A two-channel spatial phase shifting (SPS) electronic speckle pattern interferometer for the deformation measurement of a transient process was developed. The system was composed of two cameras for the simultaneous acquisition of two phase shifted speckle fringe patterns, and several polarization components for SPS. The phase shifted speckle fringe patterns, captured by two cameras, were analyzed by two kinds of phase change calculation algorithms. Applications of the system to measurement of the object deformation and the analysis of the fringe patterns are described. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.