Tag Archives: 4k

Z E1 120fps HD and 4k in Tiny Package!

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The Kickstarter project Z  E1 has been funded over 4x their initial goal and now proceeds to build the cameras based on a Micro 4/3 sensor and an extremely small GoPro-like camera body that does 4k video and up to 120fps HD video in an upcoming  software update; the camera form factor is ideal for drone aerial photo and video. It promises professional video and photo quality with no compromises in an incredibly small body which would be close to what Olympus attempts with the Air A01 or DxO with the One. The camera does have a 2.5″ inch Screen on teh back but also relies on a 200-300ms response time over wifi which is short for little lag. The Interface is iOS and or Android and are already available for download on these platform stores for remote shooting.

ZCAM E1 Spec Sheet: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Sony RX100 IV Philip Bloom Short Film!

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Renowned filmmaker / DP and all around nice guy Philip Bloom has been having fun with both the Sony RX10 II and RX100 IV this past few days.  He has tested the slow motion and 4k modes extensively and has done a fantastic rundown of the usability, performance and pitfalls on using the cameras.  There are a lot of interesting tidbits that He discovered such as the 240fps NTSC and 250fps PAL modes are nearly HD in quality and extremely usable very close to what the much more expensive Sony FS700 camera achieves.

When recording the 2 second quality priority mode it records back to the SD card in Real time that means a 2 second video at 240fps will take 20 seconds if saved as 24p for the frame count of 480 frames duration.  At 480fps  for 2 seconds  of 960 frames it will take 40 seconds of write time to the SD card.  This is in line with most slow motion cameras and it is a point to be considered while using the HFR modes.  You will have to plan ahead as the camera will be unavailable for use for quite a long time before the next shot is ready to be taken. This is a normal thing in most high speed cameras. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

GoPro Session Offers Tiny Slow Mo Solution!

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It seems that GoPro is not quite done with camera updates this year. They just released a very small variant of the Hero 4 hardware called the GoPro Hero 4 Session. Some jokes have already come out about the name like the next Re-Session Camera to own. However this is more of an evolutionary and reductionist product than any release GoPro has ever made before.

The Hero 4 Black is a powerhouse little camera with great frame rates for slow motion and 4k video at 30p. Some have criticized the codec in 4k mode as being too lossy and we agree to a point. What interest us however is not the 4k mode for now which is absent from the GoPro Hero 4 Session altogether but the lower res Full HD and HD slow motion high frame rate modes. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Sony RX10 II and RX100 IV New Footage Surfaces!

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Over the past week some footage from Sony and other real world uses has been surfacing.  Many shows off the super slow motion modes and others tout the performance in 4k.  The quality is for the most part good but not great and shows a clear aliasing and moire resolution loss at 480fps and 960fps.  The codec at 50 Mbit is quite good and is not the weak link, the cameras suffer from line skipping as the readout frame rate increases to below 720p resolution in real terms while being saved on a 1080p wrapper.

We have compiled a series of footage samples found on the net for you to look at. Some are outright high speed samples and others are interface walk through samples. It should give a good idea of what quality we are talking about. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

fps1000 Hardware Update June 28th 2015!

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Warning: The parent company of FPS cameras “The Slow Motion Camera Company Ltd.” went out of business and entered liquidation proceedings. No further development of cameras is expected. More information here on Google Search

It has been a little bit over a month since the last update of the fps1000 was posted. This time around it is all about the electronics and how they fit into the aluminum case and the first look at how it all fits in a tight package. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Samsung NX500 & Sony RX100 IV Samples!

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The Samsung NX500 has just been updated with firmware 1.10 There are several improvements and like it’s larger sibling the NX1 now the slow motion mode of 120fps at 720p in this camera is more easily accessible.  The NX1 has a better slow motion mode than the NX500 as it is 1080p Full HD instead of 720p but this camera is also much less expensive and has also 4k video.  These enhancements add a lot of oomph to an already good pocket-able large sensor camera.

The biggest improvements are codec quality bit-rate up to 70Mbps and the large sensor readout for up to 60fps at full HD 1080p which reduces aliasing and moire in normal speed frame rates. It is rare for companies too add so much in firmware but it is encouraging to see Samsung not only try but constantly deliver useful firmware updates to their cameras. It shows they are serious for their camera imaging department. → Continue Reading Full Post ←