by Claire Leonard It’s not surprising that since the release of Paul Bryan’s music video, sales of the Olympus iSpeed 3 camera have doubled, as it has proved the camera’s capabilities for so much more than its original design. The Olympus iSpeed 3, used by Paul Bryan in his music video for Knuckles/Sovnger, is a versatile and impressive piece of kit. Originally designed for use in industrial research and ballistics testing, they offer incredibly high speed, high resolution image capturing with extreme low-light sensitivity. Its Controller Display Unit (CDU) increases its portability as it does away with the need to link with a laptop or PC. Solid aluminium construction, the camera with monitor, is robust and weighs about 6kg. Paul explained to me that despite the camera’s high specification it is relatively simple and self-explanatory to use. Following a brief training session at Peterborough Station with an Olympus rep, Paul began experimenting and finding out what the camera could do. The main advantages for Paul were the ability to enhance the frame speed under low-light conditions—imperative for filming on the Paris Metro. The pulsating lights, are also achieved by bumping up the frame rate to capture the natural flicker of the metro’s neon-strip lighting. Specifications: Olympus quality custom designed CMOS 1280 x 1024 sensor Full resolution recording to 2,000 fps Monochrome or Colour options Pixel Size 21 micron Dimensions 112 mm (W) x 141 mm (H) x 341 mm (L) Weight 5 kg (including battery), 6.25kg(including CDU monitor) ISO Rating: Mono 5,000/Mono 40,000 and Colour 1,600/Colour 12,800 Internal Li-Ion battery provides 45 minutes of unsupported operation