Tag Archives: 50MP

Samsung ISOCELL GN2 does 480fps!

The hegemony of phone sensors has been the purview of Sony with their Exmor sensors for many years but now Samsung has started making inroads in the space with their ISOCELL chips. The latest is currently mass-produced and shipping in handsets already which is not a paper launch, but a real thing. The chip is capable of massive low light improvement compared to other sensors because it is essentially a near 1″ sensor with 1/1.12-inch measurements. This is close to what Sony RX cameras use as a main sensor, and a first for a phone.

As to how they are able to fit this sensor on phones, it is a dance between a protruding camera bump that is a little larger than usual and also a lens system that creates a full imaging circle from a minute distance. The GN2 is capable of recording 480fps in HD 720p, 4k 120fps, 30fps in 12.5MP windowed size and 10fps in 100MP mode which uses a clever algorithm and three RGB exposures to derive a 100MP image from the 50MP source. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra Slow Motion Mode 1920fps Fake?

Xiaomi has surprised this year with now the Mi 11 Ultra phone which is a big step up from the Mi 11 released earlier this year. The huge difference lies in the size of the sensor which is close to a 1″ camera sensor like those found on the Sony RX camera series for example. The phone has two 48MP sensors and a main 50MP sensor for the main camera with a highly protruding camera bump that really screams for a case to be able to balance well on a flat surface.

The slow motion modes on the phone are rumored to be the garden variety with 120fps/240fps 1080p, 60fps 4k, and also a selfie camera that does 720p 120fps which is becoming commonplace. What is really peaking our interest is the 1920fps slow motion mode that is touted by some reviews. It is unclear what the phone is capable time-wise as the specs are still not all there. The samples we have seen show detail loss and the clear signs of interpolation. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

OnePlus 9 Slow Motion mode gains 4k 120fps!

OnePlus has finally released its new flagship 2021 phones. And they have built a new 3 year partnership with medium format camera maker Hasselblad to build their phone camera modules.  On this first iteration, we get Ultra Wide 50MP, Wide 48MP or standard and a 3.3x telephoto with 8MP which is the lower quality of the bunch.

OnePlus has respected its own heritage when it comes to frame rates as the new 9 handsets retain the 240fps in Full HD 1080p and 480fps in HD 720p mode for somewhat super slow motion and a new mode of 120fps in full 4k which is exciting. OnePlus had the edge in recording duration in previous phones and this new variant might keep that edge. However, we feel disappointed the resolution did not go up to full HD at 480fps and allow for a 960fps HD mode like many other phones out there. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Sony A1 Slow Motion has 8x Mode!

Sony A1 Slow Motion

Just in time for the Japanese Olympics if they ever take place, Sony has released the Sony Alpha 1 or A1 for short which is probably the most powerful mirrorless camera ever produced.  Customary for Japanese camera manufacturers in Olimpic years, the likes of Canon and Nikon have released their professional flagship products like the  1DX and D6 which are still SLR mirrored products that have the highest possible Autofocus features for a camera of that type as well as speed and dependability.

Sony has had some inroads in that space with the Sony a9 series but they were missing a higher megapixel count version that could really differentiate it from the pack and the A1 seems to be just that kind of product. By shooting 8k video at 24,25 and 30p it becomes future-proof for the next decade as far as resolution goes and by taking 30 images per second in stills mode at the full 50MP resolution with AF Tracking, it is one blinding fast beast.  The fact that it also shoots 120fps 4k and 240fps Full HD doesn’t hurt it either.

Sony A1 Sensor Specs:

Lens Mount Sony E
Camera Format Full-Frame (1x Crop Factor)
Sensor Resolution Actual: 50.5 Megapixel
Effective: 50.1 Megapixel (8640 x 5760)

Sony A1 Video Specs:

Recording Modes H.265/XAVC HS 4:2:2 10-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p [50 to 280 Mb/s]
H.265/XAVC HS 4:2:0 10-Bit
UHD 8K (7680 x 4320) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p [200 to 400 Mb/s]
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p [30 to 200 Mb/s]
H.264/XAVC S-I 4:2:2 10-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p [240 to 600 Mb/s]
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p [89 to 222 Mb/s]
H.264/XAVC S 4:2:2 10-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p [100 to 280 Mb/s]
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p/200p/239.76p [50 Mb/s]
H.264/XAVC S 4:2:0 8-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p [60 to 200 Mb/s]
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p/200p/239.76p [16 to 100 Mb/s]
External Recording Modes Raw 16-Bit
4.2K (4264 x 2408) up to 59.94p
4:2:2 10-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/50p/59.94p
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 50i/59.94i
4:2:0 8-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/50p/59.94p
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 50i/59.94i

