Tag Archives: best yet

Rife-App Creates Higher frame Rates 25x Faster!

A few months back we took a look at Dain app, and how it was able to use AI and machine learning to create in between frames from almost any source footage and create something that looked and felt like real footage taken with higher fps cameras.  The algorithm was so revolutionary that it took the world by storm, making older software that used re-timing from Adobe and others look antiquated and underpowered.  The Dain-App was great and it was a pay what you want App but had an Achilles heel. The software required a powerful Nvidia GPU with as much VRAM as you could muster to be able to convert footage and re-time it.  

The new Rife-App which is the direct successor of Dain App by the creator GRisk is up to 25x faster than the original, improves the algorithm, and by many examples betters it by creating more seamless transitions. The flow of frames is frankly jaw-droppingly beautiful, especially on low frame rate animation.   We estimate that Animation studios in 2D will eat this app up immediately, and even 3D animation studios could reduce their render times by calculating fewer frames and using Rife-App to increase them to 24p, 30p or 60p from a lower source like 20fps or 12fps.   → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Sony a7s III Slow Motion is Hiding a Secret!

Sony a7s III Slow Motion

It’s here, yes it is finally here you are not seeing things. In what may be the most anticipated camera release in years, Sony has finally unveiled the a7s III video-centric mirrorless camera.  It has all the new performance benefits of processing and AF seen on other Sony bodies but now applied to a 12 Megapixel back-illuminated full-frame sensor geared to shoot pristine 4k and be able to shoot stills as a secondary function.  The original 5D from Canon shot 12.8 MP in 2005 when it was introduced and it is still being used out there by many professionals as it was and still is a wedding workhorse. However 15 years later which in the camera world seems like a century, we get a brand new Sony camera with 12MP and that is actually a great thing!

The slow motion on this camera has a lot of good but also some hidden secrets that you should know about before plunking your hard-earned cash. We get what may be the best 120fps 4k footage we have seen in any camera under 10k USD at full 4:2:2 10 bit quality which after looking at the samples left us with nothing but praise to see such a well-executed mode with the added benefit of being able to shoot nearly 1hr worth of it before the camera temperature spoils the party. Excellent performance!

Sony a7s III Main Video Specs:

Video 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 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 [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 [16 to 100 Mb/s]

The video specs from the a7s III above don’t tell the whole picture but do paint a very flexible camera with a variety of quality modes so you can choose anywhere from HD at 50Mbps on the low end to 600Mbps at 4k on the highest setting which is pretty ludicrous and will need specific CFexpress Type A cards that can be used alongside two SDXC UHS-II cards for a total of four cards which is pretty remarkable.

But what about full HD slow motion?

There is also a Slow and Quick motion mode which activates frame rate selection in FUll HD modes that can reach 120fps and 240fps in NTSC and 100fps, 200fps in PAL mode…

SLOW & QUICK MOTION (SHOOTING FRAME RATE) :

NTSC mode: 1 fps, 2 fps, 4 fps, 8 fps, 15 fps, 30 fps, 60 fps, 120 fps, 240 fps

PAL mode: 1 fps, 2 fps, 3 fps, 6 fps, 12 fps, 25 fps, 50 fps, 100 fps, 200 fps

However, not all is good in the state of Sony Slow Mo…

The number of effective pixels in S&Q mode: 1408 x 804 at 240 or 200 fps. 240 or 200 fps not available when using [XAVC HS 4K], [XAVC S 4K], or [XAVC S-I 4K] file formats.

Yes, we get a reduced quality 1408 x 804 at 240 or 200 fps readout when you get the highest frame rates along with skipped lines, aliasing, and moire.  After looking at the samples we simply cannot recommend this camera for its Full HD slow motion capabilities. The image is mushy and low detailed in those modes and clearly it seems restricted by hardware limitations on the sensor which do not allow for a 1:1 frame extraction at those speeds. 

Introducing Alpha 7S III | Sony | α:

But the 4k 120 and 100fps Slow Motion is great right?

Yes, this mode is not only great but it is superb in quality with up to 15 stops of dynamic range with S-Log 3, the best high ISO quality in a camera of this price range, 4:2:2 10-bit, full-time Autofocus in 100 and 120fps 4k with full eye and face detection with tracking. The camera is dependable, can record for nearly an hour in 4k 120p without overheating and can start to record again after a few minutes cool down thanks to its very capable internal heatsink which is a cut above what Canon was able to achieve on the R5 and R6 cameras which overheat after less than 30 minutes in pretty much every video mode.

