The iPad Pro has been making accessible the best iPhone Camera features for a few years now and the latest 2020 model seems to be in lockstep with the iPhone 11 Pro but with only 2 cameras instead of 3. However, the quality is close but not as good lens wise, but they make up with a new LiDAR scanner in place of the third camera lens that makes it possible to accurately scan physical objects and surroundings to improve AR capture and interaction. The demos are early but the technology holds promise.
What interests us at HSC is the slow motion features and we see a continuation of the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 camera modes with Wide and ultra-wide cameras supporting all slow-mo modes of 60, 120 and 240p which is identical to the mobile line up. We looked at the iPhone 11 Pro’s camera quality which impressed us with the best 240p and 120p quality on a phone to date see here→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The folks at Blackmagic design are at it again when it comes to destroying spec sheets compared to price. The BMPCC 4k was already one of the best-reviewed and popular choice among budget filmmakers that needed excellent quality and dynamic range. At only $1,295 that camera was a smash hit but had only a four thirds (4/3) sensor which was not ideal in size and required speed booster adapters to get the needed depth of field to simulate an S35 image.
Now the BMPCC 6k ($2,495.00) with EF Canon mount comes in with a full APS-C sensor with dual ISO characteristics like before but with the added imager size and full electronic lens support for EF glass. It would have been in our view ideal to use an electronic mount with shorter flange like the Sony Alpha or the new Canon RF mount so you could adapt even more lens combinations but they are catering to a large installed base of glass owners.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
We have a few developments to share in the high speed camera world. Things have been somewhat quiet in the phone front as the high speed component feature was relegated to a footnote in 2019 after a great 2017 and 2018 main spec treatment. We may get much better phone slow motion as memory size and speed increases while maintaining the same price range thanks to the fast pace of electronics development.
Sony just announced their latest RX VII camera which means that an RX10 and maybe a new RX VA version will show up before the year is over. We were not happy with the feature being stagnant in resolution and speed on the RX series for 3 years in a row now. Sure AF and overall speed have increased when it comes to other parts of the camera but the high frame rates remain frozen in 2016 specs. In the meantime, we have a few new things to show you.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Let us start by saying that we are huge fans of the Lumix line by Panasonic and their cameras in general. The GH5 is still a powerhouse of a camera for serious video work and the 180fps FUll HD slow motion is better than many others before or since at that frame rate while at 120fps is as good as the best Sonys out there. However, the recently announced Lumix G95 drops the ball in several fronts when it comes to really good video performance which has become a trademark for Panasonic.
The G95 has all the looks and character of a great hybrid camera but has a crippled video mode that may put off many buyers looking for the perfect intermediate camera. The 4k, for example, has a 1.25x crop on top of the nearly 2x crop of the micro 4/3 sensor. Making it a little larger than the area of a 1″ sensor. This will sacrifice video quality in the lack of supersampling and low light will suffer from the added megapixels.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Ever wondered how super slow motion in the past was capable of multi-thousand fps performance with just film exposures? Well, they used customized camera rigs that combined multiple rolls of films, mirrors, and synch cables to essentially get a result beyond what the limitations of the equipment forced upon the shooter.
In a very cool video by Camera Tech on Youtube from 2015 they were able to get a custom mirror rig to shoot simultaneously on two GoPro cameras with a semi-translucent angled mirror that splits the light to each camera lens by 50% making it possible to sum both frame rates in post by alternating the frames captured by both cameras with a very slight time difference equivalent to 1/frame rate expected.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Fujifilm continues to further evolve their high-end mirrorless offerings by releasing the X-T3 which is a souped-up X-T2 with much of what was missing like 4k 60p and a new X-Trans Sensor now with 2 more megapixels and lower base ISO of 160. The new camera also has a touchscreen with the ability to use up to 425 Phase and Contrast hybrid Autofocus points which is their most advanced AF yet.
Others will point out to the new blackout-free burst shooting much like that in the Sony high enda9 for example. What is really remarkable here is that the 4k 60p mode is 10 bit 4:2:0 vs 8 bit on competitors, as to what big advantage that will be remains to be seen considering 4:2:0 is not exactly ideal. For slow motion fans, the camera now records 120fps 1080p at 200Mbps bs 100Mbps on the X-T2→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
