Inside PIXBOOM – Factory Tour of the “Spark” High-Speed Camera in China

by Johnnie BehiriToday

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Recently, I packed my bag in Japan and flew to Shenzhen, China to visit PIXBOOM, the young company behind the Spark high-speed camera. I visited the factory in Dongguan, where the camera is assembled and tested, and learned about a new production line that will start operating soon. I was also kindly invited to see the unique office in Shenzhen and meet the people behind this company. Here is my report, guys, and I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did.

My trip started at Osaka’s Kansai Airport. Shenzhen has become one of the most important places in the world for technology and electronics manufacturing, and it is also home to PIXBOOM. By now, I am sure most of you know the company by now, its first camera being the PIXBOOM Spark, a compact Super 35 high-speed camera with a backside-illuminated (BSI) global shutter sensor, up to 1,000 fps in 4K and continuous RAW recording to a removable SSD. The idea behind it is simple: bring extreme slow motion to filmmakers who could never justify renting a traditional high-speed package. I wanted to meet the people behind this idea, and see how the camera is actually made.

We at CineD have been covering the Spark’s journey from the very beginning. We reported about the Kickstarter launch at IBC 2025, where the camera also won a CineD Best-of-Show Award. We then took a beta unit to India for our first hands-on review, and my colleague Gunther shot a wildlife documentary in Goa with it. Later we reported on the first production unit, the start of shipping in May, and the latest firmware updates. But we wanted to go deeper, and so we decided to see where the camera is born – the factory floor.

From a research lab to a Kickstarter success

The PIXBOOM company story started in a research lab. Its co-founders, Dr. Huang and Dr. Chengyang, were PhD students working on ultra-high-speed imaging systems for scientific use, capable of capturing millions of frames per second. In 2015, they set out to make high-speed imaging accessible to a much wider group of creators, and over the years they moved from lab experiments to real-world prototypes, refined with feedback from filmmakers. You can read the company’s own account of that journey on its Spark history page.

The camera made quite an impression before it even reached the market. During its Kickstarter campaign, PIXBOOM raised around $3.5 million, and to be honest, it is not hard to see why.

Why is the factory in Dongguan?

My first question was a practical one: why is the factory so far from the center of town? The answer was very straightforward: Shenzhen is often called China’s Silicon Valley, but the manufacturing usually happens in the neighboring city of Dongguan. “Everybody just knows the good factories are usually based in Dongguan,” I was told. So off we went. After meeting the core team in the factory offices, I finally saw the place where the Spark is made.

Quality control for a camera that runs hot

A high-speed camera pushes a huge amount of data through its electronics, so I was curious how quality control works here. The team explained that the Spark goes through the usual checks of any electronic product: basic signals, image quality, calibration, and sensor adjustments. “But for high speed, one important point is the cooling.” Every camera goes through a strict high-temperature test in the factory, running continuously in a heat chamber for cycles of several hours. “If it survives this test, it can be shipped.”

The Spark uses active cooling with intake and exhaust vents, and PIXBOOM rates it for operation between 0°C and 40°C (32°F to 104°F). A camera designed to be rigged on cars, robotic arms, and gimbals has to keep working, even under direct sunlight. These heat tests ensure that it can handle these conditions before it leaves the building.

What does a BSI sensor do for slow motion?

I asked the team to explain why they decided on a BSI sensor. BSI stands for backside illumination. It is a semiconductor process that flips the wafer, so light reaches the photodiode from the back side, and this improves the light efficiency of each pixel. “For high-speed video or slow motion, one important issue is the light demand,” I was told. “BSI improves the light efficiency to get brighter footage under the same lighting conditions.”

Anyone who has ever shot at 1,000 fps knows the problem: every frame gets only a tiny slice of exposure time, so light is always the first thing that runs out. The company says the Spark needs only about 25% of the light a typical high-speed setup calls for, and that the BSI design increases quantum efficiency from around 60% to more than 80%. For slow motion in real locations, every bit of extra sensitivity counts.

The compromises of a first camera

Going from concept to finished product is a long journey, and the final result often looks what a little different from what you originally had in mind. So, I asked whether the team had to compromise anywhere, and the answer was honest. “Because we are a start-up company and Spark is our first camera, we need to focus on the main mission of this camera, which is to bring a good slow-motion camera to our creators”, I was told by Dr. Huang.

