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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 ←

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 ←

Dain app GPU and why you should wait for 2021!

Dain app GPU

Probably no computer-related technology has received more attention on the PC side than GPUs.  NVidia launched the 3000 series of cards with aggressive pricing that completely obliterate the previous 2000 series GPUs for much less money. Things are great for PC gamers, machine learning coders, and 3D animators in 2020 with these levels of performance except for the fact that there is a complete scarcity of GPU cards in most lines including but not limited to the 2000 and 3000 series for a variety of reasons.

Dain app the machine learning frame rate interpolation software uses CUDA v5.0 as the minimum requirement or a GeForce GTX 750 as the minimum card to run it. But that does not mean it will be fast or be able to finish interpolating your high res footage. In fact, a 720p clip interpolated frame rate needs about 10-11GB of VRAM memory on the card as it runs the entirety of the calculation in video memory for predictive algorithms to work.

Dain app and the GPU Shortage:

Dain App will be able to run in any CUDA 5.0+ supported Nvidia card or the following:

  • GeForce GTX 750 Ti, GeForce GTX 750, GeForce GTX 960M, GeForce GTX 950M, GeForce 940M, GeForce 930M, GeForce GTX 860M, GeForce GTX 850M, GeForce 845M, GeForce 840M, GeForce 830M, GeForce GTX 870M
  • GeForce GTX Titan X, GeForce GTX 980 Ti, GeForce GTX 980, GeForce GTX 970, GeForce GTX 960, GeForce GTX 950, GeForce GTX 750 SE,
    GeForce GTX 980M, GeForce GTX 970M, GeForce GTX 965M
  • Nvidia TITAN Xp, Titan X,
    GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, GTX 1080, GTX 1070 Ti, GTX 1070, GTX 1060,
    GTX 1050 Ti, GTX 1050, GT 1030,
    MX350, MX330, MX250, MX230, MX150, MX130, MX110
  • NVIDIA TITAN RTX,
    GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080 Super, RTX 2080, RTX 2070 Super, RTX 2070, RTX 2060 Super, RTX 2060,
    GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, GTX 1660 Super, GTX 1660, GTX 1650 Super, GTX 1650, MX450
  • GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080, RTX 3070, RTX 3060 Ti

However, since the app runs on video memory or VRAM you need a card with a minimum of 4GB of it to have any sort of success at interpolating frames. Even then your card will have too little VRAM to do anything over VGA resolution. There is a workaround however by using the Split frames into sections feature which will render small pixel buckets of frames and re-align a merged final frame with all the parts when done. This allows you to literally render up to 4k footage at higher frame rates without getting higher video memory.

How to Create Slow Motion Videos with DAIN APP | AI Frame Interpolation by GreenBox:

This workaround is very slow and can take days for a few second 4k clip to render on a mid-range PC.  Your best bet is to get a faster GPU with tons of VRAM. In our view, a minimum of 10GB of VRAM or even better yet a minimum of 12GB is preferable to get the best performance.  In Dain app your card’s CUDA cores are the primary speed accelerator but without enough VRAM it becomes slow as molasses.

The good news is that new Nvidia GPUs have more and more VRAM than ever before.  The just-launched 3000 series toys with 24GB on the high end to 8GB on the low end 3060 Ti cards.  However, none of these cards are available at this time at their suggested retail prices. Scalpers literally bought the entire free supply of cards and are selling them on eBay and Amazon at ridiculously high prices approaching anywhere from 40% to 150% mark up. 

You would think that the 3060 Ti FE starting at $399 for an 8GB of VRAM card would be ideal for the Dain app, cheap, great performance, and close to the ideal 10GB of VRAM but there lies the problem.  8GB will force you to do segmented rendering for higher frame rates and that will limit your speed and video frame sizes. Your render time will increase exponentially with also some artifacts from conjoining segments showing up in some instances.

What to do?

If money is no object then we suggest you get a 3090 RTX card with 24GB of RAM. This will be the ideal card setup but we are talking at a hefty price increase as MSRP cards are nowhere to be found. Relying on scalpers will cost you dearly.  You could still get a 3080 with 10GB of VRAM or a 3070, 3060 Ti with 8GB for about 40% more money.

There is a better option in our view and that is, wait for next year. Nvidia is going to ramp up production of 3000 series cards by Q1 2021 offering better lower-priced options of current cards and also a new 3060 card launching with less CUDA and Raytracing tensor cores but with a whopping 12GB of VRAM option.

By having 12GB of VRAM the 3060 card will be ideal for DAIN app on a budget and be able to render footage directly without segmenting the frames. You will get a big cut on CUDA cores on these cards compared to the 3060 TI.  Rumors say that the 4864 CUDA cores of the 3060 Ti will drop down to  3840 on the regular 3060 card. That is a cut of 1000 cores.  It will still have more CUDA cores than most of the 2000 series so it will still be a very capable card for sure.  For example, a 2080 standard card only features 2944 CUDA Cores.  You will really be able to get better technology for a smaller price tag for gaming, graphics, and machine learning applications like Dain app.

