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    Vision Research Introduces Phantom v710 and Phantom v210 Cameras

    On track for a record year of new product introductions in 2009, Vision Research, a leading manufacturer of high-speed digital imaging systems, today unveiled the Phantom® v710 and Phantom® v210 — the latest additions to the company’s renowned v-Series of advanced digital high-speed cameras.

    Learn more about our breakthrough megapixel camera capable of taking 1,400,000 pictures-per-second

    Additional information on our new Phantom v210 camera  can be found here

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    Bud Light Lime Serves up “Summer State of Mind” TV Spots

    Production company Stardust Studios (www.stardust.tv) is very proud to detail its close collaborations with the creative team from DDB Chicago for Bud Light Lime. For the project, one :30 and two :15 design-intensive broadcast spots entitled “The Summer State of Mind” were created by Stardust under the direction of creative director (CD) Brad Tucker, in association with DDB Chicago’s SVP and group CD Mark Gross, VP CD/art director Chris Roe, VP CD/copywriter Chuck Rachford, and VP executive producer Will St. Clair. Each of the spots debuted on May 10 during high-profile U.S. primetime broadcast coverage, like the 2009 NBA playoffs, and continues to air widely.

    With the goal of presenting all the great aspects of Summer in a bottle, the spots feature a seamless, stylized blending of high-speed cinematography of Bud Light Lime pouring into a bottle with many other live-action elements — including shots of young adults dancing, playing volleyball and enjoying a picturesque sunset on a beach — all united by artful editing, compositing and CGI design. From the appearance of the pouring liquid at the beginning through the final presentation of Bud Light Lime bottles, design flourishes and the sunset beach party, Tucker’s unique fusion of talents in filmmaking, design and storytelling shine through.

    “The finished spot presents the best of several ideas we presented on how we thought we could make the bottle cool,” Tucker began. “We enjoy working in the type of collaborative environment this project represents, and doing jobs from the initial phases, and feel that the quality of these finished spots is a direct result of our great relationship with DDB’s creative team and their openness to our ideas.”

    The project’s production and post workflows were also described in detail by Tucker. Working with St. Clair, Roe, line producer Winston Smith, director of photography Jim Matlosz and other crew-members, Tucker spent two days shooting at LA’s Quixote Studios in Griffith Park. The talent was shot against a green screen at 3k, “We shot at 48fps so we could have a slight slow-motion feeling, the green screen was lit on its own, and the talent was backlit to achieve the sunset feeling,” Tucker explained.

    Separately, Tucker and Matlosz used Vision Research’s Phantom HD digital high-speed video camera to photograph the fluid against a medium gray background.

    Many special rigs were used to capture the fluid in its one or two seconds of glory,” he continued. “It was shot at 750fps at 2k. We had to rig the bottle so we could capture fluid shooting up the sides and filling the bottle, and many splash elements that could all be composited together.”

    Stardust editors Tony Hall and Michael Merkwan used Final Cut Pro to edit the spots together with the low-res reference files, while the company’s VFX artists started compositing the low-res proxies of the Phantom footage. Rubber Monkey Software’s Monkey Extract was used to export TIFF sequences from the final EDL for seamless integration into Adobe After Effects.

    Each of the project’s 3D elements was made by Stardust’s artists using Maya, where paint effects were used for making the trees. Compositing was handled in After Effects. “The 3D cameras were transferred from Maya to After Effects to keep all the objects revolving around the bottle,” Tucker confirmed. “We used difference mattes to separate the fluids from the backgrounds, and lighting effects and particles played a big role in blending everything together. In addition to marrying the green screen footage to our background plates of the sunset scenes, we also keyed and composited the green screen footage into the bottle.” All 3 of the “Summer State of Mind” commericals are featured in our Gallery.

    About Vision Research

    Vision Research® designs and manufactures high-speed digital imaging systems used in applications including defense, automotive, engineering, science, medical research, industrial manufacturing and packaging, sports and entertainment, and digital cinematography for television and movie production.
    The Wayne, N.J.-based company prides itself on the sensitivity, high-resolution and image quality produced by its systems, robust software interfaces, and reliability and versatility of its camera family – all which continue to stand as benchmarks for the high speed digital imaging industry.
    Vision Research digital high-speed cameras add a new dimension to the sense of sight, allowing the user to see details of an event when it’s too fast to see, and too important not to™. For additional information regarding Vision Research, please visit www.visionresearch.com. Visit our gallery to view these commercials.