One little nitpick on the 100fps and 120fps 4k mode you need to know:

The only real problem in this mode is a 1.1x crop from full frame when recording 100fps and 120fps 4k video. You get a 10% reduction in the field of view which seems to be tied to grabbing a 4k 1:1 pixel frame without full sensor readout inside the 12MP sensor. 4k needs only 8.3MP which kind of tells us that Sony cropped the sensor windowing mode to just read that portion in order to achieve the higher frame rate. That is not a really bad thing but something you need to know before shooting if you intend to use the same shot setup with different frame rates.  It can mess up your frame composition enough to require you to use markers on set to know which portion of the frame will be cropped and or the possibility to move back a bit to get the same field of view as regular 4k.

That said the 4k 100fps and 120fps mode shoots a beautifully detailed, noise-free, and artifact-free image that is the envy of many other cameras. You can use this mode on production as it shares the same quality as the 24, 30, and 60fps modes in the 4k shooting parameters.  It is that good, see the sample section below.

Sony a7S III Hands-on Review – What a HUGE Surprise This is… by Kai W: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

CES 2020 New 120fps Cameras from Nikon, Canon and Panasonic!

CES 2020 New 120fps Cameras from Nikon, Canon and Panasonic

CES brought a lot of weird tech like smarter toilets, personal companion robots and the occasional wearable smart tech that you really can’t wash in your home.  As it is always the case at HSC we were looking for slow motion capable cameras and sadly we saw very little at the show. We are now showcasing three manufacturers who had 120fps Full HD cameras announced at the show and no frame rates above that.

These are primarily 4k 30 and 60p cameras that have a 1080p 120fps mode as a feature that no new camera can really ship without. Sony has already standardized this format in the last few years on most Alpha cameras and Panasonic has even gone above at 180fps and 240fps in some cases like the GH5 and S series.  The cameras presented here are mainly either stills full-frame beasts or more standard video camera like.  By 2020 we would have hoped to see better than 120fps 1080p on cameras of this caliber but it seems we will have to keep waiting…

New cameras with impressive features and subdued frame rates for video:

Here we are in 2020 at 120fps, seemingly stuck in the past as far as frame rates go. We would have expected 4k 120fps and 1080p at least at 240fps by this time frame on many cameras but it looks to be a mirage that simply did not materialize.

Canon 1Dx Mark III Video Features:

Video Recording Raw12-Bit
5.5K (5472 x 2886) at 23.976p/24.00p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p [1800 to 2600 Mb/s]
MP4/H.265 4:2:2 10-Bit
DCI 4K (4096 x 2160) at 23.976p/24.00p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p [170 to 1000 Mb/s]
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p [170 to 1000 Mb/s]
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p [18 to 470 Mb/s]
MP4/H.264 4:2:0 8-Bit
DCI 4K (4096 x 2160) at 23.976p/24.00p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p [120 to 940 Mb/s]
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p [120 to 940 Mb/s]
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p [12 to 360 Mb/s]
External Recording Modes 4:2:2 10-Bit
DCI 4K (4096 x 2160) up to 59.94p
Recording Limit Up to 29 Minutes, 59 Seconds
Video Encoding NTSC/PAL
Audio Recording Built-In Microphone (Stereo)
External Microphone Input (Stereo)
Audio File Format AAC, Linear PCM (Stereo)

Canon 1DX Mark II – 120FPS Slow Motion – Paige Lorentzen by samfregonese:

Hey wait that video above is from the Mark II version of the camera and that is right. There is no available footage from 120fps mode on the Mark III that is available outside of Canon testing.  So we included the same 1DX Mark II spec of 120fps 1080p so you can get an idea of how it will perform on the Mark III. Anecdotal comments from testers say that video quality is improved across all modes which means the 120fps quality should also be better along with even tighter Auto Focus.

For $6,499.00 Body only with a  February 13th Ship-Date, the 1Ds Mark III is not a camera to buy for 120fps Full HD shooting, it is a tool for professional sports photographers to go and kill at the Olympics and World Cup at 20fps 21MP stills.   Good to have 4k 60p also which will probably be used more by shooters but don’t expect either mode to be class-leading. This is a beast of a stills camera, probably the best out there for the price and video while very good, is relevant for lower frame rates at higher resolutions.

