, all the time.

Chic,

I’ve done a fair amount of falling down for free also, in my youth...but getting paid for it seems to make the aches and pains go away a little bit faster! Trouble is, when you reach a certain age, the “pain-relief†effect of the money seems to start losing its effectiveness, and you start wondering if it was such a good idea in the first place.

The legs and back are the first to go...and the shoulders are close behind. Most people don’t realize how hard it is on your shoulders to throw full strength punches all day long and never make contact with anything but the air. That’s why stuntmen are lousey fighters...our punches always miss, and if you knock us down we don’t get up till someone yells “CUT!â€