Tag Archives: Chronos

Chronos 4k12 and Q12 Hi-Speed Announced!

Krontech the Canadian Hi-speed camera company has released press information for two new global shutter camera releases due to ship in 2024.  While they did excellent work with the Chronos 1.4 720p and Chronos 2.1 HD 1080p slow motion cameras, many users of the platform clamored for more resolution and better image quality.  Enter the new Chronos 4k12 a full 4k Camera capable of 1,397 FPS at 8 bit 4096 x 2160 resolution or at 3840 x 2160
UHD 1,491 FPS.  

To put this in perspective, the Phantom 4k camera does 4k at 1k fps and costs around $80k USD for a starter kit.  This new Chronos camera has some serious punch for the TV, Web, and Film industries that need the extra resolution. We can see many production houses adopting this camera for production without breaking the bank in a compact and fully contained package.  → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Chronos Camera m43 Lens Adapter with Speedbooster Support!

The two existing Chronos cameras, the 1.4c 720p at 1502fps & the Chronos 2.1 -HD 1t 1080p 1000fps are identical when seen from the outside but very different inside as they contain different sensor and memory boards. However one constant is that both use the C mount as the default for lens adapters. The camera usually comes with a Canon EF or Nikon F mount adapter depending on the buyer preference which screws on the C mount thread and allows for support of classic lenses from Macro to telephoto. 

One request from the community has been the support for other lens mounts like Micro 4/3ds which lets you adapt a variety of lens mounts and the much coveted speedbooster adapters which allow a 1 f-stop improvement in light gathering for micro 4/3ds systems. Today Krontech, the company behind the Chronos high-speed camera is introducing a passive Micro 4/3rds adapter for both the Chronos 1.4c and 2.1-HD and uses the body screw terminals near the lens thread mount to place a solid connection that allows such lenses. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Cyber Monday Slow Motion Camera Deals!

Cyber Monday Slow Motion Camera Deals

We have gathered a few deals that may or may not peak your interest in a slow motion capable camera. Some of these are too good to pass up and some are just middle of the road. We have taken advantage of some of these over the years and it may be just what you were waiting for to pull the trigger.  If you have some cash saved and have been waiting for a good opportunity, some of the discounts are large enough to beat any past deals on these cameras.

If you have not bought any new cameras this year we feel it is time to take a look at these and make a choice for that high frame rate cam you have had in your sights.  Also, camera memory is on sale as are some lights, it is probably the right time for both as well.  If you find any more slow motion deals that we passed up, please let us know.

Cyber Monday Slow Motion Camera Deals:

  1. GoPro Hero 9 Black with $50 Amazon Gift card for free. All for just $399 after saving a combined $100! –240fps Full HD Capture!

2. GoPro Hero 8 Black Bundle + Extra Floating Handle, Includes Hero8 Black Camera, Shorty Handle, Headstrap, 32gb SD Card, 2 Batteries, and a Floating Handle For Just $299 – 14% off-240p FHD

3. Sony ZV-1 Camera for Content Creators, Vlogging and YouTube with Flip Screen and Microphone just $698 after $100 off. 240fps at full HD and Up to 1,000fps at reduced resolutions. 

4. Sony a7 III (ILCE7M3K/B) Full-frame Mirrorless Interchangeable-Lens Camera with 28-70mm Lens with 3-Inch LCD, Black120fps full HD with tracking excellent quality!  14% off from $2198 to just $1,898.00!

5. Sony RX100 VII Premium Compact Camera with 1.0-type stacked CMOS sensor (DSCRX100M7) $1,198.00 save $100  – Up to 1000fps slow motion with excellent 1080p 240fps slow motion video.

6. Panasonic LUMIX GH5 4K Digital Camera, 20.3 Megapixel Mirrorless Camera with Digital Live MOS Sensor, 5-Axis Dual I.S. 2.0, 4K 4:2:2 10-Bit Video, Full-Size HDMI Out, 3.2-Inch LCD, DC-GH5 (Black) Save $700 USD or 35% off!

120fps and 180fps Full HD slow motion with no time limit!

