An impressive high-speed camera, the Chronos 1.4, has surpassed its funding target just a few hours after going live on Kickstarter.
Vancouver-based creator of the camera, David Kronstein, had hoped to raise CA$65,000 (approximately £38,000) when he officially opened up the campaign for pledges, but within just five hours and ten minutes enthusiastic backers had already met the target – and then far exceeded it. At the time of writing, the Kickstarter campaign has almost tripled its goal, with over CA£160,000 (£99,000) already raised and several weeks of funding still left.
Promised to be available worldwide from $2,499, the first Chronos 1.4 bodies are aimed for release in March 2017. The camera generated quite a bit of interest online when plans were first made public this September. It features the ability to capture 720p HD video at an impressive 1,500 frames per second using a CMOS sensor with 1.4GB per second throughput. This frame rate can be steadily increased further at the cost of reducing the resolution, with an upper cap of 21,000fps at the lowest-res setting of 649×96.
Most of the camera’s functions are controlled with the 5” touch-screen set into the machined aluminium body but it also features an additional ‘jogwheel’ for navigation through footage, frame by frame. Power comes from a standard Nikon EN-EL4a battery and it’s natively compatible with C-mount lenses, though most other lenses can be attached by using simple adaptors.
At $2,499 (around £2,000) the Chronos’ price is a huge step down from the usually highly expensive world of high-speed cameras. As noted on the funding page, one could buy a Chronos for less than the cost of renting a typical high-speed camera for a week or two.
Speaking about the inspiration for the camera, Kronstein says: “We started on the journey that lead to Chronos because we believe high-speed imaging should be for everyone, not just scientific research labs and TV productions with massive budgets. Our passion has resulted in a camera that’s disrupting the high-speed video industry. Cameras with similar features currently sell for around $25k. Chronos is about 1/10th the price.”
Here’s a video from Krontech demonstrating the Chronos in action:
Check out the Kickstarter for more info and to see a full list of specs – click here.
