Now that the Sony Xperia 1 has been reviewed by more people, there are now sufficient video samples at 960fps to make a judgment on the performance of the slow motion mode. As you may recall, the phone is only capable of recording 0.1 seconds at 960p at full HD 1080p and 0.2 seconds at 720p at the same frame rate. That translates to a maximum of 3.2 seconds at 1080p played back at 30p and 6.4 seconds at 720p 30fps.
There is no increase in recording time from the XZ2 and XZ3 phones which had essentially the same feature as the Xperia 1. We, however, saw a little better color reproduction and slightly better artifact handling on the new phone but so minute an edge that we simply cannot recommend upgrading for this feature or considering it over other 720p slow motion phones like the Galaxy S10 or OnePlus 7.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
To better encapsulate the slow motion happenings of the web we are starting a new post type called Fraction/s as in “Fractions of a Second” that shows anything and everything related to slow motion that has happened recently. This is based on the fact that high speed imaging hardware releases have been stabilizing and slowing down compared to previous years. This way we can better cover anything small or large related to this craft.
Thanks to our readers who have submitted a lot of this information which sometimes escapes us. There is a lot of interest in slow motion related information but it is easy to get buried in the mountain of daily information. We hope that we cover many of these occurrences so you get to see them.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
So now that the Xperia 1 phone has started shipping to some parts of Asia and Oceania it is time to see what the initial slow motion 960fps samples look like. It seems that the length of the playback video is unchanged at 6.4 seconds for 720p and 3.2 seconds for 1080p. So 96frames are recorded at 1080p 960fps and 192frames at 720p. This is the same restrictive spec for three years in a row by Sony.
You would think by now the phone could have increased the slow motion buffer to something useful like at least half a second instead of 0.2sec for 720p and 0.1sec for 1080p. Think again, it seems we will not get anywhere near usable times in 2019 from the Xperia Line again. Your best bet for recording on Sony will be to get a camera like the excellent RX Series that allow much longer recording times and greater resolution.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Sony has released the RX0 Mark II which now includes the ability to record 4k internally as opposed to using an external recorder. Other goodies include a new flippy screen which while tiny, it allows for easy framing and selfie vlogger styles. A new stabilizer is included for reducing shake and it is a definite improvement even when the rolling shutter is a real problem.
Most of the camera is the same as before when it comes to body shape and usability, the higher frame rates are identical as the 2017 RX0 Mark I with essentially the same resolution and time recording. The big improvement comes in the screen and internal 4k recording with stabilization which seems to be directly aimed at vloggers. The sensor is, however, a tad less crowded by pixels at 15.3MP on the Mark II vs 21MP on the Mark 1. That should help in the low light department.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Now that the Galaxy S10 has been shipping to customers for a couple of weeks we can now see a plethora of video samples showing the 240fps 1080p, 960fps 720p and 4k 60p high frame rate modes. We can clearly see a better compression on the new S10 samples compared to the Galaxy S9 in all modes. There is still some aliasing and moire but it is very well controlled.
Noise doesn’t become a problem unless it is very dark which means the Samsung noise reduction is doing an incredible job. It is maybe too clean as some detail seems to be flattened out to control for artifacts. All the Galaxy S10 variants shoot the same quality slow motion in the main camera module so if you want to only get the S10e for it’s lower price of $749 you get to keep the high-speed feature intact.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Blackmagic Design has been working behind the scenes to deliver yet one more professional camera solution that at $5,995 for up to 300fps in RAW recording at 1080p and 2k in windowed mode; makes it possible to have flawless image quality without breaking the bank. New Super 35mm sensor with 15 stops dynamic range with the ability to shoot at 120fps 4.6k full sensor RAW and 150fps at 4k UHD and DCI 4k makes it possible to really deliver on the slow motion promise for quality projects.
If you need more the 300fps 1080p and or 2k recording in the cropped windowed sensor should help you get that extra edge. It also records in Blackmagic RAW and delivers flawless looking 1:1 pixel footage with no aliasing or moire due to throwing away information. This camera has the capacity to really up your video game with these frame rate options.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
