DJI the maker of the Phantom drone has answered GoPro back with a direct competitor to the Karma drone announced last week. The new DJI Mavic Pro drone is extremely portable; even more so than the Karma and has obstacle avoidance technology along with ground awareness which is missing from the GoPro completely. It also has the follow me feature in more modes than ever which makes shooting with it a breeze.
We waited long enough and now we have real world samples and comparison tests from the iPhone 7 in regards to higher frame rates. The iPhone 6s was the king of slow motion quality last year and now there were high hopes for the iPhone 7 to continue that reign however what comes down to is a mix of technology stagnation with a measure of slight improvement when it comes to shutter speed control and detail.
The iPhone 7 does 120fps 1080p as well as 720p at 240fps which is the same spec as last year’s iPhone 6s and a continuation of the feature. It has been used in many productions big and small as a crash camera for hard to get shots and some fun slow motion YouTube clips. The iPhone 7 may not be the best slow motion phone out there when it comes to quality but since it is the most ubiquitous; we are sure to see it grace your screen more often than the competition.
In a very quiet update last week Sony released a low end action camera to cater to the lower end crowd that wants better performance than the current GoPro options but with a limited budget resource. In comes the Sony FDR-X3000 4K Action Camera that brings 4k and impressive image stabilization to the $399 USD action camera bracket.
The big deal in this camera is the Balanced Optical SteadyShot (or B.O.S.S.) which uses the entire optical lens path to reduce vibration and motion. Previous systems only moved an element inside the lens to alter the light path. The new system is more effective at reducing rolling shutter artifacts and wearer induced motion to produce stable and less jittery video even at 4k.
There was a lot of expectation regarding the slow motion capability of the iPhone 7. Apple has been dominating the spec since the early days on the iPhone 4s. However while the processing and sensor quality have improved; the resolution and frame rates have stayed the same in the iPhone 7. There are huge speed increases and much more memory available to do a lot of things in video but Apple has chosen to stay at the same spec level in it’s latest phone.
The slow motion performance of the phone has improved with every iteration when it comes to quality and it will probably have a better dynamic range rating as well as better overall noise control. The spec remains at the top range in smart phones but it is not pushing the boundaries of what can be done in current hardware. We were expecting 480fps at 720p and 240fps at 1080p as possibly moving forward with the feature.
The Rio Olympics has been called many things so far but if you have been watching it closely it is probably the world event with the most slow motion cameras ever used. By some estimates there are about 1500 high frame rate capable cameras at the games anywhere from 120fps to 2,500fps. The quality is also astounding as full HD and even some 4k 120fps and Phantom 4k footage at 1,000fps has been shot.
The Casio EX-FR200 is a weird camera in many respects. It’s 180 degree fish eye lens makes spherical imaging and the entire lens and sensor assembly detaches for remote operation. With the aid of a second lens and sensor module you can take 360 degree images and footage for a VR wrapper compatible with YouTube 360.
The camera modules can be bought separate and controlled from the main body unit without the need to buy two full pieces of kit. If you were trying to get into the Youtube 360 and VR video panoramic craze this is an easy way to do it. Price is not yet specified but we expect it to be competitive with high end GoPros or USD $450 and below. The camera is not dive proof see below…