The GoPro Hero 4 series has been quite successful for the company and many are thinking what can they offer next when it comes to camera specs. The Hero 4 Session showed that miniaturization and form factor change is possible at GoPro and we will not be surprised to see a change in shape and size on the Hero 5 to reduce it’s footprint. The GoPro mount has also been holding back the platform miniaturization as to remain compatible with accessories and grips of all kinds. What could happen is to remain compatible but introduce a stronger and smaller mount with some sort of adapter for backward compatibility. This transition will open the way for more portable and stealthy cameras.
Our biggest hint of where the platform is going is what the new Ambarella H1 chip provides. It is an evolutionary chip-set with a few features geared to UHD recording which suggest that 4k will be the focus going forward.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
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.
The website Android Police has done a pretty robust tear down of the new android Camera SDK v3.0 giving a sneak peak of what is to come for many android phones that support the camera module application. The SDK v3.0 comes bundled with the Android 6 release which means all compatible devices upgraded to the new OS will have a chance to try some or all of the new features planned for the camera release. Your mileage depending on your phone manufacturer may vary but it could mean support for many new features like 240fps slow motion video which will compete favorably with the iPhone 6 and 6s in these high frame rate modes.
Top features in the SDK 3.0:
Smart Burst- Fast burst of images if supported by hardware!
Creations: Includes animated images and Auto Awesomes.
Slow Motion: 120fps or 240fps User selectable!
Auto HDR+ Plus: HDR images from a rapid burst.
Dirty Lens detection: Tells user if lens is smudged!
Improvements to the interface.
Code regarding slow motion settings in SDK 3.0!
<string name="hfr_mode_120fps">Slow motion is set to 120 fps</string>
<string name="hfr_mode_240fps">Slow motion is set to 240 fps</string>
<string name="hfr_mode_off">Slow motion is off</string>
Note: Regarding “Google Phone SDK 3.0 ” be aware that if your sensor and portable device combination do to limitations is not able to do higher frame rates these new features will not be accessible. It will be interesting to see which phones are upgraded with the capability as the Android 6 marshmallow updates roll out! → Continue Reading Full Post ←
The Moto X has kind of always suffered from a mid range hardware complex; overall pretty good but never has had a high end feel to the feature set compared to rivals like the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy Series. If the latest Moto X rumors of the phone for 2015 refresh are to be believed the camera on the Moto X 2015 might go punch to punch with the best around while at the same time offer even more with slow motion features that rival the iPhone 6 in some cases and beat it in others.
As with any rumors you should take them with a grain of salt, however with the looming release date said to be Tuesday of next week, it could all be accurate. However no promises.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Out of seemingly nowhere a new smartphone competitor Ono has sprung up with a pretty slick phone that finally claims a smartphone called the Ono U1 which will do 480fps full HD using the Mediatek Helios X10 chipset released earlier this year. The company seems to be a collaboration from engineers and designers from India, France and Germany. Anand Kumar the CEO of Ono and mind behind the phone strives to make it available to everyone in the world at a very low pre order price of $199.00 USD.
The specs of the Ono U1:
480fps Full HD 1080p Video
20 Megapixel Back Camera
8 Megapixel Front Camera
2560 x 1440px 2k Res – 16 million colors
5.5″ Display
4000mAH battery
Micro/nano Dual sim
3GB Dual Channel LP DDR3 RAM
Gorilla Glass 4
4G LTE
Mediatek Helio X10 Processor -480fps
Dual Color LED Flash
RadialOS- Simplified Speedy Android Compatible With Android apps.
Pre Order Price $199 USD Worldwide.
The specs are actually quite good and especially impressive for the low introductory price tag. It reminds of of the Chinese company One Plus which introduced the low cost but very capable and no compromise One phone a year ago.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
