Something that came out of NAB 2016 is the paper launch of the CRAFT Camera a modular low cost professional camera that can record in Pro Res and Cinema DNG RAW with more formats to be announced.
It is unclear at this point if frame rates will ever be higher than 120fps but since the 4k spec also includes them; it remains a solid option for 4k slow motion at 120fps or 5x slow motion at 24p playback. For a 4k camera the pricing of $2,984 for a full 4k Cinema package is not to shabby!
NAB 2016 has turned out to be subdued in product announcements when it comes to cameras. Sure there are a few of not but nothing earth shattering for price conscious video enthusiasts. The Sony FS5 is still a great camera and the new firmware to be released in May-June 2016 will give it more features and power.
The New firmware update v2.0 will be free but if you want the high frame rate capabilities you will need an external recorder and $600 USD or $500 Euros. Also you will need an external recorder to handle the RAW output.
The DJI Phantom 4 quad copter drone has started shipping in some parts of the world and we now have a few samples of what the slow motion 1080p 120fps mode looks like. At first glance it looks to be ok with few artifacts controlled aliasing and moire and while compression seems severe, it is above 720p pixel quality which is encouraging.
There is an inherent softness as with many other 120fps modes used in similar action cameras like the GoPro Hero 4 or Sony Action Cam which spread the bit-rate of their maximum throughput and dice it to 120fps in the case of full HD.
The recently announced DJI Phantom 4 Drone is finally pushing obstacle avoidance technology to the point where you are no longer worried about hitting trees, people or god forbid birds other flying craft. There is technology here that just 5 years ago would have been extremely expensive, however don’t expect this self awareness of space to translate into a perfect set and forget technology for now.
There is a lot of improvement here and the mobile application lets you track subjects and paths with just touch and drag. There are things that drone makers like DJI are working behind the scenes to get obstacle avoidance and self awareness even further to a level where people and governments can relax about these craft being a danger to society. We are still not there but things will continue to improve along those lines.
Video ramping is not new, it is actually been here for quite a few years in cameras and widely accessible in modern video editors. The problem is that it is still a hard thing to do properly. You either get choppy results, artifacts or pretty amazing ones by chance or by sheer trial and error and are not easily repeatable. This is where Speedramp by Prolost.com comes in!
After effects has had Time Remapping for a few years in the CS releases including Premiere Pro; but as with almost any built in feature in software it is hardly polished as well as it could be. Speedramp builds on top of the Adobe Time Remapping by incorporating a simple to use workflow that is capable of being tweaked and altered by simple parameters until you get the desired effect.
The just announced Olympus SH-3 Camera not only does 4k video at 15fps which is far from ideal but also allows serious HD video performance in a 1/2.3″ (6.17 x 4.55 mm) Sensor fixed 24x zoom camera product with 1080p 60fps and 120fps at 720p with a smaller res 240fps mode that may work for some experimental shots. For owners of the SH-2 of last year the frame rates were already there in the same exact specs except for the 15fps 4k.
There is no question this is a mild refresh of the camera compared to last year’s SH-2. Besides some extra software image filters and 4k at 15fps which is kind of an unusual frame rate and more a gimmick that a usable video format; there is not much else to report as feature improvements.