Amateur filmmaker Marc Donahue of Permagrin Films recently shot a video with an array of fifteen GoPro action cameras to achieve Matrix-like bullet time special effects, notes DP Review. The arc-shaped rig allowed him to shoot simultaneously from all cameras. In post, Donahue added the freeze frame and slow motion effects.
Sony’s $500 A-57 allows shooting burst rates up to 12fps and can be triggered externally while Canon’s G15 ($449) shoots 10 fps with external triggers.
Breeze systems DSLR Remote Pro Multi-Camera lets you control multiple Canon EOS digital SLRs from a single PC. Their PSRemote Multi-Camera ($95) works with point and shoots like the Canon PowerShot S5 IS, A640, SX100 IS, SX110 IS, G7, G9 or G10 cameras. Slow burst rates limit you to one triggered event for frame synchronization.
Soon, processors like the Qualcomm 600 and 800, Samsung’s Exynos 4 Quad, and the Cortex-A15 may make burst rates of 30 photos/second possible. On cell phones.
Shutter synching may become less important as high frame rates could match shots on lots of frames. Just let ‘er rip. Point and shoots (like Samsung’s WiFi cameras) can be triggered by WiFi while cameras with remote sockets (like Canon’s G15), can be triggered using a more powerful $99 PocketWizard PlusX, with a range of hundreds of feet. Around a stadium. That could enable spectacular basketball or football coverage.
“Bullet time” may be moving from a cliché effect to a standard tool.
