The Phantom v1840, the new digital high-speed imaging system from Vision Research is not the fastest in the family. The v2640, launched February, with up to 6,600 fps at full 4Mpx resolution, takes the crown.

The latest addition to the Phantom ultrahigh-speed camera family, the v1840 is probably not the type of camera you would use for most of your videography, but its specifications suggest how fast and how much technology has moved. Furthermore, the company behind the product, Vision Research, is no stranger to Hollywood. Over the course of its more than 60 years history, Vision Research has earned numerous awards in recognition of its innovations in high-speed digital camera technology and sensor design, including a technical Emmy and an Academy Award. Action films like Thor: Ragnarok or X-Men: Apocalypse have also used Vision Research’s cameras for some sequences, where action needs to be captured at high-speed, to create unique slow motion sequences.

The Phantom v1840 now introduced offers, according to Vision Research, the same very high image quality at 18Gpix/sec as the Phantom v2640, which was released in February. Together with the v2640, the v1840 camera offers the lowest noise floor of any Phantom camera and has a high 64dB dynamic range to provide unprecedented image quality at full 4 megapixel 2,048 x 1,952 resolution.

“The v2640, with up to 6,600 fps at full 4Mpx resolution, has been very popular since its February 2018 introduction,” notes Doreen Clark, Vision Research Product Manager, “and we are excited to introduce the Phantom v1840, which achieves up to 4,510 fps at full resolution, for even a broader range of applications.”

The Phantom v1840 utilizes a custom CMOS 4-megapixel sensor to capture 12-bit images at a speed of 4,510 frames per second (fps) at full resolution and 8,570 fps at 1920 x 1080.

To provide users in research applications with the ultimate flexibility, the v1840 comes equipped with five operating modes. These include standard mode; high-speed (HS) mode, with 34-percent more throughput; binning in both standard and HS mode for higher sensitivity and frame rates; and now Bright Field (BF) mode for exceptionally bright, or shot-noise limited, backgrounds.

In Bright Field mode, the Full Well is significantly larger, increasing the maximum attainable Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). A higher SNR produces a much cleaner image, especially in bright background applications, such as daylight sky or LED back-lit applications.

The Phantom v1840 integrates 72, 144 or 288 GB of memory that can be further segmented into 63 partitions for multiple, shorter cines. The camera also is compatible with Phantom CineMag IV 1 or 2 TB nonvolatile memory, which can save 288 GB of data in under five minutes.

Key Specifications of the Phantom v1840

• 18 Gpx/second
• 4,510 fps at full 2,048 x 1,952 resolution, 8,570 fps at 1920 x 1080.
• 4-megapixel CMOS sensor in color or monochrome
• 1-µs minimum exposure time standard, 142ns with Export-Controlled FAST option
• Noise level of 7.2 e-
• Up to 288 GB of memory
• and 10-GB Ethernet standard

For more information about the Phantom high-speed camera systems from Vision Research follow the link to the company’s website.