Panasonic has been quite busy this morning with a plethora of camera announcements. It seems 4k is strongly anchored in the product line matrix by adding the feature on pretty much every product category this year. It seems to throw the message to the rest of the electronics camera industry that 1080p is so last year and that 4k is the make it or break it feature for compact and larger cameras alike.
Camcorder Replacements:
The Moto X Force is the international release version of what is known in the USA as the Droid Turbo 2 which lacks a good slow motion mode in itself. However there is a big rumor that the international version will have a 240fps 720p slow motion mode.
Warning: The parent company of FPS cameras “The Slow Motion Camera Company Ltd.” went out of business and entered liquidation proceedings. No further development of cameras is expected. More information here on Google Search!
A milestone in the fps1000 project has been reached as now a small batch of cameras have been shipped to some of the backers that were content with the full metal casing design. The camera ran into some hurdles on EMC testing with the latest case design “some pesky leaks” which have been corrected and are awaiting a re-test. Cameras are running a stable and usable software already letting the cameras record and do capture as intended. The early adopters will serve as beta testers and will help Graham Rowan the creator of the fps1000 iron out software bugs if they appear before a wider release.
Digital Anarchy’s flicker free plugin will be reduced in price 25% -regular price: $149 Holiday Sale price: $111 until this Saturday December 12th. As you may or may not know flicker is a side effect of phase pulse on artificial lighting affecting the image quality of video and especially bad in slow motion high frame rates.
Flicker Free is a plug-in for Adobe After Effects & Premiere Pro that combats and usually fully eliminates flicker within the video image with a variety of customizable parameters. It is easy to use, fast rendering and it is as of now the best software tool available to get rid of flicker. HSC does not get a referral profit from the sale of the Flicker Free software, we just like the software and saving a few bucks is great for our readers.
The Xiaomi Yi Action Camera formerly only marketed in China is now reaching the US via Amazon with Prime delivery. The camera is an ultra cheap clone of what the GoPro Hero is with funky colors for the body and subdued in features compared to the Hero Black. It is more of a Hero Standard for under $100 USD for a basic camera and kits for not much more with waterproof casings, selfie sticks and a blue tooth remote.
The camera has a slow motion feature set and while it is not earth shattering it is pretty respectable for what an under $100 USD device can deliver.
It’s been an impressive year for Sony camera releases when it comes to slow motion capabilities. We saw a resurgence of real innovation in the space with the Sony RX10 II and the Sony RX100 IV which have amazing quality for the price even when the limitations are there when it comes to quality vs time recorded which when it comes to getting the utmost frame resolution the higher frame rates are limited to just 2 seconds. The PXW-FS5 camera has Slow motion of 8 second bursts at full HD quality at 240fps and the same at reduced resolutions but higher frame rates.