The announcement of the Panasonic S series is a complete acceptance that smaller m4/3 sensors are not the future but the past. As now Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Sony, Leica and now Panasonic have shifted priorities to Full Frame Sensors as mirrorless has allowed the smaller form factor without compromising low light performance and absolute stills image quality. Fuji is also going strong on Medium Format stills oriented cameras like the new portable GFX 50R which meshes a rangefinder camera with a huge MF sensor.
The move by Panasonic, which had been leading in mirrorless frame rates in continued recording with their Lumix GH5 and GH5s Series up to 240fps 1080p, will now focus on larger sensors that produce more heat and may be much slower to read at high speeds. Sony has so far been able to only have 120fps 1080p recording in their a7 series for example. If the Panasonic S1 at 24MP can only do 120fps 1080p which is still unknown, it will not bode well for slow motion frame rates for some time.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
GoPro has released 3 new cameras including the Hero 7 Black which is now the flagship product for the company. The key feature is HyperSmooth which is a predictive stabilization technology based on scene analysis and sensor telemetry to accurately anticipate motion and correct the image to generate a gimbal-like smooth appearance to the video. When you see the footage it is clear it is a huge improvement compared to even the Hero 6 Black which had a pretty good stabilizer.
The Stabilization, however, is limited to 4k 30/60p and other resolutions below 120p but anything above 120fps will use the previous stabilization feature which is not predictive and have no stabilization support at all at 1080p 240fps which is the highest slow motion mode. No 480fps or other higher fps settings are available as the camera uses both the same Hero 6 Black sensor and the same GP1 system chip for this new camera.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The RED Hydrogen One phone has a lot to live up to but contrary to many doubters it may be just that good when it comes to video and photo quality. How good? By some accounts, it may be unrivaled by any phone currently and possibly for the foreseeable future thanks to the special software that is running on that last year’s Snapdragon 835 chip which is now outdated but still usable to create what RED touts as an imaging phone for the connoisseur.
We expect 4k quality in better codecs than the competition, with the ability to surpass 4k 60p which is the current phone upper limit for frame rates and resolution. As far as higher frame rates go we simply cannot find a lot of information when it comes to the way video is captured but read along to see something that may get a little closer to unraveling the mystery. New phone final body images have been released here in the forums.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Now that a few days have passed we now have the first few samples of what the Galaxy Note 9 is capable of in 960fps slow-motion mode. It shows about the same effective resolution as the Galaxy S9 and S9+ which share the same camera system. The Note 9 is supposed to increase the dynamic range but it is unclear how much benefit it will show in a resolution starved 720p high-speed mode.
The best selling factor for the Note 9 as a slow-motion device is the doubling of recording time to 0.4 seconds from the 0.2sec available on the Galaxy S9. This transforms into a 12.8-second video played back at NTSC 30p which makes it much more enjoyable than the 6.4 sec on the other Samsung phone.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Samsung has released the Galaxy Note 9 today and needless to say its a spec powerhouse with a familiar design and feel. No other Samsung has ever sported such amount of features and memory footprint up to 1TB with the 512GB internal plus an optional 512GB Micro SD card. Of course, a fully specced out phone will not be cheap when the handset starts at $1,000 USD in the USA or €1,000 in Europe.
Our interest and focus are the video features and we are far from disappointed. You get improved AF with scene recognition and an increase in dynamic range compared to the Galaxy S9. You get 4k UHD up to 60p and the usual competitive frame rates of 240fps and 120fps Full HD plus the 960fps mode that made its debut in the S9 and S9 plus phones earlier in the year. The extra checkmark in this phone’s sheet is that the slow motion at 960fps is now double the rec time of the S9 at 0.4sec instead of the 0.2sec in the S9 at the full frame rate.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
By popular demand, we have found some new samples for both the OnePlus 6 and the Xiaomi Mi 8 phones for you to see. We have to give the nod between these two phones to the OnePlus 6 as it offers 240fps 1080p and 3.75 seconds worth of 720p 480fps and even 60p 4k. The quality on the super slow motion modes is not up there with a dedicated slow-motion camera but it is a big improvement in the recording department by allowing 3.75 secs on the 480p mode on the OnePlus 6 compared to the very restrictive 960fps 0.24sec on the Galaxy S9.
The Xiaomi Mi 8 is a big improvement from their earlier phones but simply cannot compete in terms of frame rates with the best the Android world has to offer. The quality on any phone will be restricted by the memory buffer, codec and read-out speed from the sensor. Quality still has a ways to go for being true HD or Full HD so remember before choosing a phone, it may not do as well as that fancy Slow Motion on Youtube or TV.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
