This month we cover ...
	MotionPro The ultimate in versatility Lighting - for high speed imaging HG-100K's used to assess Whiplash risk What if I can't get enough light?

Lighting - for high speed imaging

All of us know that we need a significant amount of lighting for high speed work, but what other factors make a difference. The heat output - Would your subject benefit from not being roasted (insect flight studies), or does the outcome of your tests depend on your subject staying cool (impact studies on plastics)? The colour - Not all 'white' lights are white! The colour temperature varies from yellowish (tungsten), to blueish (daylight). All colour ccd and cmos sensors are balanced for daylight, so colour imaging ideally should either be lit by daylight itself, or artificial daylight, i.e. Metal Halide (HMI) What about motion blur? Using a shorter exposure time (faster shutter speed) requires more light; not always possible or practical. The use of a strobe can be the answer. Xenon strobes for colour imaging, or a pulsed laser for the faster framing rates and more demanding applications. Lake Image provides tungsten halogen lamps compact & cool tungsten lighting HMI metal halide lamps stroboscopic xenon lamps lasers Summary for daylight white light use Metal Halide (HMI) or xenon stroboscopic lights for low heat output use Metal Halide, xenon strobe or laser. for pulsed light to cut motion blur to zero use xenon strobes or a laser. Contact a specialist with your lighting requirements »

HG-100K's used to assess Whiplash risk

Thatcham Research, the Motor Industry Repair Research Centre, are using a network of HG-100K cameras to record whiplash tests on their brand new state-of-the- art Hyper-G Dynamic Test Sled The vast majority of injury insurance claims involve whiplash, so the insurance companies, who fund Thatcham, are keen to assess the safest cars, and encourage the manufacturers to incorporate more safety features in the seating to help reduce whiplash injuries. The HG-100K cameras can be mounted both on or off-board, and the TEMA motion analysis system will give accurate and fast motion analysis immediately post test. says Crash Lab Manager, Matthew Avery. Find out more about the HG-100K, the flagship of the RedLake range. click here Find about Whiplash from www.Thatcham.org »

What if I can't get enough light?

Sometimes it is impossible to provide more light. In some cases, you just have to make the most of the light you have. Using a wider aperture lens (smaller f- number) can help. As can ensuring the camera you are using is optimised - most of our cameras have functions such as gain control. For applications where this is not enough, why not use an image intensifer? Image intensifiers neatly fit between the camera and the lens, and output typically '00s or '000s times the intensity of light entering the system. Having this quantity of light enables the use of very short exposure times - typically down to 20 nano- seconds. This enables the capturing of extremely fast events, such as ballistics The ILS3 is available for any monochrome camera (the resulting output image from an intensified system is green.) Contact us to discuss lighting in more detail »