Worlds Fastest Camera Shoots at 4.4 Trillion Frames per Second

Worlds Fastest Camera Shoots at 4.4 Trillion Frames per Second

How fast is your DSLR's frame rate? Does it shoot at 4.4 trillion FPS? Doubtful, but researchers at the University of Tokyo have created a a system they call "sequentially timed all-optical mapping photography" or STAMP for short. Shooting at 450x450 pixels with a record breaking frame rate of 4.4 trillion they are able to tote the worlds fastest camera title.  The process is beyond my thought process but the entire system and the future of where cameras are heading amazes me. The process they have created with STAMP initially takes single shots that then are translated into a movie via software on the computer. 


"It is a promising invention because these cameras can be utilized in various fields," says study author Keisuke Goda from the university. In their initial trials they were able to capture the conduction of heat which is at the speed equivalent to one-sixth the velocity of light. Being able to use this type of camera in auto and semiconductor factories along with advances in ultrasonic therapy [WSJ] along with the possibilty to advances in ultrasonic therapy. 

The advances in this area are astounding and continue to be matched by the next process that is created by teams like University of Tokyos. What would you do with 4.4 trillion frames per second? 

[via IFL Science]

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Mujtaba Sayed's picture

And here I thought the burst rate on the D4s was fast

Mike Pomazal's picture

That reminds me of this TED Talk I watched a couple years ago.

And here I've only been hoping for a measly 5 shots within 1/250th of a second... imagine the dynamic range with a single click at five different exposures; the raw format processing could let you use a slider to adjust exposure and exposure range...

It doesn't really capture at 4.4 Tfps - it will capture multiple repetitive images and reconstruct them to produce the equivalent-time capture of a 4.4 Tfps camera. The key here is that any transient events will be lost so it doesn't work like or map to your SLR's shutter speed.

It's like a bunch of stacked time-lapse photos.

What is the practical use? I'm imagining some hilarious photos of loose skin dogs running but that's probably not what they had in mind.

J H's picture

Hm I can't say i really understand this camera thing but i'll just venture a guess and say Large Hadron Collider pics anyone?

I don't think a dog would even appear in the final image if one ran through the shot. Mainly for observing high speed, periodic phenomenon.Things that are studied in physical chemistry and particle physics mostly.

when i put new batteries in my D3 i can get almost that fast. what i wanna know who is the poor slug that has to edit a sec of those pics ?

Oskar Ragnarsson's picture

So, how long video would that 1 second be at 24 fps?

Mark Weikert's picture

boring.. call me when they make it to 4.7T. :P