Our reader Andy Urtu alerted us to the firmware updates for the JVC prosumer camcorder line which add among other improvements the 120fps high speed video mode at full 1080p 1920*1080 resolution to the popular camera line. Thanks Andy!
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.
Seems that Samsung has hit a home run with the Galaxy S7 smartphone release. It has broken their order records and they are positioned to report improved earnings of 10.4% in part because of the S7. It seems the decision to re introduce water resistance, a swappable battery and expandable memory has given back some of the identity they lost with the S6 line.
This time we look at the recent footage from owners of the phone to see the slow motion quality improvements made to the phone. While they skipped full HD 1080p 120fps which the iPhone 6s has; they did improve the 720p mode with 240fps. It is time to see what they were able to achieve for high frame rate quality.
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.
Tom Guilmette is no stranger to slow motion work. His career shooting sports, nature and other subjects over 20 years has been quite prolific and without you knowing for the most part, his work has been probably displayed on your TV many times.
In this Celtics Insider Piece at Comcast Sportsnet, Tom Guilmette talks about his process and his ownership of a Phantom Flex Camera. How it lets him capture the unseen and making action moments last much longer in order to appreciate the epic nature of basketball court action.
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.