Tag Archives: interpolation

BEST SLOW MOTION CAMERAS OF 2021!

 

We have passed another year in slow motion land and while camera releases were more plenty than expected considering the chip shortage and teh COVID disruption, it’s time to take a look back through the year’s camera releases, and see which delivered on the price/performance scale when it comes to slow motion frame rates.  Phones are stagnationg while high end cameras are getting more frame rate options in higher resolution. Our Best Slow Motion Cameras Of 2021 have been selected and ordered by recommendation! → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Rife-App Creates Higher frame Rates 25x Faster!

A few months back we took a look at Dain app, and how it was able to use AI and machine learning to create in between frames from almost any source footage and create something that looked and felt like real footage taken with higher fps cameras.  The algorithm was so revolutionary that it took the world by storm, making older software that used re-timing from Adobe and others look antiquated and underpowered.  The Dain-App was great and it was a pay what you want App but had an Achilles heel. The software required a powerful Nvidia GPU with as much VRAM as you could muster to be able to convert footage and re-time it.  

The new Rife-App which is the direct successor of Dain App by the creator GRisk is up to 25x faster than the original, improves the algorithm, and by many examples betters it by creating more seamless transitions. The flow of frames is frankly jaw-droppingly beautiful, especially on low frame rate animation.   We estimate that Animation studios in 2D will eat this app up immediately, and even 3D animation studios could reduce their render times by calculating fewer frames and using Rife-App to increase them to 24p, 30p or 60p from a lower source like 20fps or 12fps.   → Continue Reading Full Post ←

BEST SLOW MOTION CAMERAS OF 2020!

BEST SLOW MOTION CAMERAS OF 2020

As the end of 2020 nears, it’s time to take a look back through the year’s camera releases amid the COVID 19 chaos, and see which delivered on the price/performance bracket with slow motion frame rates as the primary goal.  Phone slow motion took a back seat this year as the interest of the feature in phones was subdued or even eliminated. Our Best Slow Motion Cameras Of 2020 have been selected and ordered by recommendation!

We saw some surprises including a mostly affordable 4k slow motion solution and the adoption of 4k 120fps on many cameras which makes us think 240fps at UHD should be something to think about in the coming years as a regular option once 8k video is commonplace on consumer recording devices and TVs. The increase in resolution should theoretically allow for a lot of 4k frame rates to be offered as 8k delivers 4x the pixel count of 4k for any given frame rate. Keep on reading for our 2020 picks!

BEST SLOW MOTION CAMERAS of 2020:

Without further ado here are what we believe are the best value slow motion cameras in their respective categories for the year 2020:

Best Slow Motion Phone Category:

3rd Place) Sony Xperia 5 II:

The Sony Xperia 5 II is all about capturing the best video possible on a smartphone and in HDR. The kick here is that the phone is capable of 4k 120fps in full HDR which is pretty much class-leading.

The footage below will give you a taste of what the phone can do. In good light, it will let you capture excellent quality 4k 120p footage with the possibility to grade as it records a gradable flat profile.  In low light, it will be a pretty unremarkable image with grain and artifacts as could be expected from the light requirements when shooting at high speed.

Sony Xperia 5 II: 4K 120fps video footage by CNET Highlights:

Sony Xperia 5 II Slow Motion Specs:

  • 120fps 4k
  • 60fps 1080p

This is one of the first phones to offer 120fps in 4k which will probably become a standard spec in 2021 for flagships. However absent is the slow motion at 1080p which considering the 4k oomph, it should have been capable of 480fps at 1080p or similar. It is a shame that the spec was completely avoided considering HDR in 120fps 4k requires 240fps full pixel readout before merging.  In theory, 240fps non-HDR is possible on this phone but not available for unspecified reasons. Phones are becoming more powerful by the day and this is one that has our attention. The just under $1k price tag is not ideal but some of the best phones are going to cost you.

2nd Place) OnePlus 8T:

One Plus continues to offer compelling slow motion features on their phones with 480fps 1080p and up to 480fps at 720p.  It gives you a quad 48MP camera module which is literally insane considering the phone sells for under $750USD and has 120hz refresh rate. Feature-wise it has probably everything under the sun and then some and will not disappoint in the performance realm.

Fireworks in Slow motion – OnePlus 8T 480fps in dark by sternking: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Multiply Your Video Frame Rate with Dain-App !

Multiply Your Video Frame Rate

We got over 20 messages with essentially the same video sample in our inbox this week. They all touted the new interpolation from the DAIN experimental App or (Depth Aware Video Interpolation App)  which now analyses footage with a Neural network AI algorithm that crunches motion vectors and even what seemed impossible before “Object Occlusion” to generate higher frame rates from lower fps sources.  The technology is pretty fascinating and should be further improved by more training and samples over the coming years.

For stop motion animators, this is a complete game-changer as now you could animate with as little as 8fps and then interpolate to 30fps or 60fps with very little in the way of tearing and artifacting as long as the footage is well lit and objects clearly defined.  To make matters more interesting, it also analyses footage with shallow depth of field yielding impressive results.

Multiply Your Video Frame Rate with Interpolation or the “I” Word for Slow Motion Enthusiasts:

We visited the Interpolation topic in the past on our Fake Slow Motion article and concluded that then, the quality of interpolation while good was far from usable and you really could not compromise real high fps footage from interpolated versions except in very simple cases.

Now with DAIN technology, we have no choice but to re-visit the cases and analyze what it is capable of.  We looked at a few dozen examples and it is clear the technology has progressed forward so much that now stop motion animation, 2D Cell-based cartoon animation, and even 3D animated sequences rendered at 30p can easily be turned in higher fps increments yielding impressive and in some cases miraculous results.