7.Sony RX100VA (NEWEST VERSION) 20.1MP Digital Camera: RX100 V Cyber-shot Camera with Hybrid 0.05 AF, 24fps Shooting Speed & Wide 315 Phase Detection – 3” OLED Viewfinder & 24-70mm Zoom Lens – Wi-Fi   Up to 1000fps slow motion with excellent 1080p 240fps mode!

8. Sony Cyber‑Shot RX10 IV with 0.03 Second Auto-Focus & 25x Optical Zoom (DSC-RX10M4)  Save $100Up to 1000fps slow motion with excellent 1080p 240fps mode!

Special Slow Motion Deals:

1) Krontech.ca the makers of the Chronos slow motion camera are having a 10% off sale until November 30th for any product in their site including the Chronos 1.4c and Chronos 2.1 HD cameras.  The savings here are very substantial. Use Promo code at checkout:

Promo Code At Checkout!
HAPPYCHRONOSBF2020

 

2) Prolost.com store is having a 50% off on all its software bundles including the excellent Prolost Speedramp to edit your high frame rate video professionally.  Code to use is “CYBER” at checkout!

 

3) Topaz Labs suite of software products.

Topaz Suite for 68% off

The folks at Topaz labs makers of Video Enhance AI are having a huge price reduction for their entire suite of products.  You can increase the resolution of your slow motion video incredibly well – up to 8k resolution with breathtaking results.  Go to the site link here for details. The savings are 68% off which is pretty remarkable. https://topazlabs.com/black-friday/

4) Camera SD Card memory deals for Cyber Monday: savings on dozens of cards from every brand at Amazon!

There you go, many excellent deals for you to ponder. We thank you for your visit and support by visiting our Amazon Product links for your purchase at no extra cost to you! -HSC

 

 

Krontech Releases Chronos Software 0.4 with LAN support!

Chronos Software 0.4

Krontech.ca the makers of the Chronos affordable professional high speed camera have released the Software version 0.4.0 Beta of the camera platform.  The cameras will now be using an embedded build of the Debian operating system which was already the default OS for the Chronos 2.1 HD.  All Chronos 1.4c cameras can now be upgraded to the new Beta version free of charge Follow this link for the official thread.

We tested the software briefly and found it to be responsive and solid.  However as a Beta, you should be ready to find some glitches here and there, if you are doing mission-critical work you should wait for a full release before updating to be on the safe side, we recommend it for most users who are not shooting once in a lifetime events. If you do find bugs please contact them to help squash them out.

Chronos Software 0.4.0 Software Beta:

Official thread, installation instructions and download link here!

Notable Changes:
– Support for the LUX2100 image sensor.
– API for camera control via JSON/HTTP over the Ethernet port.
* Examples: https://github.com/krontech/chronos-examples
– Saving of media over network to an NFS and Samba share.
– Software updates can be downloaded over the internet.
– Real-time video stream from the camera using RTSP.
– New back-of-camera GUI is available via the software update screen.
* For more information: http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?topic=498

The biggest change is the ability to control the camera via Ethernet which gets it into more professional settings that allow for a really long tethering solution or using a small portable LAN Wifi router like the ZyXel here which will allow wireless control from afar. As of now it allows the use of control scripts that will operate the camera remotely with a great deal of customizability.  For situations that require the camera to be sealed and controlled remotely and unattended, this is an ideal solution. We will revisit the feature once we have tested it.

Spice Slow motion test chronos camera 2.1 HD by LaSt Studio:

We love the new Dark GUI and we especially find it comforting to get more video preview space which was taken by the old interface scroll bar and buttons. Now the video preview takes center stage much like what you see in other professional cameras like the ones from RED and or Blackmagic design.   We will test the new software in our next shoot with the Chronos 1.4 and will get a 2.1 HD to review later this year. Stay tuned!

Chronos does space science:

Krontech also shared this article in IEEE Spectrum magazine that details the work by Masten Space Systems on creating instant landing pads for future space exploration vehicles. The technology uses the rocket exhaust and composite materials to create a kind of lilypad array on planetary surfaces to create a stable base for exploration modules.

The Chronos cameras were used extensively for testing the different materials and exhaust plumes of rockets on their research. The footage below shows part of the Chronos camera imagery analyzing different test cases of the technology. We estimate the Chronos 1.4c was used for this project.

