Sometimes getting a slow motion camera that performs to the spec you need and at a quality you can’t compromise on; means you have to get a professional piece of gear that is used but fully working. In that market you will still not find extremely cheap cameras but it will surely cost much less than what the hardware cost’s retail if you can live with a few scuffs or missing cables.
We have found a few options that are on the secondary market that fit the bill and these cameras offer exemplary performance and should perform reliably. Note that these are just recommended for you to look at and any decision to buy is your own. We are not responsible for any malfunction or transaction you establish with the sellers. We are only shedding some light on these options. → Continue Reading Full Post ←
Apple today unveiled the iPhone SE; little kept secret due to huge leaks in the rumor sites. What was not confirmed was the camera specs which as it turns out are exactly the same as the bigger and more expensive iPhone 6s flagship brother.
The camera should yield the exact same performance as the iPhone 6s which means great news when it comes to slow motion aficionados. 120fps at full 1080p and 240fps at 720p made their way in the specs which gives some indication that Apple cut very little from the phone; with the biggest omission being 3D touch.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Announced just last week the Sony PXW-Z150 gets a lot of right for the low end pro video market. It has 4k 4:2:0 as many in the competitive price range of $3,595 MSRP. It has 4:2:2 1080p 10 bit at 50mbit which is a good surprise and it seems to be carried to the also included 120fps full HD 1080p slow motion mode.
The sensor is of the stacked kind and it is 1″ sized, the same as the ones in the RX100 IV and RX10 II from Sony which are really good at slow motion for a low price. However those full specs are not carried through in the high frame rate mode or HFR. It maxes out at 120fps 1080p instead of 240fps on the RX series in the 1k range and the FS5 which is a tad more expensive than the Z150.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
What came as sort of a surprise and some mitigated anger to current recent owners of the camera, JVC announced that the JVC GY-LS300 4k, HD and SD capable camcorder will now be offered at $1,000 USD cheaper from a MSRP of $3,995 to $2,995. Furthermore it has a few new features added in a free firmware upgrade to current and new owners of the camera in April.
The update brings full HD 120fps capability to an already robust camera along with “JVC Log Gamma” recording mode. The camera offers a Micro 4/3 mount for easy use of different lens mounts including Canon and Nikkor lenses which is a big strength of this setup. Hundreds of adapted lenses can be used from almost any manufacturer. The JVC Log mode is supposed to increase dynamic range by 800%. We find that claim a little on the superlative side and probably will bring 2-3 real stops improvement in DR.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
So you have an iPhone and want to get the best video possible out of it. Should you stay with Apple’s camera implementation or should you branch out and look for better capture apps? Those that do the best job at compressing your footage and extracting the utmost quality from it.
For years the App to flock to if you own an iPhone is the FiLMiC Pro for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch by Cinegenix. It was used in the Zacuto revenge of the Camera shootout in 2012 to capture the segments with the iPhone which rivaled, according to the audience of judges, cameras much stronger in specs and capture quality. It tied with the Canon C300 and beat the Sony FS100. That test was highly subjective with a lot of light to fill in the soft spots of the camera, however that did not detract from the fact that FiLMiC Pro did an amazing job at delivering a more grade-able and professional looking footage than Apple’s stock implementation on the then iPhone 4s. You can see the test here!→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Now that a couple of weeks have passed it is clear that the camera in the new iPhone 6s is better than the previous model in every single way. It has 12MP instead of 8MP, it has UHD 4k recording in video and has 120fps 1080p slowmo which is up from 720p. The dynamic range is on par with the previous model but with the added feature of less noise and artifacts due to new in sensor technology and software processing. While most users will not notice much in the way of improvements; they are there and especially if you look at the video mode the new iPhone is a fantastic upgrade from the regular 6 model.
The 120fps 1080p mode is very good and the detail is retained as long as there is not a lot of minute detail and extreme numbers of objects/changes in the scene. It is not as good as regular 1080p but it is close as there is not a lot of detail loss especially when using Macro mode. If you want it to shoot a single water drop it should do great but if you are recording assorted splashes the codec will break apart and macro-blocks will start to invade your scene. It works very well for people and large scene objects and a lot of detail is preserved. The 240fps mode is also improved in the artifacts and noise which means the processing is improved as you can see much less aliasing and moire. It is still not true 720p but it is very close. As of now we think the iPhone 6s has better slow motion quality than the GoPro Hero 4 Black and the Sony Action Cam Sony FDR-X1000V . It is the best slowmo phone available in quantity as of today. The New Nexus 6P has 720p 240fps to compete with the iPhone but no realistic samples besides the Hummingbird Video which is still unconfirmed exist. This will change in the near future when users get their hands on it.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
