FPS1000HD how-to, information and work flow collection

[Mads Barnkob]

This is a collection of information gathered from around the web where pieces of information regarding the FPS1000HD high speed film camera which is made by Graham Rowan from The Slow Motion Camera Company.

This is a ever expanding list of information, please reply to the thread with information you think should be added.

1. Batteries
2. Power supply and adapters
3. Using the FPS1000HD camera
4. Recording, light and scene preparations
5. Video editing software and work flow from RAW files to video
6. Lenses
7. Updates and modifications to the FPS1000HD
8. Cleaning the FPS1000HD
9. List of FPS1000HD camera youtube users

1. Batteries
Under no conditions should you use a metal tool such as a screwdriver to remove the batteries. Shorting out the positive terminal to the metal battery case may cause the battery to catch fire.

1.1: The FPS1000HD, dated October 15, 2017, states that the best performing batteries are LG HE41865 and Samsung INR18650.
1.2: A short video by Philippe Marseille on how to easily change the batteries and avoid short circuits to the case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slEkMy_DCQA
1.3: Kickstarter backer Barry McCreadie comments on battery life time: "On the battery life, using the LG batteries specified, i ran the camera in record mode for more than 75 minutes after which the batteries still had 40% life left"
1.4: Kickstarter backer Wil van Beers comments on how to easily remove the batteries to avoid short circuit to case: "The battery holder issues as mentioned in previous comments: I "solved" it by putting a piece of tape round the batteries with the ends sticking together like a handle so I have better grip to carefully remove the battery."

2. Power supply and adapters
2.1: The FPS1000HD, dated October 15, 2017, does not state which power connector that is used, so until Graham releases this information, it has only been up to guesses on what fits. A couple of connectors fit which I think is 2.35 x 0.75 mm and 2.5 x 0.8 mm, the last one being a tight fit. 
2.2: Be aware that many power supply manufacturers specifies their jacks as 2.1 mm or 2.5 mm, but these are implicit meaning the inner diameter of a 5.5 mm barrel jack and not the outer diameter of a yellow barrel jack.
2.3: Graham Rowan gives a tip on how to minimize heat dissipation when choosing a adapter: "In general it is better to operate at a lower voltage from the point of view of power and heat dissipation so 7V would be better. However, the regulator converting external to the internal voltage is very efficient and doesn't dissipate much power. The fans do not have a speed control."
2.4: Kickstarter backer Philippe Marseille comments that the GutReise adapter 100-240V TO 3V-12V 30W (2000 mA) works with the FPS1000HD, the 2.35 x 0.75 mm yellow barrel jack is what fits the camera on this adapter. It can be bought from Canadian Amazon or Germany Amazon, and properly other places too if you search for GutReise adapter.
2.5: Kickstarter backer Hartmut Geissbauer comments that the power supply from Conrad "VOLTCRAFT SPS15-36W" (512726) has the correct adapter (2.35/0.75mm) and is working well with 6V output voltage.

3. Using the FPS1000HD camera
3.1: How to save DNG images to a SD card https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IcTPR6BBbs
3.2: How to delete the FPS1000HD internal memory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_o1SIaMq4I

4. Recording, light and scene preparations
4.1: How to record a blink of the eye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-jJHHGr_Zk
4.2: LED light source recommendation from Graham Rowan: "The 900 and 1200 LED arrays are recommended. They vary widely in cost - I have bought 1200 LED arrays for about £250."

5. Video editing software and work flow from RAW files to video
5.1: Lightroom and photoshop, from DNG to mpeg tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XZL_PFfPJI
5.2: Lightroom tutorial on developing RAW DNG images https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh_93ddG7B0

6. Lenses
Soligor 1:1.3 75 mm bought on Ebay by Kickstarter backer Peter Carsten

7. Updates and modifications to the FPS1000HD
7.1: How to update the firmware on the FPS1000HD camera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZY-1qaxknw

8. Cleaning the FPS1000HD

9. List of FPS1000HD camera youtube users
Daddy Doctor MD: Tutorials, how-to and use for eye surgery preparation.
Fredrik Larsson: Sports
Peter Carsten: Tutorials, how-to and nature high speed filming

[Mads Barnkob]

* reserved for future updates *

[PCarsten]

I am a user of the FPS1000HD and I was using the FPS1000 before.
I did get me the Conrad "VOLTCRAFT SPS15-36W" (512726)  power supply and it works well. Batteries is still a issue for me, because the models mentioned are not easily available in Germany here.
My biggest struggle right now are the erasing of the Memory before each use, I tend to forget.
And the calibration of the camera after it was warmed up.
Due to the nature of my Projects, I Need the camera often on the spot to pick birds and dragonflies, which does not allow to warm it um and end up with stripes in the Images which are hard to eliminate.

