Category Archives: Camera News

Camera releases with Hi Speed Components!

Chronos 4k12 and Q12 Hi-Speed Announced!

Krontech the Canadian Hi-speed camera company has released press information for two new global shutter camera releases due to ship in 2024.  While they did excellent work with the Chronos 1.4 720p and Chronos 2.1 HD 1080p slow motion cameras, many users of the platform clamored for more resolution and better image quality.  Enter the new Chronos 4k12 a full 4k Camera capable of 1,397 FPS at 8 bit 4096 x 2160 resolution or at 3840 x 2160
UHD 1,491 FPS.  

To put this in perspective, the Phantom 4k camera does 4k at 1k fps and costs around $80k USD for a starter kit.  This new Chronos camera has some serious punch for the TV, Web, and Film industries that need the extra resolution. We can see many production houses adopting this camera for production without breaking the bank in a compact and fully contained package.  → Continue Reading Full Post ←

iPhone 14 Frame Rates Explored!

It has been a year since the iPhone 13 showed that Apple was in a refinement path for the iPhone line with improved video across the board and the introduction of ProRes recording in 10 bits for some modes. The Slow motion capabilities had been capped at 1080p frame rates since the iPhones of old. The iPhone 14 has the same max 4k frame rate of 60p as the iPhone 13 but the sensor, image processor, and lenses have all been refined and improved. 

Are high frame rates relegated to stay at 1080p forever on the Apple line? It has been 7 years of releases of capped 1080p at 120fps and 240fps with no other frame sizes getting a better spec. Most phones are also restricted but Sony, Huawei, and others have been delivering 120fps in 4k video modes for a couple of years now. The iPhone 14 seems to continue the trend of refinement without blowout frame rates at higher resolutions.  → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Panasonic Lumix GH6 does 300fps in Full HD!

We have been expecting Panasonic to deliver a GH5 and or GH5s replacement camera for over a year now. The pandemic and component shortages pushed back the release of almost all high tech imaging equipment. The Lumix GH6 is now announced and it does everything right for Micro 4/3 and then some but will that be enough to make the format survive in a world of ever-decreasing Full Frame camera prices getting cheaper?  

The GH6 has a new sensor, new Venus processing engine, new IBIS with up to 7.5 stops which is bordering on ridiculous, and a body that has active cooling. For HSC however, only one set of specs matters and that is frame rates for video. The camera is now on top of the Lumix and almost all of their pro division cameras by shooting up to 300fps 10 bit Full HDish, 240fps Full HD 10bit, and 120fps at 4k 10 bit.  For slow motion enthusiasts, it looks to be a great camera on paper and at just under $2,200 USD it is not going to break the bank.  But after all of this, should you invest in the GH6 as a slow motion tool or save more for an affordable dedicated high speed camera? → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Chronos Camera m43 Lens Adapter with Speedbooster Support!

The two existing Chronos cameras, the 1.4c 720p at 1502fps & the Chronos 2.1 -HD 1t 1080p 1000fps are identical when seen from the outside but very different inside as they contain different sensor and memory boards. However one constant is that both use the C mount as the default for lens adapters. The camera usually comes with a Canon EF or Nikon F mount adapter depending on the buyer preference which screws on the C mount thread and allows for support of classic lenses from Macro to telephoto. 

One request from the community has been the support for other lens mounts like Micro 4/3ds which lets you adapt a variety of lens mounts and the much coveted speedbooster adapters which allow a 1 f-stop improvement in light gathering for micro 4/3ds systems. Today Krontech, the company behind the Chronos high-speed camera is introducing a passive Micro 4/3rds adapter for both the Chronos 1.4c and 2.1-HD and uses the body screw terminals near the lens thread mount to place a solid connection that allows such lenses. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

DJI Ronin 4D Delivers Cinematic Stabilized Slow Motion!

In what could be called a new paradigm or class of camera, DJI the drone maker has launched a couple of cinema full-frame cameras geared to professional productions that merge their Ronin gimbal products with their Drone pro Zenmuse cameras to create a massively appealing system for pros and enthusiasts that want no compromise stabilization with enough image quality to be able to use them in professional productions for TV and film.  The pricing at just over 11.5k for the 8k version and 7.2k for the 6k version is small potatoes for movie and TV studios but might put off some buyers. 

It is of note that a fully working system bundle is assembled at that price which is much better than other options. It includes the Gimbal, camera and body, 1TB SSD M.2 card, battery, touch screen and cabling. In cinema systems like RED and ARRI this is just the brain or camera body with everything else being added on top as ancillary costs. The frame rates on these cameras are limited to 120fps as the highest at 4k and 75fps at 8k.  They might not be huge but the quality and stabilization should make them quite useful.  → Continue Reading Full Post ←

iPhone 13 is years behind in Slow Motion!

Apple has finally announced the iPhone 13 which may be one of the most underwhelming refreshes of the handset in many years. While there is a lot of new stuff, nothing added is really groundbreaking in the way previous phones have awed when it comes to features in imaging. It is certainly a clear refinement of nearly every aspect of the hardware and software with better low light gathering and a first for a phone the addition of ProRes recording at 1080p and 4k 30p depending on the phone storage spec.

There are neat features like rack focusing which allows for AI-assisted machine learning depth of field selection based on people’s faces whenever their eyes are visible and or enter or exit the frame.  It is kind of gimmicky as it seems to do away with precise manual control of the feature but this is yet to be explored fully by reviewers. When it comes to Slow Motion capture, we have essentially no change for the 4th year in a row! → Continue Reading Full Post ←