    Vision Research is a business unit of the Materials Analysis Division of AMETEK® Inc., a leading global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices.

    About Stardust Studios

    Stardust is an award-winning, full-service creative production company, specializing in motion design, animation, visual effects and live-action production. Led by founder and creative director Jake Banks, Stardust’s Santa Monica and New York offices continually redefine creativity for commercial, on-air, music video and in-store presentations. Their recent work – including projects for the world’s top ad agencies, brands and recording artists – has earned numerous awards and worldwide editorial exposure. For more information, please visit www.stardust.tv.

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    Vision Research Puts Out a APB for Industrial and Manufacturing Videos & Case Studies

    That’s right we, at Vision Research, would love to tell your story in words and video! Do you have projects that you have worked on that you want to share with the world? If so please get in touch with us at randy.feldman@visionresearch.com. It doesn’t have to be studio quality video either!

    Make sure that you include information about the model number of the camera and the associated settings you used to shoot the video. We look forward to hearing from very soon.

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    Free Tools are now Available from Vision Research

    We have been busy this Spring tweaking some of our online tools. Here is a list with more to come:

    Maximum Frame Rate and Record Time Calculator

    Depth-of-Field Calculator for Phantom Cameras

    Lens Selector Tool for Phantom Cameras

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    Josh Melnick’s ‘The 8 Train’ Opens at “Art in General” in Manhattan’s Tribeca

    Through an extensive collection of slow motion black-and-white videos, shot with Vision Research’s monochrome Miro 4 digital high-speed camera, Josh Melnick’s The 8 Train takes advantage of cutting edge scientific video technology to re-examine the function of portraiture. Set against the familiar backdrop of the New York City subway, Melnick’s split-second portraits of New York City subway riders extend a fraction of real time in the life of each rider for several minutes, creating an ethereal sense of suspended time somewhere between photographic stillness and cinematic motion.

    The exhibit runs from May 29 to July 18, 2009.

    The 8 Train is part of Art in General’s New Commissions Program, which is made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; The National Endowment for the Arts; the Jerome Foundation; and Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro.

     

    Art in General
    Tribeca / Downtown
    79 Walker Street,
    212-219-0473
    May 29 - July 18, 2009
    Director’s Web Site

     

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    Department of Energy Scientists use Vision Research’s Phantom v12.1 High-Speed Digital Video Camera as a Tool to Fight Global Warming

    Phantom V12.1 Featured on May 2009 Front Cover of Advanced Imaging Magazine

     

    It probably comes as a surprise to most people that coal is still a major energy force in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the average U.S. household uses several tons of coal each year, without ever seeing it. It’s the most abundant fossil fuel we have. Continue reading…

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    Vision Research Launches PHANTOMography

    PHANTOMography is a by-no-means complete list of TV and film productions where our Phantom cameras were used. Would you like your video added to our list? eMail randy.feldman@visionresearch.com for all of the details. Click here to go to PHANTOMography.

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    Miro Airborne: Continuous Recording to Compact Flash

    We have a customer who was not able to record video directly from the camera and wanted to use his MIRO Airborne to record cines of specific events over a long flight. Click here for the workflow that we prepared for him…

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    Vision Research’s Technology used in NASA High-Speed Parachute Deployment

    Vision Research’s® imaging technology plays a crucial role in NASA’s new high-speed parachute deployment system. Find out how…

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    VR Opens Virtual Exhibition on DirectIndustry

    Vision Research announced today that it has established a presence on DirectIndustry; an international virtual exhibition for industrial products’ manufacturers.

    “DirectIndustry, with its 4 million visitors each month, makes a great place to showcase Vision Research’s award winning products,” said Rick Robinson, Vice President of Marketing at Vision Research. “By entering into this partnership with DirectIndustry, Vision Research can reach out to our customers in Europe and the rest of the world.”

    You can visit Vision Research’s stand by clicking here.
     

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    Vision Research Achieves Breakthrough Sensitivity with Phantom® v640

    Vision Research, today unveiled the Phantom® v640, a four megapixel digital high speed camera offering six gigapixel-per-second throughput and enhanced light sensitivity.

