Category Archives: Hardware Development

Announcements, Camera News, Hardware Development, Slowmo Samples

URSA Mini Pro Offers Pro Features and 120fps!

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URSA Mini Pro

Blackmagic Design has announced a new camera today.  The URSA Mini Pro is a marriage of their higher end URSA camera with the still in the product line URSA Mini.  It offers built in ND Filters, 15 stops of dynamic range “which is huge for filmmakers”, tons of ports, in body buttons and controls and easy interchangeable lens mounts.

For our slow motion fans there is not a whole lot offered by the camera but there are some built in features.  60fps in 4k DCI and also at 4.6k full sensor resolution is very useful and keeps the trend with the 4k over-crank frame rates debuted in 2016 on several cameras. The other is 120fps at 2k windowed resolution which is passable but not ideal. However the slow motion on these cameras is high quality and seldom does it have artifacts. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Camera News, Development, Firmware/Software, Hardware Development, Slowmo Samples

Chronos 1.4 Gets Faster!

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Chronos 1.4 Gets Faster

The Chronos 1.4 High speed camera is getting a sensor firmware upgrade or “Wavetable” that allows for up to 38,565 fps at 336×96 pixels in windowed mode.  This effectively allows the camera to go below the previous 640 pixel locked horizontal resolution  which allows for even faster capture speeds. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Articles, Development, Hardware Development, Rumors

GoPro Hero 6 What will it Take?

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GoPro Hero 6

It is no secret that GoPro had a pretty bad 2016 in terms of sales performance and the Karma Gate battery off incident. The company is loosing money but still shows signs of life. In the 4th quarter of 2016 GoPro was profitable on a non-GAAP basis with income of $42 million.  With the stock closing price today of $8.90, a far cry from the nearly $90 it was worth in October 2014, there needs to be a change of epic proportions if the company is expected to remain viable.

There are threats from new technologies like AR, VR and Snapchat Glasses among others that threaten to impede the company going forward. How can a camera company evolve overnight to survive in such a market.  We believe the answer is by innovating it’s way out of the whirlpool that it finds itself in. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Announcements, Development, Hardware Development, Hi Speed Phone Video, Media Showcase, Slowmo Samples

Sony 1000fps Sensor for Smartphones Developed!

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Sony 1000fps Sensor

You have to hand it to Sony for their continued hardware innovation. The sensor technology that brought you the RX Camera series with stacked CMOS Technology; which is DRAM included as a middle layer along with signal processing makes it possible to capture data at tremendous pixel rates in the sensor block which leapfrogs competitors products.

That same 3-Layer stacked design is now unveiled on a cellphone geared sensor with a maximum performance at 1080p 1000fps and 4k 60fps. It is using the same buffer DRAM technology that will let you record for a limited time window and then save and process on your handset.   Considering the speed quoted it is not out of the question to expect the Sony RX series of cameras to reach or exceed this level on upcoming iterations. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Camera News, Development, Hardware Development, Media Showcase, Slowmo Samples

Chronos 1.4 Shows Improved Case & User Footage!

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Chronos 1.4

The Chronos 1.4 portable high speed camera from Krontech Canada and Kickstarter has been getting a make over in the case department with more mount screws and either black or silver aluminum finish as options. While the case is not finalized it is very close to the shipping version since there are a few non cosmetic revisions for the next and final iteration.

The inclusion of 1/4″ Tripod Screw mounting holes in the bottom “now stainless steel” and side and top aluminum threads make it very easy to adapt the camera to any imaginable position. There are also eight “8” M4  mount holes as well if you need them for a special attachment goal like a custom cage. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Hardware Development, Media Showcase, Slowmo Samples

GH5 Slow Motion Pre Production Samples!

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GH5 Slow Motion

The Panasonic GH5 is gathering attention all over the camera world by making inroads into the professional video production space with it’s truly professional image quality 4:2:2 10 bit and video oriented workflow. There is already talk of the BBC being able to use it for productions and that is no small thing considering how demanding their image quality needs are.

We have gathered the few Full HD 180fps GH5 samples posted so far from pre production cameras so you can judge for yourself the quality delivered in this mode.  From what we can see it is quite good at holding detail and sharpness compared to the GH4 but it still suffers from some moire and aliasing due to line skipping happening at some stage in the capture process. → Continue Reading Full Post ←