Category Archives: Reviews

Reviews of Hi Speed Cameras!

Galaxy S9 Slow Motion is Top Feature!

Galaxy S9 Slow Motion

Samsung has unveiled the heavily leaked and rumored Galaxy S9 at MWC Barcelona 2018. It is now a reality and the rumors got most of it right but the frame rate mostly expected which was 480fps at full HD has now morphed into 960fps at HD 720p.  You would be heavily excited about the new frame rate options except for the fact that the resolution is not really 720p but a heavily soft and aliased version.

Camera companies are too loose to call video formats HD and Full HD when they are really just upscaling lower resolution video up to save in an overly compressed format.  The inclusion of now 1080p 240fps has to be the better spec here as the 960fps mode tops out at 0.2 seconds for a 6-second playback at 30fps.  Hardly ideal and much like what we saw in the Sony Xperia XZ phones of 2017. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Fuji X-H1 Aims to Compete in Pro Video!

Fuji X-H1

The Fuji X-H1 just announced does a lot of things right; It has a 200mbps 4k codec in UHD / DCI, 120fps Full HD which from the initial looks of it looks gorgeous and it finally has the 5-Axis Stabilizer on the sensor 5.5 stops worth that had eluded Fuji cameras for two years now.  It even has a new Eterna color profile which makes it easy to color correct without being too flat or too processed.

However, the X-H1 is based on the same 24MP X-Trans APS-C sensor found on the X-T2 which while overall good, it has problems with color moire and fine textures due to the processing on the unconventional RGB pattern which has 4 adjacent green pixels and differs quite a lot from Bayer sensors. See this article from PetaPixel comparing both technologies here.  But as far as video mode is concerned it looks to be a good contender to options like the GH5 and Sony 7 series. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

GH5s Slow Motion Quality is Inferior to GH5!

GH5s Slow Motion

As expected based on early comments of the slow motion mode on the GH5s, the camera has pronounced aliasing “seen in this video by Max Yuryev” and softness the higher the frame rate goes. Even at 120p it is less detailed than the standard GH5.  It may be a function of supersampling in the higher megapixel  20MP GH5 vs the 10.2MP GH5s which is creating the new artifacts.

While the GH5s can shoot up to 192fps without cropping the sensor, anything above that up to 240fps it has a slight sensor crop which further decreases quality.  While the VFR mode on the camera is better than most cameras in the price range that attempt the feat, it is of note that the quality instead of increasing or remaining the same as the sister model takes a hit which may kill it as an option for slow motion needs.  We still believe the standard GH5 is the best Lumix option even when compared to the G9 in VFR mode. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Sony PXW-Z90V Footage Starts to Show!

Sony PXW-Z90V Footage

We were excited last September when Sony announced a trio of Palmcorders based on their latest 1″ stacked image sensor. The FDR-AX700, the HXR-NX80 and the PXW-Z90V share essentially the same sensor and lens along with other common features but differ when it comes to codec bit rates, broadcasting output like SDI out and or HDMI but what interests us is the HFR high frame rate mode.

The Sony RX100 and RX10 series share the same 1″ stacked CMOS sensor in their latest iterations to these cameras but with a new form factor that is aimed at more professional shooters, there is a lot of expectations to see if quality has improved in Slow Motion.   We have gone thru the manuals on the cameras and have not been able to find the exact resolution specs when recording HFR but we estimate they are identical to the latest RX10 IV all in one prosumer camera. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Panasonic G9 vs GH5 for Video Compared!

Panasonic G9 vs GH5

Panasonic seems to be doing a lot of things right lately with their fantastic GH5 with 10 bit recording and 4k 60p for the first time in a mirrorless camera and of course the 180fps Full HD slow motion to boot.  The just-announced Lumix G9 is a monster of a camera in its own right but Panasonic is right to segment it as a Stills first and video second machine.

The GH5 is the best video-centric portable camera in recent memory and the aim with the G9 is to go after the Sony a9 which is arguably the best stills camera ever conceived performance wise.  The G9 is capable of shooting 60 RAW images in a single burst per second and while the buffer is only 50 RAWs worth; it becomes easily renewed thanks to dual card slots. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

edgertronic SC2X Review – Part 3!

edgertronic SC2X Review - Part 3

Over the last seven weeks testing and shooting with the edgertronic SC2X  high-speed camera we have a complete picture of what this camera can do and where it can really shine. This camera is a special one in its own right because it is the breakthrough 1080p Full HD camera that achieves 2,000fps at excellent quality for film and TV productions.  This is a camera we have been waiting for a long time and it is all that we were expecting and more concerning quality and frame rates.

Part 3 of this review will focus on the camera’s portable setup capability.   We will also go into the newly introduced overclocking feature which makes the camera a lot more capable, things still left to add into the software platform that could improve the user experience and help in getting the shot plus, a conclusion for the SC2X review. → Continue Reading Full Post ←