There has been a lot of talk about a one trillion frames per second camera that can capture light in slow motion, just like slow motion cameras can capture a speeding bullet. The headlines that you’ve been seeing, however, are misleading. The camera used to capture light in slow motion was using the strobe effect rather than a camera capturing each individual frame.

If you ever been under a strobe light you know that all hand movements will appear as if they were in slow motion. Strobe lights can also be placed under falling water to give the appearance of slow motion. In much the same way, strobe lights were used to create the trillion frames per second video of slow moving light. Although the video looked as if you were seeing something in slow-mo, you were actually seeing many waves of light being paused to create the effect of slow moving light.

Many news reports taking in the sensationalistic headline marveled about the applications this amazing camera would have. Unfortunately, this incredible camera doesn’t exist because the light scene was created with many light waves stitched together. For example, trying to film a crash scene with this camera set up would be impossible unless you get exactly the same cars crashing in the same exact way, multiple times.