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 ←
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.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The folks of TheVideoMode.com have had some time with the new Leica SL Typ 601 and the Sony A7s Mark II. Some videos showing the interface for accessing the slow motion interface have been posted on their site. There is also a slow motion low light sample of the A7s Mark II at 120fps for you to watch.
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 ←
Now that the Nexus 6P has been getting into the hands of reviewers you can clearly see that the slow motion mode has great quality. It has audio same as the iPhone and the resolution in 240fps mode is on Par or might be better than the iPhone 6s. Testing side by side will be a way to put that to rest but it is clear Google and Huawei have made the camera in the Nexus 6P a real contender for quality.
It is easy to see that the quality at 240fps has very good color rendition, line resolution and very very low artifacts. We can finally see an alternative to the iPhone line when it comes to slow motion in the Nexus 6P phone. Samsung has 120fps in their flagship phones which isn’t bad but at 720p and with aliasing artifacts it is no real contender. Look at the samples below to check the Nexus 6P showing it’s prowess when it comes to high frame rate video recording.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The Sony DSC-RX1R II is a monster of a fixed lens camera. It has a Full frame 42.4-megapixel Exmor R back-illuminated CMOS sensor with 399-point phase-detect Fast Hybrid AF system. It also has the first ever variable optical low-pass filter which lets you shoot with all of the quality of the sensor or with reduced per pixel quality when you want to avoid moire and aliasing. For landscape and nature photographers this is a great feature as they can shoot unconstrained for quality without having to purchase a body with or without the low pass filter. This is real innovation and shows just how far Sony is evolving the camera space forward.
There is no real competition feature for feature that can rival Sony in the portable camera space. Should we be worried? We think this will push others to innovate and differentiate cameras in the future with real must have features that do what no camera phone can do. However it could also cause stagnation as Sony becomes the go to player while others struggle.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
