Announced just last week the Sony PXW-Z150 gets a lot of right for the low end pro video market. It has 4k 4:2:0 as many in the competitive price range of $3,595 MSRP. It has 4:2:2 1080p 10 bit at 50mbit which is a good surprise and it seems to be carried to the also included 120fps full HD 1080p slow motion mode.
The sensor is of the stacked kind and it is 1″ sized, the same as the ones in the RX100 IV and RX10 II from Sony which are really good at slow motion for a low price. However those full specs are not carried through in the high frame rate mode or HFR. It maxes out at 120fps 1080p instead of 240fps on the RX series in the 1k range and the FS5 which is a tad more expensive than the Z150.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Samsunghas 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 website Android Police has done a pretty robust tear down of the new android Camera SDK v3.0 giving a sneak peak of what is to come for many android phones that support the camera module application. The SDK v3.0 comes bundled with the Android 6 release which means all compatible devices upgraded to the new OS will have a chance to try some or all of the new features planned for the camera release. Your mileage depending on your phone manufacturer may vary but it could mean support for many new features like 240fps slow motion video which will compete favorably with the iPhone 6 and 6s in these high frame rate modes.
Top features in the SDK 3.0:
Smart Burst- Fast burst of images if supported by hardware!
Creations: Includes animated images and Auto Awesomes.
Slow Motion: 120fps or 240fps User selectable!
Auto HDR+ Plus: HDR images from a rapid burst.
Dirty Lens detection: Tells user if lens is smudged!
Improvements to the interface.
Code regarding slow motion settings in SDK 3.0!
<string name="hfr_mode_120fps">Slow motion is set to 120 fps</string>
<string name="hfr_mode_240fps">Slow motion is set to 240 fps</string>
<string name="hfr_mode_off">Slow motion is off</string>
Note: Regarding “Google Phone SDK 3.0 ” be aware that if your sensor and portable device combination do to limitations is not able to do higher frame rates these new features will not be accessible. It will be interesting to see which phones are upgraded with the capability as the Android 6 marshmallow updates roll out! → Continue Reading Full Post ←
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 ←
Back from vacation break “thanks for hanging in there” and not much has happened, we expect big news from Apple tomorrow but in the camera world everything has been subdued when it comes to news. The Panasonic GH4 did get some news as the camera will now get the chance to be upgraded with V-Log high dynamic range flat profile mode but it comes at a $99 USD cost. As to why this cost was added it’s anybody’s guess but we think it may have to do with protecting their higher end camera line by making the barrier of entry a little harder for GH4 owners. We find it to be not too expensive but kind of a disappointment as a very small minority of the user base will actually upgrade. Most people will not grade their footage with LUTs to get the color and contrast back to a usable level and would rather opt for the already pretty good profiles like Cinelike D and Cinelike V that come standard with the GH4.
As to the impact for the VLog update on the Panasonic GH4 you can expect a very flat profile and an increase in Dynamic Range from 10 stops standard to 12 stops in this mode. Those blown out skies and cut off shadows will get more chance to shine now.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The Odyssey7Q+ by convergent design has always been able to record faster than normal frame rates but now it is able to do so directly into Pro Res bypassing RAW capture all-together which yielded massive file sizes. With the new ProRes recording workflow you can use more high frame rate capture in your productions without needing new hard drive arrays.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
