VR Phantom TMX 7510 - Flash Bulb Burst

A collaboration with Nanlux, filmed to demonstrate their Evoke Series lights as completely flicker-free at 100,000+ frames per second. To push the lights to their limit, we filmed inside a single-use flash bulb at 107,000 frames per second. The first two shots show the bulb firing in real time, over in a blink. Everything after is that same moment, stretched out. From ignition to extinction, a flash bulb burns for just 50–100 milliseconds. Inside the glass sits a tangle of ultra-fine zirconium wire, packed in pure oxygen. When a small electrical charge hits it, the metal doesn’t just burn, it combusts, violently and completely, converting into brilliant light and heat almost instantaneously. What you’re watching took place in less time than it takes your eye to begin a single blink.