Card Options Today?

1. Nvidia RTX 3000 Series

We first start with the RTX 3000 series. You can get them today at high prices but the links below should adjust in time to much lower levels as supply catches up to demand.

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2. Nvidia RTX 2000 Series:

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3. Get in the EVGA Queue!

The company EVGA has developed a product queue at https://www.evga.com/ that allows you to place your name on a waiting list and will email you the right to buy a card for 8 hours. If you do not buy it it will go to the next in line and you will have to re-register a new slot.

We feel this is great for two reasons, you get a great product at the MSRP price and you also refrain from supporting the scalping market.  The downside is that you may have to wait weeks to months for a slot to become available.

4. Wait for next year!

If you wait until 2021, Nvidia will have a January announcement event for RTX with the rumored RTX 3060 card which will be the renamed 3050 ti card.  There will be an option with 12GB of VRAM which will be the best in price performance and should be under $350 USD when it ships in quantity.

Final note: 

We feel you should only buy a card now at inflated prices if you absolutely need it for mission-critical work.  If you can wait please do so to combat price gouging and scalpers who destroy the legitimate market for technology parts.

We have rarely seen such a blatant attack to the consumer. The RTX cards have been gone in mere seconds from online sources due to bots that continuously scan for new stock and snatch it automatically.   By not buying from them you support the community at large and save money in the process.

You can read our article on Dain App and the interpolation of footage that lets you create very convincing super slow motion from almost any frame rate. However, the app shines even more with high-speed footage. You can literally create a 4000fps video from a 1000fps source that looks almost as good as the real thing. Of course you will create frames and data from the ether so for mission-critical and lab studies, Dain app will not be an option.

If you get a new card and run it through Dain app, please share your results and footage below.  Merry Christmas -HSC

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Fuji X-S10 Slow Motion 240fps Samples!

Now that the surprise camera of 2020 has been out for a while, it is time to revisit the 240fps mode included in the video features. At first glance, it delivered 720p quality or less in an upscaled 1080p wrapper.  However many Fuji fans asked us to revisit the slow motion quality of this camera as early samples supposedly did not do justice to what this mode was able to deliver.

We have to agree to some extent that the quality of this camera in 240fps Full HD slow motion is better than other even more expensive options but we still feel that Fuji cut corners when it comes to image quality here by dropping lines and having a pretty noisy output unless there is an ample amount of light.  We have some samples that will let you see what this camera is capable of and make you decide if it is a good enough option for your camera collection.

Fuji X-S10 Slow Motion 240fps Samples:

The camera can shoot up to 6 minutes in high frame rate mode and saves the file in a 60fps Full HD file for playback according to the official manual here. You can always lower the frame rate further to conform for 24p, 25p, and 30p if needed.

Fuji X-S10 Video Samples Below:

Fujifilm X-S10 Slo Mo 240fps test by Abu Habeeb:

Fujifilm X S10 240 FPS slow motion ,IBIS.Handheld Shooting without colour grade (ETERNA) by Aju Eapen: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Slow Motion Phones and the Youtube Fakes!

Slow Motion Phones

Believable slow motion video samples on Youtube for phones and cameras are so confusing nowadays that you simply cannot rely on them unless it comes from a reputable source.  The avalanche of fakes is so big that it makes it next to impossible to find the real ones out there.  It also makes it extremely hard to choose a slow motion capable phone when the supposed videos you are looking at are faked from other devices or even professional slow motion cameras.

There is also the big problem of stealing real quality slow motion footage from other channels and using it in compilations that claim to be from a phone or camera in order to get clicks and views for quick revenue.  The problem goes even deeper when these fakes overtake most other real videos due to the viral nature of their compilations as they usually look much better than anything these cheap devices they claim to represent can do.   We examine a few cases that can educate you on how to spot these fakes!

Slow Motion Phones Sample fakes:

The Xiaomi Mi 10 pro, for example, is a phone that boasts the following specs in frame rates:

960fps 720P/1080P
240fps 720P/1080P
120fps 720P/1080P

Xiaomi is not very forthcoming with the specs of the slow motion as it does not specify duration or method of capture. The samples below show us the problem of fakes head-on:

Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro Slow Motion camera test. by Pro Mind Tech:(FAKE)

Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 960FPS slow motion video sample by myphone.gr: (REAL) → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Z CAM E2 M4 Slow Motion With Affordable 4k 160fps!

