1. Do I need a high-speed camera to take high-speed photos?
2. Can I use my point-and-shoot camera?
3. Can I use a video camera?
4. Can I use a still digital-video camera?

1.  Do I need a high-speed camera to take high-speed photos?

Not at all.  The brief exposure time needed to capture "frozen" images of high-speed subjects is provided by the flash unit in high-speed flash photography.  (If you're interested in high-speed motion picture photography that's another matter and does require a special camera.)  The camera, in fact, is usually used on the bulb setting.  That is, the shutter is held wide open in a darkened room in readiness for the flash discharge.  It's the brief discharge (as short as 1/30,000 second with common flash units) that "stops" the action. 

For more discussion of the use of electronic flash for stopping action, go here.  To see an action-stopping photograph taken with a pinhole camera, go here.

2.  Can I use my point-and-shoot camera?

Point-and-shoot cameras are typically too automatic for high-speed work.  One has to be able to adjust these three things on the camera:  aperture, focus, and shutter speed (to bulb setting).  Point-and-shoot cameras are designed for convenience and usually eliminate the need for decisions about exposure and focusing.  Their automatic programs are great for snapshots, but they can't deal with high-speed flash photography.

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3.  Can I use a video camera?

Definitely. Modern video cameras use CCD imaging arrays. The entire array is active at once as an image field is being recorded.  Thus, if a flash unit discharges while the array is active (and this is nearly 100% of the time at the standard shutter speed of 1/60 s), the entire image will be captured on tape.  Some qualifications, though:  

1. Since high-speed flash photography is typically done in a dark room, you'll have problems with the camera hunting for a focus, unless the camera has manual focusing capability.  
2. If the camera is set for automatic exposure, the image will probably be overexposed.  That's because the light sensor thinks it's dark and opens wide.  It doesn't have time to respond to a sudden burst of light. You can get around this sometimes by selecting the program mode for sports photography.  (Many consumer-grade video cameras have such a mode.)  A better method, if your camera has the capability, is to set the exposure manually.  Most inexpensive video cameras, unfortunately, don't have manual exposure capability.  
3. Be sure to use a shutter speed of 1/60 s, whether or not your camera has faster shutter speeds.  At faster speeds, the CCD array is inactive a greater percentage of the time, and there's a greater chance that the action will occur during this time. Remember, it's the flash of light and not the camera that stops the action. The same principles apply to video photography as to still photography.

Once you get a high-speed image on film, you have the problem of outputting it from the tape.  While you can replay the tape and see the high-speed image fleeting by, you'll need a VCR with step frame control in order stop the tape on that image.  Even more troublesome is the fact that the image is recorded on a single field (half of a full frame).  VCRs with step frame control are typically able to stop only on the odd fields or the even fields but not both.  If the image happened by chance to be recorded on an even field but your VCR only stops on odd fields, you won't be able to stop the tape on the image.  Of course, you can always try again!  That's an advantage of videotape.

For more information on using video cameras, including DV cameras, see the Video section.

Note:  Early video cameras did not use CCD arrays.  The image-sensing element was scanned by a shutter.  Thus, the entire element would not be active at once.  This won't work for high-speed flash photography.

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4.  Can I use a digital still camera?

The answer to this question used to be no, unless you were willing to go to great lengths as described in the Digital section.  The problem was that you couldn't buy a consumer-grade digital camera with bulb or long exposure settings.  Remember, you need to be able to hold the shutter open in a dark room while waiting for the flash to discharge. If the camera had a very low shutter speed, say 1 second, you could deal with that. You'd just have to be quick about taking your picture. You'd open the shutter and immediately pop the balloon or whatever you were photographing before the shutter closed automatically. 

Nowadays, more and more digital still cameras with the requisite controls (manual focus, exposure, shutter) are becoming available in the $1000 - $1500 price range. Some may even be available for under $1000. For more information on the use of some of these cameras, see the Digital section.

Note:  One disadvantage to using long exposure times with a CCD sensor is that the image-sensing arrays are noisy.  We're talking about electrical noise, not sound. The noise shows up as snow or speckle in the image.  This is kept to a minimum by reducing the exposure time.

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