    Targeted at industrial, defense and R&D applications, which demand high resolution imagery for maximum detail, the v640 offers a recording speed of greater than 1,400 frames per second (fps) at its full-resolution of 2,560 x 1,600.

    Continue reading...

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    VR Taking Advantage of Web 2.0 by Starting Facebook Page

    Visit our Facebook page to keep up to the minute on products, tech support, and all things Phantom. Become a fan of the page today!

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    Register FREE for the NAB 2009 Show Here

    Click on the Logo to Join the IMAGINation! 

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    BBC One’s “Nature’s Great Events” Made Some Great TV with VRI’s Cameras

    Nature’s Great Events is a series produced by the BBC that captures Nature as never captured before. Check it out by clicking here.

    You can also see some bonus footage over at YouTube.

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    Vision Research Extends Phantom® Digital High-Speed Camera Family with the Introduction of the v310

    One-Megapixel Phantom v310 Sets New Standard for Affordability and Performance

    WAYNE, N.J., February 25, 2009 – Vision Research, a leading manufacturer of high speed digital imaging systems, today extended its Phantom® family of digital high speed cameras with the introduction of the v310. Featuring a custom-designed, high-performance CMOS sensor, the Phantom v310 offers users a wide aspect ratio and a top speed of 3,400 frames per second (fps) at the camera’s maximum resolution of 1280×800. At reduced resolution, the v310 can record at speeds up to 500,000 fps.

    Ideally suited for a number of applications, including scientific research, product development, and ballistics and explosions testing, the v310 offers an impressive price/performance ratio that sets a new industry standard for one-megapixel digital high-speed cameras. The v310 is also as stylish as it is advanced, boasting a new camera architecture and design first introduced in the award-winning Phantom v12.1.
    Proprietary CMOS Sensor

    Compared to traditional square imaging sensors, the wide aspect ratio afforded by v310’s proprietary CMOS sensor allows users to keep moving subjects in-frame longer and see more of the event being recorded. Available in color or monochrome, the v310’s CMOS sensor outperforms comparable imaging systems in terms of light sensitivity, as it features an active pixel size of 20 microns coupled with improved quantum efficiency. To eliminate blur and accentuate detail, users can take advantage of short exposure times - as fast as one microsecond.

    The Phantom v310 supports both 8- and 12-bit pixel depth for maximum detail and clarity and also incorporates Vision Research’s Extreme Dynamic Range (EDR) technology. EDR is a useful feature which allows users to capture two different exposures within one single frame. Furthermore, Vision Research adds to the overall ease of use and flexibility of the new Phantom v310 thanks to auto exposure, which automatically adjusts the camera to adapt to changing lighting conditions.

    Remote Calibration

    Thanks to the Phantom v310’s new optional internal shutter mechanism, users can perform a session specific black reference, also known as a current session reference (CSR), without having to physically cover the lens. During use, the response of a CMOS sensor’s pixels can drift due to changes in resolution, exposure time and temperature, which can lead to inaccurate color representation and substandard image quality. A CSR calibrates all pixels that will be used for a given set of camera parameters and sets them to pure black - an important step in ensuring the most accurate image possible.
    With the v310’s new internal shutter, the CSR operation can now be performed remotely. This proves extremely useful especially in situations where the v310 would be mounted out of reach or used on a range for ballistics or explosives testing.

    Vision Research’s Phantom v310 is also the ideal high-speed imaging solution for particle image velocimetry (PIV) applications. The camera features a high-resolution timing system that yields a timing resolution of better than 40 nanoseconds, a 700 nanosecond straddle time and no image lag. A frame synchronization signal also is now available via a dedicated BNC for easier cabling and increased signal integrity.

    High-Performance, Non-Volatile Memory

    Eight gigabytes of high-speed dynamic RAM comes standard with the new Phantom v310, with the option to upgrade to 16GB or 32GB. The internal high-speed dynamic RAM is also dividable, up to 64 segments, allowing users to record multiple shots, back to-back, without having to download data from the camera.