Z CAM E2 M4 Slow Motion

The new Z CAM E2 – M4 Micro 4/3″ sensor cinema 4k camera offers performance that punches way above its own price weight of just $1,499 @ Adorama which is $500 less than the very similar regular Z CAM E2 just lacking Multicam synch support which is a very minor trade off considering the power and benefits you gain.   It has Triple native ISO of  80 / 160 / 800 and 13 stops of DR using their ZLog profile, and 16 stops of DR in WDR mode which does some HDR processing.

The frame rates are also outstanding for such a low-cost camera and while the higher setting requires H.265 encoding which for many is not ideal considering it lowers the bit depth from 10 bits to 8, it offers what many cameras only dream of.  160fps in 4k in beautiful resolution and up to 240fps in 1080p which has very good quality with some compromises.

Z CAM E2 and E2 M4 Main Specs:

  • Dynamic Range13~15 Stops (Z-Log2) / 16 Stops (with WDR activated)
  • Sensor Type4/3″ WDR CMOS Sensor
  • Effective Pixels10.28M
  • Lens MountMicro Four Thirds  19.0 x 13.0 mm
  • Max Variable Frame Rate120 fps for 4096 x 2160 (H.265 only)
    120 fps for 3840 x 2160 (H.265 only)
    150 fps for 4096 x 1728 (H.265 only)
    160 fps for 3840 x 1620 (H.265 only)
    160 fps for 2704 x 1600 (H.265 only)
    59.94 fps for 3696 x 2772 (Apple ProRes & H.265)
    59.94 fps for 3312 x 2760 (Apple ProRes & H.265)
    240 fps for 1920 x 1080 (H.265 only)
  • MediaCFAST 2.0
  • Max Bit RateH.265 / H.264
    300 Mbps for 4096 x 2160 / 3840 x 2160 / 4096 x 1728 / 3840 x 1620 / 3696 x 2772 / 3312 x 2760 / 2704 x 1600
    200 Mbps for 1920 x 1080
    -ProRes
    Please check “Apple ProRes White Paper” for the bit rate of ProRes encoding.
  • 12-Bit ProRes RAW
    10-bit (H.265 & ProRes) & 8-bit (H.264)
  • Triple native ISO 80 / 160 / 800
  • Video EncoderProRes Raw, ProRes 422 HQ / ProRes 422 / ProRes 422 LT / ProRes 422
    ZRAW (partial debayer) / Proxy / H.265 main 10 profile / H.264 high profile
  • Connectivity
  • HDMI
  • HDMI 2.0 Type A (video output up to C4K @60fps)
  • USB USB 3.0 Type C for camera control & data transfer only
  • I/O  10-pin LEMO port for synchronization (requires additional Sync Cable, not included)
  • COM    DB-9 connector, supports RS-232
  • Remote Control  2.5 mm jack socket (Sony LANC compatible)
  • Audio In – 3.5 mm stereo jack socket for active microphone only, or 5-pin LEMO port for dual-channel XLR microphone (requires additional XLR audio connector)
  • Audio-out  3.5 mm stereo jack socket
  • Wi-Fi 802.11n, 2.4G with external antenna port
  • Ethernet  Gigabit Ethernet port for control, setting & live streaming
  • Power  Battery Sony NP-F series compatible (Battery not included)
  • External Power Supply  – DC 12V 5A (4-pin LEMO socket), with LEMO connector and AC/DC power adapter
  • Material  Aluminum Alloy
  • Weight  757 g (without lens)
  • Dimensions (W x H x D) 91.2 mm x 99.2 mm x 89.1 mm (without lens)

So just from a specs point of view we can see the E2 being a real powerhouse with a variety of excellent options for shooters. If you also ad a speedbooster then you get APS-C like performance on a sensor that performs like that of the Panasonic GH5s with excellent quality up to ISO 6400-12800.

Z CAM E2 M4 Slow Motion how good is it?

The slow motion aspects for the Z Cam E2 M4 are class-leading with 160fps at 4k DCI and UHD with what we have confirmed to be pristine quality with no real artifacts besides H.265 compression. You will of course get 8-bit limitations on gradients and single shade subjects like blue skies but for everything else will be more than adequate.  See the beautiful sample below by Ludeman Productions of the E2 shooting in 4k at 160fps H.265.

ZCAM E2: 160p by Ludeman Productions:

When it comes to 240fps there is of course a trade-off that we have seen in the GH5s and other cameras that use this similar sensor design. The color, dynamic range, and frame rates are beautiful but you do get jagged edges on detail segments of the frame and especially lines with the characteristic stair-stepping of aliasing by the fact that the frames are captured by throwing out some lines.  It is still very good and for many users, it will be just as capable but if you value pixel perfection then the 240fps 1080p mode will disappoint purists.  See the samples below to get a sense of the quality offered here.

Z Cam E2 240 FPS Fountain by Newsshooter: → Continue Reading Full Post ←