That means no audio and no autofocus. Autofocus is relatively complex, and according to the team, feedback from users also played a role in that decision. On audio, the explanation was clear: “To add audio into Spark is easy. But to make it fully usable and 100% perfect is difficult. Audio is a very deep and large field.” In my opinion, as a documentary shooter who always records sound, this is a decision that some people will miss. (The camera can shoot at 24/25 fps too.) At the same time, slow-motion footage is very rarely used with its original sound, and a focused product is often a better first product. I’ll let you guys decide for yourselves, as everyone works a bit differently.

An empty hall that will soon be busy

When I asked where the company sees itself in three years, and whether PIXBOOM will still be making only one camera, the answer was short: “We will have more…”

Then Dr. Huang, PIXBOOM’s CTO, showed me a large, empty hall. “It’s empty now, but it will be very busy in one or two months,” he said. “This is a new factory line for our PIXBOOM camera. We are trying to get people, devices, and instruments here to build a new line for the Spark camera.” Looking at the empty workstations, it was easy to imagine how this space would look when it is full of workers and products.

Back in Shenzhen: the people behind the product

After a quick lunch, we drove back to Shenzhen, a city of nearly 18 million people that has grown from a small fishing town into one of China’s leading tech hubs in just a few decades. Skyscrapers, busy highways, and technology are everywhere you look. The PIXBOOM offices, however, are a very unique space.

I asked Jing Qi, PIXBOOM’s Chief Marketing Officer, about the concept behind the space. At the beginning, she said, the team was very small, and everyone had to do multiple jobs to get the company off the ground. “But at the same time, we need to consider how to make people comfortable, so they enjoy staying and working here,” she explained. “It’s a space where we spend more than eight hours a day.” Jing doesn’t see herself in the classic marketing role. “I treat myself like a bridge,” she told me, “between the company and filmmakers, between me and my team, and between cultures. So my role is to break the boundaries.”

Spark specs at a glance

For those of you who don’t know the Spark camera, here is a short summary: It uses a 14.2MP Super 35 global shutter BSI CMOS sensor (25.34 x 16.90mm) with 4.6K 3:2 open gate resolution (4608 x 3072), dual native ISO with settings from 400 to 1600, and 13 stops of dynamic range, according to PIXBOOM. Top frame rates in PIXBOOM RAW are 670 fps at 4.6K open gate, 887 fps at 4K 16:9, and 2,182 fps at 2K 2.37:1, with custom resolutions that go higher still. The camera currently records 10-bit RAW, and 12-bit RAW is in development.

Recording goes to the removable 2.5TB PIXBOOM Pro Card at up to 10GB/s, so record time is limited only by card capacity. The card offloads directly via USB-C at 20Gbps, without a card reader. The all-aluminum body weighs about 1.1kg (2.42lb) and measures 108 x 110 x 130mm (4.25 x 4.33 x 5.12in). It integrates a 3.5-inch 6.22M-dot touchscreen, a V-Lock battery plate, 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 outputs (both 4K 60p), a 9-pin EXT port, and Wi-Fi control. Interchangeable locking adapters are available for E, EF, and PL mount. Genlock, timecode, and some remote features are still under development and will need future firmware or the upcoming I/O expansion accessory.

Price and availability

The PIXBOOM Spark is shipping now. The package includes the camera body, a 2.5TB PIXBOOM Pro Card, and one mount adapter (E, EF, or PL), in silver or black. B&H lists it at $13,999, and CVP lists it at €12,749.95 (excluding VAT). Additional mount adapters cost $599 each, and an extra 2.5TB Pro Card costs $2,999. Retailer stock varies by mount and color, so check the listing for your configuration.

PIXBOOM is still early in its journey, but that is exactly what makes it so interesting. What I saw was a young company with big ambitions and a lot of energy, trying to carve out its own place in the world of cinema cameras. I am curious to see where they go from here.

Many thanks to: Dr. Huang, CTO; Chengyang Hu, Founder and CEO; Jing Qi, Chief Marketing Officer; Xin Tang, Supply Chain Director; Wong Haoyuan, Head of Visual Design; Max Zhai, Head of R&D; Daisy Wu, Senior Project Manager; Vicky Wen, Head of Customer Service Center; Ariel Levesque, PIXBOOM Spark footage; Little Beauty, Chief Pet Officer; and the entire PIXBOOM team!

What do you think about the PIXBOOM Spark and the idea of owning a high-speed camera instead of renting one? Would audio or autofocus matter to you in a camera like this? Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below!