High-Speed Imaging
  • Balloon Pop
    Nicholas Curtis, James Bales
  • Two paintballs colliding. Strobe Project Lab 6.163. Fall, 2018.
    Two paintballs colliding. 6.163. Fall, 2018
    Jessica Adams, Marina Zhang, Alexis Vivar, Janice Chui Copyright 2019
  • Egg shot by .22 caliber bullet taken in 6.163 Strobe Project Lab
    Egg shot by .22 caliber bullet. Taken in 6.163, Fall, 2018.
    Image copyright 2018 Nicholas Curtis, Tho Tran, Shakti Shaligram
  • Red water drop, black background
    Red water drop, black background More online @ http://www.system-failure.net
    Hounsell, Mislick, Moriarty, Gunning
  • MIT student Tori Danielle pops a balloon at DUE for a Recharge
    MIT student Tori Danielle pops a balloon at DUE for a Recharge
  •
    Shot with the Edgetronic camera
    James Bales, Gordon Hoffman
  • Water drop, black background
    Water drop. Black background More online @ http://www.system-failure.net
    Hounsell, Mislick, Moriarty, Gunning
  • Halloween meets high-speed imaging
    Halloween meets high-speed imaging: 22 caliber bullet piercing three peanut butter cups
    Dr. Jim Bales, Kris Bronner, and Moseley Andrews
  • Water drop on a butterfly wing
    Water drop on a butterfly wing
    A. T. Paxson, K. Hounsell, J. W. Bales, J. C. Bird & K. Varanasi, 2013
  • Photo taken by students in Strobe Lab 6.163
    Photo taken by students in Strobe Lab 6.163
    G. Guertin, A. Hsu, H. Skupniewicz, T. Yeh

High-Speed Imaging

The Center carries on the legacy of Doc Edgerton’s research and teaching by providing the Institute with a continuing expertise in high-speed and scientific imaging.

Each summer, we offer a week-long course on high-speed imaging through MIT Professional Education. This summer the course will take place from June 8 through June 11, 2020.

This subject (6.51s) is especially designed for scientists, engineers, and photographers who need to gather data on rapidly moving subjects and events for study, motion analysis, and trouble-shooting. Mornings are spent in the lecture hall learning the fundamentals for lighting, imaging technologies, and motion analysis. Afternoons are spent making high-speed images in the laboratory. Find out more...

For MIT students, we offer the popular Strobe Project Lab (6.163) to 24 students each term. Here, students learn the fundamentals of high-speed imaging and apply these techniques to final projects of their own choosing.

We also have a suite of high-speed video cameras that we loan out for projects, as well as strobes and digital SLRs.