    Security and versatility also abound with the Phantom v310 as the camera is fully-compatible with Vision Research’s CineMag™ system. CineMag is a non-volatile, hot-swappable memory magazine that mounts to an optional interface directly on the body of the camera, providing added storage and data protection. Available in 256GB or 512GB, the CineMag gives end-users the ability to record full-resolution video at a maximum frame rate of 700 fps, directly to the magazine, enabling very long record times. To record at higher speeds, users can utilize the camera’s onboard memory and then manually or automatically transfer those files to the CineMag for storage and maximum data protection.

    CineMags are designed to work with Vision Research’s new Phantom CineStation™, the company’s proprietary CineMag docking station. Streamlining the high-speed imaging workflow for the end-user, the CineStation allows the high-speed footage - also known as “cines” - stored on a CineMag to be viewed, trimmed, played over video, and saved to hard disk. This enhanced workflow ultimately provides uninterrupted use of the Phantom digital high-speed camera as the cines can be downloaded and edited offline, rather than utilizing the valuable camera asset to transfer the data.

    Immediately View Recordings

    The Phantom v310 also offers users several options to view recordings immediately. The camera features an analog video-out port for use with a component video monitor, allowing the recordings to be displayed in a variety of formats, including NTSC, PAL and high definition 720p. 4:2:2 playback also is available with the Phantom v310 as the camera includes an HD-SDI port.

     

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    Vision Research Offers In-Depth Training on the Use of Our Phantom & Miro Cameras and Accessories.

    Our hands-on, instructor-led course is designed to expand your knowledge of Phantom v-Series and Miro camera operations using proven methodologies with Vision Research’s award-winning Phantom Digital Imaging Systems. This course covers a full range of training from the basics of the Phantom system and its graphical user interface, (GUI), to many advanced motion analysis features. 

    After completing this course, you will have the knowledge and practical understanding necessary to successfully utilize and deploy the Phantom Digital Imaging System to meet your imaging requirements.

    You can either visit one of our training centers to take our class or we can visit your site so your entire staff can receive a customized program geared specifically for your equipment and applications.

    For information on how to sign up for our training programs please follow this link.
     

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    The Tech that Makes the Super Bowl Super

    "Specialty cameras for the Super Bowl include robotic units on the goalposts and in the hallways outside each team’s locker room," Broadcasting & and Cable reported, "dedicated goal-line cameras, overhead Cable-cams and X-Mo ultra-high-frame-rate cameras from Inertia Unlimited that will be used to deliver incredibly detailed slow-motion replays. The X-Mo cameras will give frame-by-frame views of both the goal line, to gauge whether a touchdown has been scored, and the sideline, to see exactly where a player stepped out of bounds."

    Read the entire article over at Cnet by clicking here

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    VRI - Last Week in the News #7

    Vision Research Digital High-Speed Cameras to Provide Ultra-Slow Motion Replays at Super Bowl XLIII

    WAYNE, NJ - Vision Research, a leading manufacturer of high-speed digital imaging systems, announces that the company’s Phantom® digital high-speed cameras will provide the eye-catching, ultra-slow motion replay for NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII. Read entire article.

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    VRI Partner Transvideo to Receive Scientific & Technical Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences

    Transvideo Recognized for CineMonitorHD 3DView Monitor

    Vision Research would like to congratulate our partner, Transvideo, whom has been slated to receive the Scientific & Technical Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences for their Video-Assist monitors.

    Transvideo is the manufacturer of the CineMonitorHD 3DView monitor. The first HD SDI monitor in the world for 3D D-Cinema field use.

    The CineMonitorHD 3D View includes several modes to help the operator correlate cameras and to preview the image in anaglyph mode.

    The Scientific & Engineering Award acknowledges an achievement that has had a definite influence on the advancement of the film industry. Transvideo will receive the commemorative plaque during the Scientific and Technical Awards Ceremony on Saturday, February 7th, at the Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills, California.

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    Super Bowl: NBC Taps Vision Research for HD Slo-Mo

    NBC will be using Phantom digital high-speed cameras from Vision Research Inc. on Sunday to provide hi-def slow-motion replays during Super Bowl XLIII.

    The Phantom cameras will be used as part of Inertia Unlimited X-Mo slow-motion replay systems, which were used to record crucial plays during last year’s Super Bowl XLII, including the infamous “helmet reception” by New York Giants’ David Tyree. NBC plans to do a feature on Tyree’s catch during NBC’s pre-game coverage starting at noon on Sunday. Read the complete story by clicking here.

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