A compact camera reached speeds of 264 miles per hour during a test to demonstrate the dangers presented by normal domestic objects flying around during tornado. And no, it didn’t survive.
The test was carried out by storm-footage stock library owner Martin Lisius with the help of a pneumatic cannon housed at the National Wind Institute’s Debris Impact Facility in Texas Tech University. The unit usually studies what happens when large lumps of wood caught in storm winds strike building materials, but for this test Lisius wanted to show what happens when smaller more common objects get picked up and thrown around.
A Canon Sureshot 60 Zoom, known as the Autoboy Juno in Japan, was loaded into the cannon and when fired reached speeds of 264mph before meeting a messy end against a concrete wall. According to Lisius, the shape and relative density of the film camera helped it travel much faster than the researchers expected.
The twenty four year-old camera, which could only manage 1fps in its highest drive setting, was filmed at 240fps as it met the wall. Even with that frame rate though it is hard to see exactly what happened on impact. I’m certain the research was useful for something, but even if it wasn’t it makes interesting viewing. To see other videos of things hitting other things at high speed see the National Wind Institute’s Debris Impact web pages.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
