Next week I'll be in New York City at Abel Cine Tech for their Phantom Flex Refresh, where their qualified technicians will be updating Phantom techs on the latest and greatest from Vision Research. Feel free to read up on some new specs below, and I'll post a report from the session here next week.

The Phantom Flex offers an unprecedented degree of flexibility in all areas of high-speed image capture, and goes beyond HD to support 4-megapixel imaging, when the highest resolution is required. Depending on the shooting mode and resolution, the Flex is capable of shooting from 5 fps to over 10,750 fps.

The Phantom Flex offers two user-selectable shooting modes, each adapted to a particular shooting environment. In Standard Mode, the Phantom Flex is just like any other Phantom digital high-speed camera. Shoot at resolutions up to 2560x1600 pixels at anywhere from 10 frames-per-second up to 1,455 frames-per-second (fps). Maximum speed increases as the resolution decreases – up to 2,570 fps at 1920x1080, 5,350 fps at 1280x720, and 10,750 fps at 640x480.

In Phantom HQ Mode, Vision Research's proprietary image enhancement technology results in electronic image stability unprecedented in digital high-speed cameras: stable blacks, low noise, higher dynamic range, and repeatable shots over the full range of supported resolutions, frame rates and temperatures without the need for pre-shot black references. Maximum frame rates in HQ mode are about half those in Standard mode, which means that in HQ Mode Flex captures images at speeds up to 1,275 fps at 1920x1080 or 2,640 fps at 1280x720.

The Phantom Flex supports multiple workflows: a raw digital workflow, a video workflow, or combination of both for maximum control and flexibility.

With a video workflow, the Flex offers a video signal on the dual-link HD-SDI ports independent of the camera resolution. Set the resolution to 2560x1440 (16:9), and the camera will automatically scale the oversampled image when rendering the video signal. This technique increases the dynamic range and decreases noise in the video signal.

The Phantom Flex accepts a wide range of industry standard lenses. 35mm (PL, Canon EOS, Nikon F Panavision), Super16m and 2/3" lenses are all compatible.

Check out the official Phantom Flex page on Vision Research's site here.