The Sony A1 is probably the fastest mass production professional hybrid camera ever made. The speed required for 50 megapixels at 30fps means that it is processing and saving in RAW format or RAW+JPG to CF Express Cards  at 1.5 Billion Pixels/Second and all of this while using the 120Hz continuous intelligent Auto Focus for people and animals.

Introducing Alpha 1 | Sony | α by Sony | Camera Channel:

Sony A1 Slow Motion Frame Rates:

  • H.264/XAVC S 4:2:2 10-Bit
    UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at
  • 50p/59.94p/
  • 100p/119.88p [100 to 280 Mb/s]
  • Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p/200p/239.76p [50 Mb/s]
  • 8x Slow motion is 240fps played in a 30fps timeline!

The Slow motion frame rates are also here with up to 4x 120fps in 4k 10 bit at up to 280Mbits/sec and 100 to 240fps 8x in Full HD 1080p at 50Mbps.   We can see the sample below that contains several clips at 4k 120fps and some intercut 240fps Full HD like the divers shot in Hunters Of Light below.  We can safely say that the quality at 4k 120fps 10 bit is near perfect but we still cannot attest to the quality of a file in Full HD at 100, 120, 200 and 240fps derived from a Full Frame sensor recording from a 50MP source.

We have confirmed that the camera has a 21 Megapixel crop factor in APS-C size for stills and possibly video which probably means that all the higher 1080p frame rates are possibly extracted from the crop area of the sensor and not from the full 50MP area.

Testing Out 240 FPS Sony A7S III – Indonesia by Calvin Kho: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

P40 Pro Super Slow Motion extends Huawei’s reign!

P40 Pro Super Slow Motion

Last year the Huawei Mate 30 Pro was our slow motion phone of the year with its real 1920fps 720p with interpolated 4x mode to 7680fps and real 960fps at full 1080p. Now Huawei has again brought back the same performance with an even better optical system and what looks like better interpolation algorithms to the new P40 Pro and Pro Plus phones.

The phones have gathered little attention outside of China as Android cannot be updated and the Play Store is not accessible due to US restrictions on Huawei as a technology company that poses a risk to national security. Most of these phones are acquired by the use of importers or the pre-owned market and no US carriers offer them. Still, it is the amazing hardware design and the best slow motion performance on any phone to date that makes it impossible to ignore.

P40 Pro Plus Camera Specs:

Back Module Five on Plus

4x on Pro

50 MP, f/1.9, 23mm (wide), 1/1.28″, 2.44µm, omnidirectional PDAF, OIS
Periscope 8 MP, f/4.4, 240mm (telephoto), PDAF, OIS, 10x optical zoom
8 MP, f/2.4, 80mm (telephoto), PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom
40 MP, f/1.8, 18mm (ultrawide), 1/1.54″, PDAF
TOF 3D, (depth)
Features Leica optics, LED flash, panorama, HDR
Video 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, 720@7680fps, 1080p@960fps, HDR; gyro-EIS
SELFIE CAMERA Dual 32 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/2.8″, 0.8µm, AF
IR TOF 3D, (depth/biometrics sensor)
Features HDR
Video 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps

It is important to note that only The Pro and Pro Plus will have the full slow motion capability. The regular P40 has 3 camera modules and a top slow-mo spec of 960fps at 720p, missing the best features. The best value in our opinion will be the P40 Pro non-Plus version but if you can afford the Plus, by all means, it may be the phone to beat.

The Phone largest sensor is 50MP at 1/1.28 inches but that is reserved for stills and regular video. The sensor used for Ultra slow motion is the 40MP 1/1.54″ sensor which looks similar to that of previous phones.

