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:
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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.
Samsung has pulled out the German market with the Samsung NX1 camera for lack of adoption it seems or a big marketing failure. Will other markets be impacted in the future? It is quite a capable camera with 4k video and 120fps Full HD recording which currently sits in #11 in our Camera Guide for slow motion on a budget. While the line may continue in the future those prospects have become more doubtful in recent days with the announcement. The good news is that the camera may be heavily discounted by years end getting you a great bang for your buck with pretty respectable slow motion capabilities for a mirror-less camera.
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.
