Leica introduced the Leica SL Typ 601 mirrorless ILC“Interchangeable Lens Camera” With three lenses for the new system: the Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm F2.8-4 ASPH, Apo-Vario Elmarit-SL 90-280mm F2.8-4 and Summilux-SL 50mm F1.4 ASPH.
The Leica SL Camera itself has a 24MP Full Frame sensor based on the Leica Q camera sensor with modifications. Some speculate that the sensor is a Panasonic made part. The camera can take 11fps continuous shooting and 4k video at 24p and UHD at 30p. But what cought our eye was that it offers true 1080p 120fps mode and a 720p 120fps mode. Why include the latter is anybodys guess but if it is a sensor crop at 720p it allows for slow motion Telephoto. The 1080p 120fps mode uses the entire sensor area and down-samples to create the frame rate. We did notice some moderate aliasing in the samples that have been released but nothing too pronounced. The slow motion quality is actually extremely good and it is quite possibly on par with the best 120fps compact cameras out there today.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The VR of the 1990s was a certified gimmick ; technology wasn’t there for the most part and a simple system then by today’s standards was worth millions of dollars. Fast forward to 2011 when an inventive young man “only 18 years old then” Palmer Luckey built the first prototype of a VR headset in his parents garage. By the 6th generation prototype he named it the Rift and had a Kickstarter project to be able to launch to the gadget gamer community “raising US $2.4 million or 974% of its original target”.
John Carmack the genius programmer of ID software fame had an Oculus prototype headset and was blown away by it; he modded it to better performance and was able to run a Doom 3 edition on the headset in 2012. Carmack is now the Chief technology officer CFO at Oculus VR. The interest in VR intensified and blew up right after the adoption of the technology by some of the best minds in the gaming industry. Mark Zuckerberg was so into it and the possibilities it could bring to the future of social media that Facebook acquired Oculus VR for 2 Billion USD in March 2014. Talk about a successful meteoric rise for such a young company! → Continue Reading Full Post ←
RED digital cinema has been releasing information about a new camera brain or body that will be just under $6k US in price but offer a 4k S35 like Dragon sensor with up to 120fps recorded in Redcode RAW at 4k resolution. It is not known at this time if other frame rates at lower resolutions will be supported but since other RED cameras do window the sensor for 300fps and the like it is pretty safe to say you will be able to shoot smaller frame with higher frame rates. As to the quality of the 120fps mode it is still up in the air but it could be compressed with RED Code RAW codec in a wavelet lossy format like it does many higher frame rates on other cameras of the line.
Yesterday a group of users of the Panasonic GH4 noticed that you could get V-Log L activated on the GH4 camera without paying for it by use of the Wifi Mobile device app and some tinkering. At first it seemed like too good to be true but as some tests already have shown it is the real deal. However Panasonic already is working to correct the issue and has issued a statement on the matter.
While it was possible to do it be aware that the activation of this feature was not intended to be available this way and as Panasonic points out it can have repercussions in the operation of the Zebra and Histogram functions behaving erratically or not as expected. While many users were disappointed about the $99 price tag for the feature it is also encouraging to see many early adopters of the feature or the workaround buy the actual product as they like to support Panasonic in adding features to their cameras that are needed by professionals as in the case of V-Log.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Canon Japan has released a sample video showing the Canon ME20F-SH Super High ISO full frame multipurpose camera in action. It is impressive to see ISOs as high as on a camera that is as portable as this. Even with a high price of $30k US it is something news gathering and documentary outfits like Nat Geo and Discovery will gravitate to in order to extract new levels of color and light information from extremely challenging low illumination environments.
Filmmakers will also find it useful for shooting in extreme low light for a specific take, but we feel that scientists and biologists in particular will benefit most from these advancements. Underwater videography is probably the most peculiar use to study bio luminescent organisms in complete darkness like never before.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The newly announced Sony PXW-FS5 Professional camcorder is like a hybrid of the venerable FS700 of 2012 and last years darling the Sony FS7. It however offers a lot in the way of portability with it’s small profile and a slow motion mode akin to that in the RX100 IV and RX10 II. It seems to be a refined higher resolution mode of the FS700’s slow motion capabilities with better dynamic range and less artifacts to boot. Call it FS700 slowmo v2.0!
The camera comes with an HFR High Frame Rate mode akin to what was introduced in the lower end Sony line this year. You get 120fps recording in full sensor full HD for 16 seconds, 240fps full sensor full HD for 8 seconds.Higher frame rates are as of now not known in duration or frame size quality but according to reps they should be a step up from the FS700 camera.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