We see improvements in processing and the AI interpolation is doing an incredible job of extrapolating 1920fps of real 720p data and slowing that by 4x to 7680fps. The end result has much fewer artifacts than the Mate 30 Pro especially in occultation background objects.  It is of course not flawless as interpolation as of now is no match to real captured frames.  Anything with a busy enough detailed background will create distortion and mush artifacts that are not valid for any scientific experimentation. You will have to cap the phone at 1920fps 720p or 960fps 1080p for real frame capture.

We were able to find very cool samples of the phone shooting slow motion below:

Huawei P40 Pro Slow Motion Video Initial  Samples:

Huawei P40 Pro Ultra Slow Motion – 7680 FPS Slow Motion by TheFonoGuy:

Huawei P40 Pro Plus Ultra Slow Motion – OMG 7680 FPS ULTRA SLOW MOTION IS SUPER by MKP Captain: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Canon EOS R5 Rumor Hints at 120fps at 4k!

Canon EOS R5 Rumor

Quite a few of our readers have asked for HSC to comment on the rumors of a Canon R5 Mirrorless camera that according to unsubstantiated information claims 120fps at 4k and 8k at 30p.  The R5 may be the modern non-DSLR successor camera to the EOS 5D Mark IV and could become a major release for the company for this decade.  As rumors go we can probably believe some of it but we have to be skeptical on the full specs because Canon has not shown the willingness to push the envelope as far for many years and has calmy let Panasonic and Sony take the firsts spots on video features.

We would love to see Canon go ahead and push the envelope with amazing video features that can revive the platform for serious video production the same way the 5D Mark II did back in 2008 when it took the video world by storm and made it possible to shoot quality video that looked a lot like the 5D still images that have dominated certain segments of still imagery business like weddings.

Canon EOS R5 Rumor Specs by “Canonrumors.com”:
  • 45mp (One source said 40mp)
  • IBIS
    • 5 stops with IBIS alone
    • 7-8 stops of correction when used with in-lens stabilization

    14fps / 20fps (One source said 12fps / 20fps)
    Scroll wheel added to the back
    No touch bar
    Liveview/Movie toggle like previous EOS DSLRs
    Larger capacity battery, but looks like the LP-E6
    8K @ 30fps RAW
    4K @ 120fps
    4K @ 60fps
    The info I was given about a crop was confusing
    Announcement ahead of CP+ next month

    So let’s dissect the above information…

    -45MP FF Sensor seems plausible but we probably will see a 50MP sensor with a 48.x effective pixel count. Big area and hi pixel count sensors are not ideal for high-speed video, so this is another hint at the rumors being a wish-list.

    -The IBIS in-camera system is a little suspect considering the reliance of Canon to tout their lens IS systems which are a major selling point for the platform but they have already showed a patent with IBIS for the EOS M platform which should be introduced soon enough. They cannot keep ignoring other brands having excellent IBIS and dual IS systems like Panasonic Dual OIS which really kills the EOS system on stability performance.

    -Frame Rates:  120fps 4k? color us skeptical but the fact that only the very best and expensive canons do 4k 60p at most will probably mean that as a first iteration of the R5, it will probably only do 60p at 4k.  Canon will probably introduce 4k 120p at some point in the future but not this early in the cycle.  They are known to milk features at a snail’s pace in order to maximize the longevity of camera platforms.

    -8k 30p?  Someone is wishing too much, we possibly can expect if real the 8k to be a supersample mode to the 4k video in order to offer better per-pixel detail the way other camera brands do 4k by using a 6k source.   So we don’t expect 8k as a format to be anywhere in a camera from Canon this year, supersampling yes but full 8k no-go, especially in RAW mode, was it would require staggering data rates.

    If you want to see what 4k 120fps looks like, this RED Gemini 5K S35-shot video will give you a hint:

    Tomas Lemoine – Test Red Gemini 4K 120fps by JC Pieri:

    And if you have not seen 8k 30p video, let us point you to this amazing footage for a Samsung TV demo:

    Samsung QLED 8K 30P SDR HEVC 10bit Demo T5 posted byJmslhkq H:

    So at the end of the day we have imaging technology now that is capable of this and more but having it on a canon R5 camera for little cost compared to cameras that can do this seems for now out of the realm of possibility.

    In any case, we will know soon enough as CP+ will be at the end of the month Feb 27th to March 1st.  If Canon does show a new camera, we would love to be impressed but don’t count on it. -HSC