[Mads Barnkob]

I am a user of the FPS1000HD and I was using the FPS1000 before.
I did get me the Conrad "VOLTCRAFT SPS15-36W" (512726)  power supply and it works well. Batteries is still a issue for me, because the models mentioned are not easily available in Germany here.
My biggest struggle right now are the erasing of the Memory before each use, I tend to forget.
And the calibration of the camera after it was warmed up.
Due to the nature of my Projects, I Need the camera often on the spot to pick birds and dragonflies, which does not allow to warm it um and end up with stripes in the Images which are hard to eliminate.

Hi PCarsten and welcome to the forum

I am still waiting for my power supply to arrive in the mail, it is taken a long time to get here, even though I ordered it from German Amazon and it only has to go to Denmark. I ordered the GutReise adapter.

I actually bought the Samsung INR18650 batteries in Germany, on ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-Samsung-Li-ion-Battery-INR18650-25R-3-7V-2500mAh-20A-Xtar-VC2-Charger/222723954361

But as you also mention, battery life is a issue, by the time the camera is warm you have spend 1/3 of the battery capacity. I hope that future updates could involve a sensor standby mode while writing to SD card or something like that. I guess the external power input could just be a bank of 18650 batteries with two in series, but multiply parallel of those. I do however not have enough experience with lithium-ion cells to experiment with a simple bank like that, I think there most be some control/safety features to protect both bank and camera?

I will have more indoor static position projects, so I hope that I will spend most time with a adapter on. But I do also have interests in macro photography and would like to do high speed filming of spiders and bugs. I have my photographs here: http://www.disorder.dk/dyr/

[PCarsten]

  Thanks for the link to the batteries. But even with the items being sold out of Germany via UK EBAY, they are not delivered into Germany. 

[Mads Barnkob]

Thanks for the link to the batteries. But even with the items being sold out of Germany via UK EBAY, they are not delivered into Germany. 

Not even if you go in from the German ebay site? http://stores.ebay.de/akkustore24/

[Dave_67]

Hello all!
US user of this cool little camera, haven't really put it through its paces as yet.

fps1000HD-256 (color)

I have noticed a few things and had a question or two.
The USB connection works fairly well, I do need to reset the camera now and again.

- Does anyone else have a lot of noise from the sensor, a faint (or strong) grid of lines in the captured images?
    I did the re-calibration in the manual, no change. I saw the post about the stripes vs camera warmup, seems to be the same 'cold' vs 'warm' so far.

- Has anyone else tried to use the external trigger input with just a normally open switch, no applied voltage?
   The camera doesn't react to closing the switch, haven't had a chance to try applying a voltage yet.

[Mads Barnkob]

Hi Dave and welcome to HVF

I have not yet tried the USB connection, but just regular use I have some times where the camera does not boot up correctly, the screen will show a distorted image with a yellow/orange ripple line across and the histograms are missing, I can only fix it by turning camera off and on again.

I also did not test the external trigger, what kind of mini-jack did you use? Is it a stereo plug or mono plug? Manual does not really detail the input/output connections very well

About the noise, there is some lines that is apparent at lower resolution, so I think that has to do with software stitching or overlapping pixels when sampling, I hope its a software problem that will be corrected in the future, it can be both weak and strong line, I attached a example of each.



There is however another issue that gives me visible black lines evenly spaced, it seems to happen at the same memory location, around 5000 frames when set at 640x360, but it kinds of comes and goes and its not consistent at all. I also hope this is a software issue. I attached 4 examples of this.

[Dave_67]

The plug I tried is a standard camera release cord and button with 2.5mm stereo plug.

The lines I get are what's described in the manual as CMOS sensor noise.

[Mads Barnkob]

Do you have the same problem in sun light?

There is 3 things needed in high speed filming.
1. light.
2. more light
3. even more light

and the FPS1000HD is absolutely no exception to those needs

I am however still working on finding proper light sources, but there is no doubt I will end up with LED with drivers modified with more capacitance to avoid flicker, it is however important to watch that voltage isn't changing too much.

I will send my pictures to Graham and ask about those lines.

[Dave_67]

Thanks.
I've a couple of questions in to the company using the support email, and it doesn't seem to be the best method.

For some shots I have used an LED normal-socket light bulb, the lighting variation is tolerable.
If it were easy to have several (or even 2) normal LED lights but with their internal clock circuitry out of phase, I'd be happy with that.

