I was wondering if there was anyway to ‘overclock’ the capture framerate on a video camera? IIRC its normally about 24fps but what are the problems/limitations in ramping it up to say 50fps so you can get that really need slow mo type playback a la John Woo/ Bullet time ?
Would this really only work (if at all) on a pure digital camera or is there a trick in doing this with an 8mm?
Or (more likely) do you need a really really expensive one that has this function built in 
Thanks in advance
I think you’ll need a really expensive one im afraid. Its not just a case of pushing the tape through faster as if you did this it would not have enough time on each frame to put an image (if you know what im getting at? my descriptive skills are not my best)
This website offers cameras with framerates up to 40,500 FPS.
If your camera was developed for 24 FPS and thats the maximum then I cannot fathom a way for you to increase the framerate. It’s not like a processor or video card where a little soldering is going to bypass factory settings.
Don’t confuse video with film. Framerates are for film, while “framerates” are a simulation of film for video. Videotape doesn’t have frames. Framerate in a film camera is determined by shutter speed. Most feature films are filmed on film :p, so the kind of sfx you’re looking for probably need to be done digitally with a computer if you want to work with video. A video camera that will let you do those kinds of tricks in-camera is probably going to be way up there, price-wise.
gluteus maximus, excuse my ignorance, but what? I realize that frames are from film, but it carries over into television, where we receive approximately 30 frames per second (okay, 60 interlaced). So a video camera doesn’t do this also? Put discrete frames onto the tape? If not, how’s it stored? Even computer video formats are frame based. Yeah, due to compression you may not have the full frame in a single frame (only the changes from the previous frame), but it’s still rendered as a frame. Am I missing something entirely, or are we debating little terminology differences?
Hold a section of movie film up to the light. See the frames?
Now hold a section of videotape up to the light. What do you see? You see opaque black magnetic tape. There are no frames on videotape, any more than there are grooves on audiotape.
Movie film stores images optically, while videotape stores images magnetically.
Video monitor refresh rate and film frame rate are not the same thing. Speeding up the capstan drive on a video camera is not going to give you the same effect as speeding up the shutter speed and film advance rate on a film camera. If you speed up the videotape when recording, you can record more (lower quality) images on the same cassette, but playing the cassette back at standard speed is not going to give you slow motion,
The term “frame” used in video is a convenient way to express video analogous to film, but video has “fields”, not real film frames. If that’s debating little terminology differences, so be it.
Sorry Gluteus, but…
Yes, video does record individual frames. Each of which is divided into two fields. Each field is made up of odd and even scan lines. Thus 30fps for video, 60fields interlaced or 60i. The latest thing is to shoot 30 or 24 fps progressive which combines fields and creates a look similar to film.
So any way you might say that video is 60fps(actually fields) but they are definitely separate, distinct images as in film.
I’ve edited plenty of video, scanning frame by frame to cut at precise points in time.
Ianlyte, your best bet is to get into Final Cut Pro or Premier. Even Imovie will let you do slo-mo.