China-based camera trigger company CamFi has announced the launch of CamFi Matrix Time, a software application that is free for all of the company’s users. As the name suggests, the software is designed to produce the ‘bullet time effect’ made famous by The Matrix, doing so without the high cost typically associated with this effect.
CamFi makes wireless digital camera controllers, and its new Matrix Time software works in conjunction with those controllers. With the software, users can set up a multi-camera arrangement to shoot one after the other with less than a 1/100th-second delay. The images captured by each camera are then automatically grouped and compiled into a video featuring this special effect.
The company explains that its Matrix Time product can easily set all of the cameras in the multi-camera setup to the same shutter speed and aperture; a live view from the cameras in the software, meanwhile, enables operators to arrange the angle of each camera before shooting. All in all, it seems like a very simple and straightforward way to capture a complex special effect.
Of course, there is a catch… actually two. First, while the Matrix Time software is free, each CamFi Wireless Camera Controller costs $ 130 USD / $ 185 CAD / £110. And second, for now, CamFi Matrix Time is only available for the Windows operating system.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)