If you have used a camera before, you will know that getting a shot of a racing car, airplane or wild animal in its full elegance is tough. It is impossible to constantly hit the shutter release button at the right instant.

A tedious way is to videotape the entire episode and then grab a still afterwards, but chances are it will be grainy and blurry.

Now there is a new camera technology to solve this problem. Scientists at the University of Oxford have developed a photographic technology, called Temporal Pixel Multiplexing (TPM), to simultaneously capture high-speed video and high-resolution stills, via the same sensor on the same camera.

The scientists wanted a better way of imaging the rapid changes in light intensity of fluorescent molecules, inside heart cells. And the amazing thing was that they used off-the-shelf components of digital cameras and projectors to build this system.

This new camera technology has been patented by Isis Innovation, the University of Oxford’s technology transfer office. There are already strong interest from external parties to develop this technology for use in the security and consumer electronic sectors. 

[EPhotozine]