Panasonic has released the specs of a new smaller version of their Varicam professional video camera with an S35mm sensor. The Varicam LT is the low cost version of the Varicam 35 which has higher end specs at a significantly higher price. The Varicam 35 has a 4k mode that allows up to 120fps at full 4k resolution while the Varicam LT has less power at a maximum of 4k 60fps.
The LT is mostly identical after that 4k downgrade in the rest of it’s capabilities with dual native ISO of 800 ISO and 5000 ISO for extremely clean image quality at those native ISOs. The Sensor itself is built for those opportunities that need higher sensitivity but also allow to shoot at reduced sensitivity for bright conditions. This is great news for the use of the high frame rate feature. The inclusion of EF mount and PL signify the seriousness of the product for an installed base of videographers and film makers with a growing arsenal of Canon and PL glass instead of Panasonic only lenses. They also state that EF lens compatibility will need to be tested and they will not support it directly.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The Sony a6000 was a good middle of the line performer with pretty competitive performance. The new a6300 is a refined version with some pretty robust improvements in the video area.
For starters the 4k 30p, 24p, 25p video internal mode records in the robust XAVC-S video format at up to 100Mbps which is comparable to what the Panasonic GH4 and a7s II cameras record 4k into. It also has S-Log3 Gamma for a flat profile for creative grading and LUT application for editors and colorists. If you were looking for a Sony 4k alternative in an S35 crop sensor then this is the camera for you. Furthermore the 4k mode is using the entire S35 frame and correctly down-sampling the image for extremely crisp looking 4k video from a 6k original sensor source.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The edgertronic professional affordable high speed camera continues to evolve and the latest 2.1.6 software release adds a few pretty cool features and a few small bug fixes to the line. The update will be beneficial to all previous and new owners of the camera at no extra cost as it has been in the past. The camera also maintains the #1 spot in our HSC Camera Guide for price/performance.
We would also like to point out that the edgertronic has shipped it’s 540th high speed camera to date and it is a remarkable feat considering the expected low volume of sales of high speed imaging cameras. Congratulations to the Sanstreak team and Mike Matter for reaching this impressive milestone.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The edgertronic camera continues to evolve with firmware releases that improve the camera in many ways and patches bugs here and there that crop up while in use. The latest 2.1.5 firmware ads a very important feature for owners of multi camera setups which is called “Multicast Network Trigger” which is a pseudo Gen-lock feature that does not require cables between cameras directly and the network connection within the camera creates the interface for trigger sync among multiple edgertronic cameras.
Feature notes: “The camera supports being triggered by the receipt of a network multicast UDP packet. This is useful when you have multiple cameras that need to be triggered close to the same time but do not need to be genlocked. The advantage of triggering via a network multicast packet is extra cabling between the camera is not needed.” → Continue Reading Full Post ←
The Sony A7S II had a lot to live up to considering low light performance and it has so far been exceptional. But the question about slow motion quality lingered as to a new Spec of 1080p 120fps would perform compared to the previous 720p 120fps and to regular 1080p 60 video. New video tests have surfaced that show how good and or limited the new slow motion spec is on this camera. Many will be satisfied with just the 4k video at astounding levels of ISO which short of the Canon ME20F-SH with 4 million ISO it is the best second option with more resolution at a Max ISO of 409,600.
The Slow motion spec seems to be somewhat limited in quality compared to normal video on the Sony A7S II with a reported 20Mbit/sec for 120fps which is the 100Mbit/sec camera spec stretched 5x to playback at 24p. 20 Mbit is’t that bad considering it is 1080p and the artifacts are well controlled. There are some here and there including some compression macro-blocks if you search for them but for the vast majority of users the camera has a very good slow motion mode built in; albeit at 120fps as it will go no further up the frame rate scale.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The folks of TheVideoMode.com have had some time with the new Leica SL Typ 601 and the Sony A7s Mark II. Some videos showing the interface for accessing the slow motion interface have been posted on their site. There is also a slow motion low light sample of the A7s Mark II at 120fps for you to watch.
