Panasonic has been quite busy this morning with a plethora of camera announcements. It seems 4k is strongly anchored in the product line matrix by adding the feature on pretty much every product category this year. It seems to throw the message to the rest of the electronics camera industry that 1080p is so last year and that 4k is the make it or break it feature for compact and larger cameras alike.
Camcorder Replacements:
The Moto X Force is the international release version of what is known in the USA as the Droid Turbo 2 which lacks a good slow motion mode in itself. However there is a big rumor that the international version will have a 240fps 720p slow motion mode.
The RED Scarlet has always had a stigma to it since inception. It was supposed to be a 3k camera for 3k USD back when it was planned. With a fixed lens and slow motion capabilities all while shooting REDCode RAW video. That camera never materialized and in turn the Red Scarlet with modularity was born. Not quite an Epic but also a lot more expensive than the original promise. It however delivered the image quality promised but not in the slow motion front. That is however until today with the Scarlet-W camera.
It has a 5K Full Frame (5120 x 2700) RED Dragon sensor with a 16.5 stops of dynamic range. That is some of the best DR numbers quoted for a motion digital camera. However the Slow Motion aspects of this Scarlet W camera are of note and the following specs should get your attention if you are on the market and have 10k USD for a body and 6k for the needed accessories to shoot with it in a ready package.
Samsung has 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 edgertronic camera continues to evolve with firmware releases that improve the camera in many ways and patches bugs here and there that crop up while in use. The latest 2.1.5 firmware ads a very important feature for owners of multi camera setups which is called “Multicast Network Trigger” which is a pseudo Gen-lock feature that does not require cables between cameras directly and the network connection within the camera creates the interface for trigger sync among multiple edgertronic cameras.
Feature notes: “The camera supports being triggered by the receipt of a network multicast UDP packet. This is useful when you have multiple cameras that need to be triggered close to the same time but do not need to be genlocked. The advantage of triggering via a network multicast packet is extra cabling between the camera is not needed.”
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.