We would like you to first watch the video below to understand what a depth map is and how the software in DAIN can create frames from nothing that look just like real ones.  A depth map will generate an approximated view of the world in a Lidar-Like vision representation to figure out to the best of the AI estimation where objects are in a scene according to their location close or far to the camera.

Depth-Aware Video Frame Interpolation by Wenbo Bao:

Even at 48fps from  12fps source, it is clear the technology in DAIN can yield impressive results even with heavy organic detail in the background including foliage. The software does an admirable job of estimating the relative position of objects in the video scenes.

AI使用フレーム補間アプリ DAIN APP byTALBOの実験室 Ch.: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Galaxy S20 Slow Motion Samples Revisited!

Galaxy S20 Slow Motion Samples

Due to reader demand, we are posting new slow motion samples for the Galaxy S20 line.  We see just slight improvements over the Galaxy S10 in terms of detail and color but since the phones are the new flagship for the defacto Android international brand, there is a lot of weight in what it can do when it comes to the video mode.  There is no secret that Samsung has stagnated in slow motion since the Galaxy S8 and the S20 is an evolutionary step with better reproduction and more intelligent capture but not really groundbreaking.

There is no increase in frame rates above 960fps at 720p and the resolution is not even true 720p as it is jagged and stair-stepped in detailed shots. We kind of see it as a 480p mode upsized to 720p.  We do gain a 1 full second record time instead of 0.4sec on the S10 which is a big improvement even when the resolution is still kind of identical.  It would have been great if Samsung could have done a solid and created a true 960fps 1080p Full HD Mode.  We will have to wait for another crack at it on a future phone.

Galaxy S20 Slow Motion Samples Revisited!

Before you start looking at the samples it is important to revisit the S20 line slow motion specs. Below is the breakdown:
Super Slow-mo only supports HD resolution. On Galaxy S20 and S20+ 5G, users can record approximately 1 second of video captured at up to 960 fps with approximately 32 seconds of playback. On Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, users can record approximately 1 second of video captured at 480 fps and digitally enhance the video to 960 fps with approximately 32 seconds of playback. Playback time can be edited in Super Slow-mo player.

So to break it down:

  • Galaxy S20 5G – 960fps 720p with 1 second recording time.
  • Galaxy S20+ 5G – 960fps 720p with 1 second recording time.
  • Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G – 480fps 720p with 1 second recording time then it can be interpolated to 960fps 720p for 2x the frame rate.

The good news is we gain recording time from the earlier generation of 0.4 seconds to 1 full second or close to it “We will have to see when the phone ships”. That is a lot to like.  There is however no mention of the quality of the video and if it is improved with less pixelation and aliasing.

So if you want better slow motion the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G top of the line is not for you as the true real highest frame rate is 480fps. The other cheaper models make more sense here. Time for the samples now…

Slow Mo Video samples below from the S20:

 

Galaxy S20 plus Super slow motion – Dragonfly Dance by JemSpot:

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Cinematic Footage Slowmotion by rocket raccoon: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Galaxy S20 Slow Motion will improve 960fps !

Galaxy S20 Slow Motion

The recently announced Galaxy S20 phone line has been making some waves with impressive specs especially related to the camera modules.  As always we are only interested here in the high speed video specs here at HSC “not even the new 8k video spec” and the new phones are an improvement over the S10 and Note 10 lines.  However, it is important to note that not all S20s will share the same slow motion specs and that is what this post is about.

You may think that the S20 Ultra 5G will be the easy choice here but it is hardly as straight forward as that.  The amount of technology packed in the Ultra phone along with four camera modules and one of them at over 100MP means they prioritized photo resolution over video shooting in their sensor selection. The Ultra will not natively support the 960fps spec but default to only 480fps.

Galaxy S20 Slow Motion Specs:

We go directly to Samsung’s take from this information provided in the official website:
Super Slow-mo only supports HD resolution. On Galaxy S20 and S20+ 5G, users can record approximately 1 second of video captured at up to 960 fps with approximately 32 seconds of playback. On Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, users can record approximately 1 second of video captured at 480 fps and digitally enhance the video to 960 fps with approximately 32 seconds of playback. Playback time can be edited in Super Slow-mo player.

So to break it down:

  • Galaxy S20 5G – 960fps 720p with 1 second recording time.
  • Galaxy S20+ 5G – 960fps 720p with 1 second recording time.
  • Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G 480fps 720p with 1 second recording time then it can be interpolated to 960fps 720p for 2x the frame rate.

The good news is we gain recording time from the earlier generation of 0.4 seconds to 1 full second or close to it “We will have to see when the phone ships”. That is a lot to like.  There is however no mention of the quality of the video and if it is improved with less pixelation and aliasing.

S20 Ultra 5G Samples?

The following samples by MKP Captain are not authenticated by HSC but seem to be real, in any case, do not bank on the quality shown here until more samples are available.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Slow Motion by MKP Captain:

Samsung Galaxy S20 Slow Motion 2 by MKP Captain:

If the videos above are real then we have seen a mild improvement in slow motion quality but remember that this is the Ultra phone on the top which is shooting at 720p 480fps and not at 960fps even when there is interpolation happening, the frames are half made by the processing unit and not captured live.   At HSC we are no fans of interpolation so we can safely avoid the S20 Ultra 5G as a slow motion contender unless you are fine with 480p.

The second video is of the regular S20 which shows no interpolation artifacts but the quality still leaves a lot to be desired. Samsung seems to have added time recording but hardly improved the quality from earlier phones that offered 960p.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus Slow Motion by MKP Captain: → Continue Reading Full Post ←