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!
While there has been little chatter on the high speed fps1000 project this past month; that was no deterrent from the continuing development of the project itself. Graham Rowan the creator of the camera has posted an update with just a few quick notes.
Nicolas Vuignier is an extreme skier and pretty able action camera man that has devised a contraption that creates a centrifugal force tether to suspend a camera in this case an iPhone 6 and record 360 degree slow motion video for a “The Matrix” like bullet time effect while descending from a steep snow covered mountain.
He is working on a behind the scenes video “Making Of” which will show how he was able to do it in terms of gear, the tether and the skills necessary to pull it off. In theory a tether like this could be used with even more slow motion capable cameras at higher frame rates for an even greater effect.
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.
Canon has been quite layed back in the past few years after the splash it did with DSLRs and the 5D Mark II 30p,24p and original 7D offering 720p 60fps in frame rates. This was so las decade and while there have been improvements there has not been an indication of the camera line growing up to develop a true leap in the video mode to EOS users. We have seen a transition to other systems like the Panasonic GH4 Micro 4/3 and Sony NEX series by many video pros looking for better video quality and higher frame rates besides Canon and Nikon bodies.
The video quality while stagnant in Canon and Nikon land has actually increased to 4k in other systems with amazing low light performance like that of the a7s Sony series. Canon seems to have woken up from their slumber with the new Canon 1DX Mk II a Professional answer with a full frame sensor and what looks to be a worthy video mode that is now up to date and competitive with some of the best out there in the under 120fps camp.
SIGMA has released a compelling video showing their new process for ceramic lens filters being compared to other brands in a metallic ball drop test. The ball weighs 49 grams or 1.7 oz and it is dropped from a height of four feet.
According to SIGMA, their strengthening ceramic process is 10x or 1000% stronger than previous strengthening methods which are included in the video as the competition to compare them.
The GoPro Like competitor project Mokacam on indiegogo has reached their goal 13x over or 1329% with over 660k USD by their backers. The project is just hours away from closing funding and a few of their offer kits are still available. If for anything it is a very cheap way to get into 4k at 15fps on a small GoPro like camera for under $200 USD with options for a tilt screen, pluggable magnetic batteries and even a portable electronic gimble for the tiny wonder of a camera.
What jumps out is how good the image quality is and all the surmounted obstacles that the team successfully accomplished to get the camera ready for production. It is not as strong in the frame rates as the GoPro Hero 4 black as it is only 15fps at 4k but it is not it’s function to eclipse that camera but to offer an alternative at a very low cost. It also offers a 1080p 60, 120fps 720p mode and a 240fps VGA mode hence why we are covering it as a high speed camera.