In what could be one of the most leaked phone releases in History “Probably to get some oomph out of the iPhone 6s release“ Google has announced the Nexus 5X and 6P smartphones running Android 6.0 marshmallow. The interesting spec is that for the first time in a Nexus device, the camera seems to be a primary focus with a lot of good specs including 120fps for the LG built Nexus 5X and up to 240fps for the Huawei Built Nexus 6P. This puts the 6P Phone in direct competition with the iPhone 6s for the top smartphone Slow Motion Spot.
While there is a lack of slow motion samples now for both phones they should be coming out in the next few days. How will they compete? We can’t really speculate as the sensor, lens and camera system on these Nexus Phones is entirely new and built for better performance than previous Nexus releases. The Camera had always been a sore spot of the line and this release seems to want to correct this from now on. It has the same Sensor and camera system on both phones but the processing core is different which is probably what limits the 5X to 120fps. That said it could be possible in the future to unlock 240fps on this camera with some clever hacking technique if the system can handle the data rates; but that could void your warranty.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
It has now been a few days since people first got their hands on the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. One of the new features is it’s ability to shoot higher res slow motion at 1080p 120fps and a somewhat improved version of the 240fps at 720p with less artifacts. We have found a few samples that may show you the quality of the slow motion modes in action. It is clear from an initial perspective that 720p 240fps is higher resolution with less noise and aliasing artifacts and also that the 1080p 120fps mode while higher resolution it is not exactly the same quality as the 1080p video of the phone. There seems to be an apparent softness or slight resolution loss with heavier compression in this mode. This however doesn’t detract much from the fact that both the 120fps and 240fps modes have been improved and that is a good thing.
The GoPro Hero 4 series has been quite successful for the company and many are thinking what can they offer next when it comes to camera specs. The Hero 4 Session showed that miniaturization and form factor change is possible at GoPro and we will not be surprised to see a change in shape and size on the Hero 5 to reduce it’s footprint. The GoPro mount has also been holding back the platform miniaturization as to remain compatible with accessories and grips of all kinds. What could happen is to remain compatible but introduce a stronger and smaller mount with some sort of adapter for backward compatibility. This transition will open the way for more portable and stealthy cameras.
Our biggest hint of where the platform is going is what the new Ambarella H1 chip provides. It is an evolutionary chip-set with a few features geared to UHD recording which suggest that 4k will be the focus going forward.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
RED digital cinema has been releasing information about a new camera brain or body that will be just under $6k US in price but offer a 4k S35 like Dragon sensor with up to 120fps recorded in Redcode RAW at 4k resolution. It is not known at this time if other frame rates at lower resolutions will be supported but since other RED cameras do window the sensor for 300fps and the like it is pretty safe to say you will be able to shoot smaller frame with higher frame rates. As to the quality of the 120fps mode it is still up in the air but it could be compressed with RED Code RAW codec in a wavelet lossy format like it does many higher frame rates on other cameras of the line.
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 ←
