Cheap high speed camera for injector spray pattern
 

I am looking for suggestions on a cheap high speed camera for injector spray pattern.






Thank you.

I do not believe you need that for making that determination..
a moving paper strip under the injector will accomplish the same thing...cheaper..and with concrete evidence which can be analyzed in a better fashion than a camera will provide.
and I believe that is what is shown in the FSM for this type home testing....

Mr Hunter, just about any camera that will adjust for higher light levels by decreasing exposure times should get you by. A better description of the exact image you want to capture might help.

I just assumed you want for all practical purposes the cone well defined. All or at least most of the majority of the later generations manual and semi manual 35mm still cameras have a thousand of a second rate of exposure available. The problem as I see it is to capture the event that way. Could take a lot of film and you may still miss it.

Some digital cameras have external shutters. Some take video and you may be able to separate the frames and print off the one you want. Their frame rate is about thirty per second on average I think. So 1/30 of a second may or may not meet your needs. Again so much depends on the exact capture you want. Most of them have some kind of macro focus as well so you can fill the frame better and keep it sharp.

The high speed cameras are probably not cheap. They are too specialised so never really were inexpensive.One may be borrowed though I imagine. I have been away from that field for a long time so could easily have missed something of an alternative nature developed since. Think at least fourty years absence.

Another source might be from injector manufactures they have thousands of spray cone shots taken to develop and sell their units I would think. Now that may be cheap.

When you look at those pictures... how do you quantify and asses what is happening ?
If you use the moving paper strip you have the evidence in your hand.
Isn't the moving paper what the FSM suggests to use ?...and it is much cheaper than an actual high speed camera...with tangible easy to read results.

I think your missing an S there leathermang.

I see timing being the biggest problem here without something that is $$$$$$$$.

I don't get what a camera would accomplish. Aren't you looking for the spray pattern rather than an "action" shot? I suppose it might help, but doesn't seem like the primary tested attribute to me. Am I completely missing a point?

Examples
 

diesel spray pattern
http://images.google.com/images?q=diesel%20spray%20pattern&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&rlz=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

Too much relying on those red lines under bad spelling....LOL
if it spells an actual word it does not ' alert' ...

WHunter, Those are nice pictures.... and instructive in themselves.
But I suggest that you do not need a ' high speed' camera to acquire them...a cheap AVI video camera ( almost 30 frames per second ) will give some good image quality and you can then synch them to compare if you are just doing one at a time instead of the batch.
and still think that the moving paper will give you more productive results...
IS that or is that NOT what is suggested by the Factory Shop Manual ? Of am I just making this stuff up ?

Roy,
I have seen some good action shots taken with a Nikon D90. Having a high resolution camera is the key. They are about $1k with the right lens ! Maybe you could borrow one to try it out.
I think you could get the results like in those pics with a much cheaper cam, maybe even a 10 mp with a 3x optical zoom. Many of the cheap cams have a delay from when you hit the shutter till it takes the pic, you need one that is instant.

Looking at the pics, I think they have some sort of color added to the diesel to help with contrast. That may be critical especially if you wish to use the pics for a presentation or publishing.
The idea of using a cam on video mode could work. I have seen video from a cheap cam run through windows move maker & stills grabbed. It looks a bit like the stuff they do on myth busters but not quite as quick.

Good luck with your work.

just for fun...not cheap.
http://www.idtpiv.com/

I've done some work for these folks and they have an awesome product.

gallery
http://www.idtvision.com/gallery/wynn_jones.php

It might be easier just to use a Video Cammera.

I have used a relatively inexpensive video camera in conjunction with video-processing software that can expand the time (slow down the picture). This can produce good video which can be plucked out of the stream for more detailed viewing. Or you could just pause the video & "scrub" it between the frames you want.

Most of these high-speed cameras are mega-$$$. In the $10K range or more.

A good Cannon miniDV can be had for $269.00 (see http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Camcorders/pn/2/ci/1871/N/4294548093)

Hmmm
 

DIY high speed camera
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&q=diy+high+speed+camera&aq=0c&aqi=g-c1&oq=DIY+high+speedcamera

Those are cool images and no doubt helpful in showing injector spray pattern, but I don't see why you can't figure out the pattern using the paper method. For example if you have the 6-jet pattern as seen on some of these images, wouldn't there be 6 dots of diesel on the paper? Regardless, good luck -- I wonder if you'd be the first to do it with mercedes injectors other than the engineers.