On the CMOS lines, from the manual:

Fixed Pattern Noise Removal
All CMOS sensors, such as the one used in the fps1000, produce noise in the form of faint vertical lines. These are caused by slight non-uniformities in the manufacturing process. These are not errors, as such, but simply a by-product of the manufacturing process of these devices. Fortunately this type of noise is constant and can be easily removed. Most digital cameras have a built-in mechanism for the removal of this noise and you would normally not be aware of the problem.
The fps1000 has automatic fixed pattern noise removal built in both for previewed images and saved images. The camera has been pre-calibrated before leaving the factory. If you see any noise bands or feel the camera needs re-calibrating.
Recalibration
Follow these steps carefully:
1) It is best to do this after the camera has been switched on for at least 5 minutes so that the sensor has reached a stable temperature.
2) Cover the lens with the lens cap so no light can get to the sensor.
3) Touch the fps1000 logo in the top left corner for at least 5 seconds - all buttons on the menu on the right will start to flash.
4) Release your finger from the logo. Touch the record button. You should see all menu buttons lit up.
5) You will see some flashing on the screen.
6) Wait for the calibration process to fully complete - the right hand menu will start to fish again when the process is complete.
7) Click the on/off button to exit the special calibration mode.
The calibration is complete - remove the lens cap.

[Mads Barnkob]

I had some unusual bit-shift errors in some of my recordings and it took a while to figure out the origin of these.

I could never seem to recall that the playback on the camera showed these, but it could be a problem with how the camera itself decoded the RAW image data in the memory or how files were saved. Repeatedly saving some of the same data revealed that the error was not consistent with the data, it was "moving" around. So if I got a section of bad images with bit-shifting, downloading them once more through the FPS1000.exe software it was suddenly good.

So it seems the fps1000.exe has a bug where i can loose track of the pixels and suddenly start to shift them.

This is a bit-shifted image:


This is a good image, not exactly the same frame, but from the same sequence that was all bad before redownloading from camera:

[photojake]

I was trying to do the re-calibration and it does nothing.  I held down on the logo for 5-10-20 secs and nothing happens. 

How can you tell what firmware you have on your camera?  Does anyone have any of the firmware for this camera that I can try to install (for the latest firmware). 

Thanks for everyone's help.

[Mads Barnkob]

I was trying to do the re-calibration and it does nothing.  I held down on the logo for 5-10-20 secs and nothing happens. 

How can you tell what firmware you have on your camera?  Does anyone have any of the firmware for this camera that I can try to install (for the latest firmware). 

Thanks for everyone's help.

The GUI is very unforgiving, there is little to none feedback when pressing stuff. Did you have the camera turned on long enough for the sensor to get warm before calibrating?

I do not have any firmware upgrades, never heard anything from Graham when asking on email for new versions and he closed down the software part of his website some year ago

The latest anyone have heard from Graham:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1623255426/fps1000-the-low-cost-high-frame-rate-camera/comments?comment=Q29tbWVudC0yMzY4MzMxMQ%3D%3D

I can not even find his websites anymore, https://www.slomocamco.com and http://theslowmotioncameracompany.com/ are now closed down and it seems because his company was closed down in november 2019: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3437770

He has a twitter account: https://twitter.com/slomocamco?lang=en and a instagram account that was updated 5 months ago with FPS4000 films, so he is alive and active somewhere.... https://www.instagram.com/slomocamco/?hl=en

[photojake]

Thanks for the input.  It seems like my version of the camera has no calibration options. 

I let it warm up and the image on the back of the camera get a lot better, but when I capture the footage there is still a ton of noise and banding. 

I bought from a guy that gave me a 30-day return window and I am going to take it up on that offer.  If the image was cleaner, than I could deal with the other problems.  But the image takes so much post processing that I am loosing all the resolution and the colors are heavily effected by it. 

Man, I wish he would have just made the FPS4000 and sold those to a few hundred people.  I bet you he made like 3 of the FPS4000 and 0 of the FPS2000.  I can't find a single video of the FPS2000 anywhere and only know of 1 person outside of Graham that bought one.

[Mads Barnkob]

Thanks for the input.  It seems like my version of the camera has no calibration options. 

I let it warm up and the image on the back of the camera get a lot better, but when I capture the footage there is still a ton of noise and banding. 

I bought from a guy that gave me a 30-day return window and I am going to take it up on that offer.  If the image was cleaner, than I could deal with the other problems.  But the image takes so much post processing that I am loosing all the resolution and the colors are heavily effected by it. 

Man, I wish he would have just made the FPS4000 and sold those to a few hundred people.  I bet you he made like 3 of the FPS4000 and 0 of the FPS2000.  I can't find a single video of the FPS2000 anywhere and only know of 1 person outside of Graham that bought one.

Do you have some examples of how bad your pictures are? Or could you attach a dng file for me to try to develop and see if my method is better? It takes some juggling in Lightroom to get it from the raw sensor dump to a nice image. Maybe its because you save out in jpg directly from fps1000.exe? and that makes post processing harder?