i thought as much. can anyone prove 12harry wrong?
whats the deal with it being so expensive? does it require special internal gear to transfer high res to storage at those frame rates?
You could be looking for a camera that does 50p or 60p recording mode (with or without sound) and then conform this to 24/30p or 25p in the edit, this will give you a 50% slow down that looks natural. You won't find that for £200-£300.
Check out my latest video
here where I used the AF101 24:60p mode for 50% slow down at 1080p resolution. Some consumer models also offer this type of facility along with some DSLRs that do 50p or 60p, usually at 720p.
If you want super slo-mo then you are looking at the likes of the Red Epic (£60k plus) that does 300fps at 2K or the Phantom Flex again at silly money, but superbly demonstrated
here
Lastly you have some software options in the shape of Twixtor
RE:Vision Effects, Inc. : Products: Twixtor which ranges from $330 for the standard plugin to $595 for the pro plug-in. It works with most higher end NLE editing programs and uses frame interpolation with correctly shot frame rates to give you super slo mo for little money (in comparison to the Epic and Flex).
Lastly, why so expensive? It takes a lot of storgae and processing power to get high definition images at such high frame rates and remember the faster the frame rate, the faster the glass (lens required) and higher shutter rates, all require high-end, well built equipment to get it right. It is not something a consumer product is likely to have (super slo mo) but 60p conformed is starting to appear at consumer levels, just not at the price you want it at, sorry.
You might be able to rent the cameras I mentioned (which are video cameras, there are also specific high frame rate cameras available for hire that would give you images up to 3,000 fps), but you would be looking at a lot more than your budget for a days use and insurance etc.