The Z Cam E2 has finally started shipping and is now available for direct order at their site. The camera caught our attention for its low price of just $1999 and the high frame rate features of 240fps 1080p and 120fps 4k. It seems to be using the same 4/3 sensor as the great Panasonic GH5s but with extended features.
The camera company ZCam has also released some samples in a variety of scenarios so you can see what the camera is capable of. At first inspection, it is clear this camera is a clear step up from the Z Cam E1 which had some image quality issues. The E2 seems to go out of the box ready to produce class-leading imagery and offer some very nice high frame rate action. There are also some rumored comments that suggest the team is testing 300fps at 720p as an added bonus for future software.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Oppo the phone company based in Dongguan, China has released their flagship phone the Oppo Find X. Comparisons will be made to the iPhone X nut just in name but also on shape and design. However, the Oppo has no notch but it also has a similar aesthetic to the Galaxy S9 from Samsung but with the impressive feature which slides a motorized top part with both the rear and front cameras. Design wise this phone might be the most impressive and elegant phone ever made up to this point.
The phone has no 4k 60p like others in its class but does have 240fps 1080p and 480fps 720p video. There is something akin to this phone and the OnePlus 6 in that they share the video specs. Are these phones similarly built or it is just a fluke? We tend to see a homogenized spec sheet on these handsets as technology is standardized in China within camera modules. It is encouraging to see so many phones having the slow motion feature included and prominently displayed in the feature run-down.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The Chinese tech company Xiaomi has released it’s latest high-end flagship phone the Mi 8 which has the highest ever specs for a Xiaomi Phone with great benchmark scores to boot. It has up to 8GB of RAM with a Snapdragon 845 chip at 2.8Ghz which should perform admirably. The phone is targeted for under $500 in Asia for the lower version spec and under $700 USD for the highest Explorer version.
The video modes are what you would expect from a competitive flagship with UHD 30p 4k and 1080p up to 60fps standard with the option to go 120fps and 240fps in both full HD and regular 720p HD modes. 240p is becoming a standard for full HD and it is encouraging to see that phones all over the globe are adopting these specs as near standard now at least in the higher end. The 4k 60p spec is missing here so the iPhone and other phones that can do it are still preferable for high-end phone video capture.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Z Cam the relatively new Camera company from Shenzhen, China has announced the Z Cam E2 at NAB 2018 MSRP $1,999.00 USD. It is not a direct replacement for their ambitious but half-baked Z E1 m4/3 camera which costs $399. The new camera is a beast specs wise with up to 120fps 4k and full HD 1080p at 240fps. The codecs will be H.264 and H.265 at 10 bit but no RAW support so far which might be acceptable if the codec is clean enough and their promised Log Flat curve preserves the estimated 13.5 stops of dynamic range.
The camera is still being developed for a June 2018 estimated ship date. It lacks a back screen and relies on a Wifi or Gigabit Ethernet link to their dedicated control application. They intend to support iOS devices and or a PC client. No mention of Android support or Mac which should be included in order to maintain the widest compatibility. We feel lacking Android control is a big deal and should be promised in a future update. It is also unclear if the camera will be possible to use by using a touch screen field monitor which probably will not be the case. Using an iPhone or an iPad as the control interface is probably the best use case.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
From earlier rumors, we were already privy to the information on the 240fps full HD from a code leak that showed it as an option on the new iOS beta. There was also a secondary rumor that stated 480fps on HD 720p as a code snippet. On the final phones, there seems to be no mention of this extra frame rate which possibly is being saved for a future mobile product by Apple.
The new Phones X (for ten) and 8 with the 8 Plus both have the same improved camera modules with the new A11 Bionic chip which brings new levels of performance to smartphones which also permits the processing of a larger frame buffer for full HD 1080p at 240fps and as an extra bonus for the first time in a Phone, 4k 60fps recording.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