Nikon D780 Video Features:

Video Mode:

Recording Modes MOV/H.264
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p
External Recording Modes 10-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160)
Full HD (1920 x 1080)
Recording Limit Up to 29 Minutes, 59 Seconds
Video Encoding NTSC/PAL
Audio Recording Built-In Microphone (Stereo)
External Microphone Input (Stereo)
Audio File Format AAC, Linear PCM (Stereo)

Video Sample below 120fps Full HD at Time: 5:40

Nikon D780 – Hands-On Review & Comparisons to D750 by digiDirect: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

iPhone X Slow Motion Samples 240fps!

Now that the iPhone X has been released to the public, it is time to examine its slow-motion quality when shooting at 240fps 1080p mode.  There is a lot of expectation for what this phone can do but in the end you will get a mild bump in camera quality compared to the iPhone 7 and the exact same camera module as the iPhone 8 Plus.

It is of note that the phone is smaller than the 8 Plus and that battery life should be about the same since the screen is not feeding that extra real estate.  We were very excited about having 1080p finally hitting 240fps on a phone but as you will see; it may not be as good as claimed.  Looks pretty close to 720p upscaled and quite soft which means information is being thrown away to have the high frame rates.

iPhone X Slow Motion Samples 240fps:

iPhone X with Maria Sergejeva / shot 4K 60p & 240fps 1080p by Daniel Peters:

iPhone X 1080p 240fps Cat by Zeck: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Yi 4k+ Slow Motion Samples!

Yi 4k+ Slow Motion Samples

The Yi Technology Yi 4k+ has been shipping for a few days and now slow motion samples have been posted online. There is no question the Yi 4k+ is the best value in action cameras today with specs that reach 4k at 60fps and up to 240fps in 720p Wide mode.

There is, of course, a resolution decrease and softness increase when it reduces the frame size to extract frames but it is within the norm and very competitive image quality wise with GoPro Hero 5 and Sony Action cam.  There are nearly identical components inside the Yi 4k+ to other action cameras and the Ambarella H2 Chipset makes its debut on the Yi line with good performance.

Yi 4k+ Slow Motion Modes:

  • 4K 60, 50  Wide 3840x2160px
  • 2.7K (16:9) 60, 50 Wide \Medium 2704x1520px
  • 1440P 60, 50 Wide 1920x1440px
  • 1080P 120, 100, 60, 50, 30, 25 Wide \Medium \Narrow
  • 1080P Ultra 90, 60, 50, 30, 25 Ultra Wide
  • 960P 120, 100, 60, 50 Wide \Medium 1280x960px
  • 720P 240, 200 Wide 1280x720px
  • 720P Ultra 120, 100, 60, 50 Ultra Wide 1280x720px
  • 480P 240, 200 Wide  848x480px

As you can see there’s a variety of options when it comes to frame rates in the Yi 4k+.  The 4k 60fps, 1080p 120fps, and 720p 240fps are of note but the extra options are always good to have.

When it comes to compression and detail retention 4k 60fps is very good and 1080p 120fps is slightly aliased with 720p really losing a lot of lines but on par with what GoPro are doing in their Black camera line. See the samples below for the quality:

Yi 4k+ Slow Motion Samples:

4K 60fps YI 4K+ Action Camera video comparison to YI 4K Camera by TK Bay:

Yi 4K+ Action Camera video 4k 60fps (raw unedited) by Safak Ebcinoglu:

YI 4K+ Action Camera – 4K 60fps Footage by el Producente:

YI 4K+ slow motion Water sample 720p 240fps by Bob Ditzel:

YI 4K+ slow motion Dog – Hovawart by Bob Ditzel:

YI 4k+ Plus – 2017 – World First Action Camera in 4K 60fps – 1080p 120 fps – Footage

Yi 4k+ Action (Voice Control,240 Slow-mo, EIS,…) Yi 4K. It’s Better Than Gopro Hero 5 !!! by TK Bay:

There you have it. There is a window of opportunity from Yi technology to get the GoPro Hero Black crowd to get their camera instead.  For just $339.98  the Yi 4k+ camera with an underwater case is cheaper than the GoPro Hero 5 Black at $399.99 with no underwater case. The GoPro Hero 5 Black has built in water protection up to 33ft or 10 meters. However, if you want to go deeper a case is, of course, the way to go.

