headquarters tokyo japan products photron cameras fastcam sa series website http www.photron.com photron is an international company that manufactures high speed digital cameras based in tokyo japan with offices in san diego california & united kingdom . the photron fastcam cameras are used for capturing high speed images and playing these images in slow motion . use of a high speed camera can be found in a broad variety of industries . a few of the industries include flow visualization 1 2 flame propagation 3 ballistics 4 firearm studies 5 material science 6 weapon development 7 biological science 8 biophysics 9 vehicle impact studies crash safety 10 manufacturing mining automotive and scientific research . contents 1 history 2 photron timeline 3 cameras and applications 4 references 5 external links history edit photron is a business unit of imagica robot holdings inc. the imagica robot group started about 70 years ago at kyoto uzumasa japan the center of the japanese film industry when it began film processing businesses such as film developing . photron was founded in 1974 . photron began manufacturing professional film video and photo instrumentation equipment in japan . photron expanded into photo optics and electronic technologies including the manufacture of high speed digital cameras . there is a mutual benefit between photron and their parent company imagica in sharing technology such as color science broadcast expertise and image processing . photron name combines photon and electron the fundamental process of creating electronic digital images from light . photron s early high speed cameras were only available in japan . photron advanced their sensor technology in 1990 by working with kinki university in japan on a new design based on a block readout multichannel nmos architecture . this new development produced a 256 pixel x 256 pixel x 4500 fps nmos sensor which surpassed the fastest high speed camera at that time the eastman kodak sp2000 motion analyzer 240 x 192 x 2000 fps . after 1991 photron continued to manufacture and sell high speed cameras into asia . however photron wanted to make available their new sensor technology to serve other applications outside asia . photron reached an agreement with eastman kodak masd to manufacture for masd two high speed cameras the hs 4540 and the motioncorder trade branded as kodak ektapro products . these two products were sold by eastman kodak masd into europe north america and parts of asia until 2000 . photron assume worldwide responsibility of their products after 2000 naming the hs 4540 as the photron fastcam se and the motioncorder as the photron fastcam super 10k . photron timeline edit july 1968 osawa laboratories the predecessor of photron founded by j. osawa & co. as a subsidiary . june 1974 photron limited a subsidiary of j. osawa & co. was founded . september 1983 osawa laboratories and photron limited merged to form photron limited as a subsidiary of j. osato & co. may 1984 chisan limited acquired the whole stock of photron limited from j. osawa & co. june 1985 closed komae plant and opened ebina plant in ebina city kanagawa prefecture . opened nagoya branch office . april 1987 signed distributorship agreement with rank cintel limited cintel international now uk to sell cintel telecine equipment in japan . december 1988 opened san jose california branch office to sell products and collect market and technical information . march 1991 opened yonezawa plant in yamagata prefecture to expand production capacity . july 1992 imagica corp. acquired all stock from chisan limited to own photron limited . july 1994 opened fukuoka branch office in fukuoka city fukuoka prefecture . september 1997 company made public by offering stock over the counter . december 1997 started sales of slsm super slow motion system made by evs a belgian company . january 2000 established photron usa inc. a subsidiary in san jose california usa to expand the sales power in americas . may 2000 acquired i chips technology limited a fabless developer manufacturer of general purpose lsi for imaging equipment as a subsidiary . april 2001 established photron europe limited a subsidiary in a suburban city of london uk to expand sales power in the european markets . november 2001 established photron vietnam technical center limited as a local center for under contract product development and design works . march 2002 acquired iso9001 2000 product quality management certificate . september 2003 moved the head office and r & d studio ebina plant to the present location at fujimi chiyoda ku tokyo . august 2007 established photron medical imaging inc. a subsidiary . january 2010 iso certificate status changed to iso9001 2008 . april 2011 became a fully owned subsidiary of imagica robot holdings through demerger and merger . july 2012 merged with imagica digix inc. cameras and applications edit over last 10 years photron has been recognized for their contributions to high speed imaging . 11 12 13 photron high speed cameras can operate 20 000 fps at 1024 x 1024 pixel at 12 bit pixel resolution to ultra high speed cameras operating over 1 million frames per second . designers manufacturers and r & d test engineers use high speed cameras to proof their designs with motion analysis solving the issues that can only been viewed in non real time slow motion . cameras vary by size resolution and frames per second fps . an example is the sa5 rv which is used in extreme environments where heat or vibration can t be managed . the fastcam sa5 rv digital high speed camera is a 1 megapixel 12 bit camera recording at 7 500 fps . references edit flow visualization ciampa kate . comparing high speed video and lightning mapping array observations to investigate the influence of ground strikes on lightning flash characteristics pdf . national weather center research experiences for undergraduates program norman oklahoma . retrieved 28 august 2013 . flow visualization ros ivo g. pigeons steer like helicopters and generate down and upstroke lift during low speed turns pdf . department of organismic and evolutionary biology harvard university concord field station 100 old causeway road bedford ma 01730 ; and department of engineering harvey mudd college 301 platt boulevard claremont ca 91711 . retrieved 30 august 2013 . flame propagation chen xianfeng . effect of ch4 air ratios on gas explosion flame microstructure and propagation behaviors . energies 2012 5 4132 4146 ; doi 10.3390 en5104132 . retrieved 26 august 2013 . ballistics petel oren e. the effect of particle strength on the ballistic resistance of shear thickening fluids . arxiv 1207.1022 . firearm studies handgun wounding effects due to bullet rotational velocity pdf . retrieved 18 february 2013 . material science arora h. dynamic response of full scale sandwich composite structures subject to air blast pdf . department of mechanical engineering imperial college london sw7 2az . retrieved 11 december 2011 . weapon developmentchu dr. peter c. non cylindrical mine drop experiment pdf . seventh international symposium on technology and mine problem nps monterey california usa . retrieved 2 4 may 2006 . check date values in access date help biological scienceanderson first christopher v. ballistic tongue projection in chameleons maintains high performance at low temperature pdf . department of integrative biology university of south florida tampa fl 33620 pnas march 23 2010 vol . 107 no. 12 5495 5499 . retrieved 2 june 2010 . biophysicschandramohanadas rajesh . biophysics of malarial parasite exit from infected erythrocytes pdf . singapore mit alliance for research and technology centre singapore . retrieved 17 june 2011 . vehicle impact studies crash safety munsch marie . lateral glazing characterization under head impact experimental and numerical investigation pdf . retrieved 2007 . check date values in access date help photron s high speed camera wins crash test innovation of the year award . laser focus world magazine . retrieved december 18 2007 . photron apx rx camera nabs japan sme award . photonics media . retrieved january 2008 . check date values in access date help photron camera honored by japan society of mechanical engineers . quality magazine . retrieved january 23 2008 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title photron & oldid 742712884 categories electronics companiesdigital movie camerasfilm and video technologydigital camerashidden categories cs1 errors datesofficial website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload 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