High-speed cameras greatly enhance digital image correlation applications. The iDICs community is supported and sponsored by some of the best high-speed camera companies, including Vision Research, Photron, Telops, and Hadland.

We spoke with Kyle Gilroy, PhD, an applications engineer at Vision Research, and Tim Callenbach, the director of sales and marketing at Photron, both companies specializing in high-speed cameras, about the benefits of utilizing the technology in DIC applications. Both Callenbach and Gilroy agreed that the broad applications of high-speed DIC has benefited countless industries, ranging from academia to aerospace, and everything in between. “Coupling [high-speed] cameras with DIC gives a user the ability to see temporal resolutions unachievable by commercial standard cameras,” Gilroy explained. “In research settings… many events last for one millisecond or shorter. To properly sample (or image) this event effectively, we generally sample at ten times the event speed or higher,” which isn’t always achievable with standard cameras.

Callenbach noted that, traditionally, “we think of [high-speed DIC applications involving the stress of various materials like composites and glass… [but] some of the most unique applications involve testing of various biological materials such as blood vessels, bones, and skin.” Gilroy seconded the biological applications and noted that “people are performing DIC on clothing, animals, weapons… and food,” all with interesting results. He also went on to state that Vision Research is involved in a large range of interesting and cutting edge applications at institutions like NASA, Apple, Stanford, and others.”

Callenbach noted that “very high-performance high-speed cameras are now available at lower prices, making them more accessible than ever to users who might benefit from their application with digital image correlation.” He also noted that high-speed cameras “overall performance has skyrocketed and pricing has plunged,” in the past thirty years of their use. “Image quality, pixel resolution, transfer speeds, and light sensitivity,” have all dramatically improved. Callenbach and Gilroy agree that high-speed cameras will continue to get faster and have higher resolutions. Callenbach noted that Photron will be addressing the high-resolution DIC market with a camera that will be unique to the industry in the near future. Gilroy also spoke to Vision Research’s Phantom cameras that are “utilizing new sensors that are based off BSI sensor technology, which allows for enhanced sensitivity and lower exposure times.” Vision Research also has a new camera that “can stream image data in real-time to storage media.”

Callenbach noted that “there are a number of high-speed companies to choose from,” as “the availability of high-performance cameras increase,” and he emphasized the importance of utilizing cameras from “camera providers with a long history of high-quality, highly reliable products and outstanding customer support,” when coupling high-speed with DIC.

Companies like Photron, Vision Research, and others have, in many instances, tailored their software to work seamlessly with the unique software of DIC vendors.