The Yi 4k+ does 4k 60fps & 50fps for the first time in an action camera and while quality is not GH5 like due to bitrate constraints and sensor size; it is decent quality and will work for action shots and drones. The built-in touchscreen and voice control on the Yi 4k+ also aim at GoPro with a pretty good interface. There is no better value in high-end action cameras as the Yi 4k+ today. That is until GoPro or Sony show their cards and new products to compete head to head with it.  -HSC

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Chronos 1.4 Update 4 and Yi 4k+ Ships!

Chronos 1.4

The Chronos 1.4 camera is nearing the ship date with early bird units now scheduled to be shipped end of April or beginning of May.  The delay as stated in update #3 is due to some LCD parts not performing as indicated and the manufacturer taking longer than anticipated. All other components are ready for assembly.

As far as FCC & CE emissions approval, tests are still ongoing and look promising.  If nothing else changes early bird backers should start to get their Chronos 1.4 in 4 weeks time. For non early bird backers expect a similar delay time frame to your orders. Once the cameras start shipping the time delay should compress with assembly, testing and packaging being the only steps.

Chronos 1.4 Update #4 Below:

Video Rewards

We just sent out the video rewards to the $35 level backers, if you backed at that level, check your email inbox. We hope you enjoy watching the videos as much as we enjoyed taking them!

The custom flash drives for the next higher tier are in production and should be done soon. They’re REALLY nice and will be worth the wait.

Production Update

In production news, FCC/CE approval testing has been ongoing the past two weeks, with no problems so far. Keeping our fingers crossed for a pass!

We’re still waiting on LCDs to arrive. It seems Chinese New Year has caused a lot of issues with the LCD manufacturer’s supply chain, and there was an issue with the LCD display glass that required a new batch to be made. Talking to them yesterday, they’ve indicated that the LCDs should arrive at their factory mid-April for bonding to the touchscreen glass, and should ship to us at the end of April.

We sincerely apologize for the delay, the LCD manufacturer had indicated a 7 week lead time at the beginning of January, and it’s turned into 15 weeks.

Once the camera housings arrive around the middle of this month, we’ll assemble the cameras as far as we can, then once the LCDs arrive it should take only one or two days for final assembly of the earlybird batch, so they should ship at the end of April or beginning of May.

Thanks everyone for your patience! – Update END

The Xiaomi Yi 4k+ camera capable of 60fps at 4k UHD is about to be released tomorrow April 11th with a pretty compelling price tag.  The little camera is the first action sports portable device to offer such frame rate with the Ambarella H2 as it’s SoC.  GoPro Hero 5+ Black or GoPro Hero 6 is expected to match it but still no word on the specs or release date for the camera.

The Chinese manufacturer has priced the camera at $339.98 which includes a dive case and USB C connectivity.

Yi 4k+ Spec Points:

  • The first action camera to capture 4K video at 60 frames per second (fps) so you don’t miss a moment
  • Electronic Image Stabilization captures spectacularly smooth and steady 4K/30fps video
  • Take stunning 12 MP RAW photos with the 155 Degree wide-angle f/2.8 high-quality glass lens
  • Don’t get caught short with battery life up to 2 hours at 1080/60 fps and over 1 hour at 4K/60fps
  • Feature-packed it includes a Waterproof Case, USB-C, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for streaming live video plus Voice Command, a large easy-to-use 2.2″ Gorilla Glass touchscreen and so much more

The battery life should be about 1hr recording in 4k and a little less in 4k 60p with 1080p giving you a full 2hrs at 60fps. Not a lot of battery power but better than some other sports cameras.

Full Comparison YI 4K+ VS GoPro Hero 5 by Sami Luo:

New Footage from the Yi 4k+ at 4k 60fps:

Ski Snowboard Edit Toggenburg – YI 4K+ 4K/60FPS by DBT Sruh

We will have more on this camera video quality and frame rates as it becomes available. The Bit-rate at 4k 60p is 135Mbit/sec which is pretty good. It also offers 1080p 120fps and 720p 240fps for slow motion options. However aliasing is present to some degree in these modes. 4k 60p looks extremely good however.

Amazon.com is the primary source for Yi 4k+ action cameras in the US and offers free shipping.   The camera is expected to be the one to beat in 2017 in the action sports camera segment. Release is tomorrow April 11th and any pre-orders should start shipping.

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