In what could be one of the most leaked phone releases in History “Probably to get some oomph out of the iPhone 6s release“ Google has announced the Nexus 5X and 6P smartphones running Android 6.0 marshmallow. The interesting spec is that for the first time in a Nexus device, the camera seems to be a primary focus with a lot of good specs including 120fps for the LG built Nexus 5X and up to 240fps for the Huawei Built Nexus 6P. This puts the 6P Phone in direct competition with the iPhone 6s for the top smartphone Slow Motion Spot.
While there is a lack of slow motion samples now for both phones they should be coming out in the next few days. How will they compete? We can’t really speculate as the sensor, lens and camera system on these Nexus Phones is entirely new and built for better performance than previous Nexus releases. The Camera had always been a sore spot of the line and this release seems to want to correct this from now on. It has the same Sensor and camera system on both phones but the processing core is different which is probably what limits the 5X to 120fps. That said it could be possible in the future to unlock 240fps on this camera with some clever hacking technique if the system can handle the data rates; but that could void your warranty.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
It has now been a few days since people first got their hands on the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. One of the new features is it’s ability to shoot higher res slow motion at 1080p 120fps and a somewhat improved version of the 240fps at 720p with less artifacts. We have found a few samples that may show you the quality of the slow motion modes in action. It is clear from an initial perspective that 720p 240fps is higher resolution with less noise and aliasing artifacts and also that the 1080p 120fps mode while higher resolution it is not exactly the same quality as the 1080p video of the phone. There seems to be an apparent softness or slight resolution loss with heavier compression in this mode. This however doesn’t detract much from the fact that both the 120fps and 240fps modes have been improved and that is a good thing.
RED digital cinema has been releasing information about a new camera brain or body that will be just under $6k US in price but offer a 4k S35 like Dragon sensor with up to 120fps recorded in Redcode RAW at 4k resolution. It is not known at this time if other frame rates at lower resolutions will be supported but since other RED cameras do window the sensor for 300fps and the like it is pretty safe to say you will be able to shoot smaller frame with higher frame rates. As to the quality of the 120fps mode it is still up in the air but it could be compressed with RED Code RAW codec in a wavelet lossy format like it does many higher frame rates on other cameras of the line.
Yesterday a group of users of the Panasonic GH4 noticed that you could get V-Log L activated on the GH4 camera without paying for it by use of the Wifi Mobile device app and some tinkering. At first it seemed like too good to be true but as some tests already have shown it is the real deal. However Panasonic already is working to correct the issue and has issued a statement on the matter.
While it was possible to do it be aware that the activation of this feature was not intended to be available this way and as Panasonic points out it can have repercussions in the operation of the Zebra and Histogram functions behaving erratically or not as expected. While many users were disappointed about the $99 price tag for the feature it is also encouraging to see many early adopters of the feature or the workaround buy the actual product as they like to support Panasonic in adding features to their cameras that are needed by professionals as in the case of V-Log.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Canon Japan has released a sample video showing the Canon ME20F-SH Super High ISO full frame multipurpose camera in action. It is impressive to see ISOs as high as on a camera that is as portable as this. Even with a high price of $30k US it is something news gathering and documentary outfits like Nat Geo and Discovery will gravitate to in order to extract new levels of color and light information from extremely challenging low illumination environments.
Filmmakers will also find it useful for shooting in extreme low light for a specific take, but we feel that scientists and biologists in particular will benefit most from these advancements. Underwater videography is probably the most peculiar use to study bio luminescent organisms in complete darkness like never before.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The newly announced Sony PXW-FS5 Professional camcorder is like a hybrid of the venerable FS700 of 2012 and last years darling the Sony FS7. It however offers a lot in the way of portability with it’s small profile and a slow motion mode akin to that in the RX100 IV and RX10 II. It seems to be a refined higher resolution mode of the FS700’s slow motion capabilities with better dynamic range and less artifacts to boot. Call it FS700 slowmo v2.0!
The camera comes with an HFR High Frame Rate mode akin to what was introduced in the lower end Sony line this year. You get 120fps recording in full sensor full HD for 16 seconds, 240fps full sensor full HD for 8 seconds.Higher frame rates are as of now not known in duration or frame size quality but according to reps they should be a step up from the FS700 camera.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