It is exciting to see Krontech catering to many labs now and creating a name for itself in the Aerospace industry by showing affordability does not necessarily mean unprofessional.  The fact that rocket scientists are using the cameras with great success should make it an easy purchase for many other labs.

For more information on these cameras go to www.krontech.ca !

Thanks for reading and remember to mention HSC Code “HISPEEDCAMS5”  to Krontech at Chronos store for a possible discount on your order if you are a new customer! -HSC

Cronos HD 2.1 First footage samples surface!

Cronos HD 2.1 First footage samples

The team at Krontech.ca has been shipping the first units of the Chronos 2.1-HD 4/3″ Sensor high-speed camera to their customers and in turn, footage has started to become available online showing what this new super affordable 1080p slow-mo cam can do.  We will be reviewing a unit in the future once the firmware is more polished and will give it a good spin to finally rank it in our camera guide.

At first glance, we have a very positive reaction to the footage shown. The noise control and per-pixel detail are excellent and a clear cut above what the much smaller 2/3″ sensor on the Chronos 1.4c was able to deliver.   Larger sensors are a must for high-speed cameras to make use of more available light locations.   We have gathered some excellent video examples that will let you have a pretty good idea of what you can shoot and at what quality level with this camera.

Chronos 2.1 HD Main Specs:

  • 1080p, 4/3” format image sensor
  • 2.1 gigapixels per second
  • 1000fps @ 1080p
  • up to 24 046fps at
    lower resolutions
  • 8GB, 16GB and 32GB high-speed RAM buffer options for 2.7, 5.5 and 11.0 second record time respectively.
  • High sensitivity base ISO of 500 (Color) and 1000 (Monochrome) enables shooting with modest lighting.
  • l battery lasts for 1 hour of recording
  • Runs indefinitely on AC adapter or external power source
  • Many lenses supported: Nikon F, Canon EF and C mounts available as field-swappable options
  • Starting at USD $5,000.00
Resolution and Frame Rate Table as of February 2020 (Could differ in future firmware):

There is also a new monthly newsletter on the Krontech website so you are up to date with the news on these camerashttps://www.krontech.ca/chronos-newsletter/

Cronos HD 2.1 First footage samples:

A few notes before you look at these video samples: These are early beta firmware samples which means that the quality will probably improve from here in several aspects. The most obvious will be the vertical column banding artifact that can show up on higher frame rates and less than ideal lighting conditions.   We also see room for improvement in the color-science especially in reds and maybe some highlight tweaking.

However, at first glance, they look really good and a clear improvement from the earlier product from Krontech.ca the Chronos 1.4c.  This camera can now go head to head with much more expensive competitors as the image quality has increased greatly. Enjoy the samples!

Water Drop Slow Motion by Laurent NICOLET:

Chronos 2.1 HD Initial test at 1000fps 2142fps 3385fps 5406fps by Scott Aichner: → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Slow Motion News August 2019

Slow Motion News

We have a few developments to share in the high speed camera world. Things have been somewhat quiet in the phone front as the high speed component feature was relegated to a footnote in 2019 after a great 2017 and 2018 main spec treatment. We may get much better phone slow motion as memory size and speed increases while maintaining the same price range thanks to the fast pace of electronics development.

Sony just announced their latest RX VII camera which means that an RX10 and maybe a new RX VA version will show up before the year is over.  We were not happy with the feature being stagnant in resolution and speed on the RX series for 3 years in a row now. Sure AF and overall speed have increased when it comes to other parts of the camera but the high frame rates remain frozen in 2016 specs.  In the meantime, we have a few new things to show you.

Slow Motion News August 2019:

iX Cameras releases i-SPEED 5 SERIES of Full HD professional slow motion cameras.

iX cameras has now released the brochure and spec info for a new Full HD camera line composed of the (508, 510 & 513)  that are capable of recording up to 6,382 fps in Full HD and up to 1 million fps on the lowest resolution.

508 Specs:

  • 3,980 fps @ 1920×1080
  • 1,000,000 fps Max Frame Rate
  • 18/36/72/96/144 GB RAM Memory
  • Mono ISO 8,500D (sat) / 68,000D (sat)
  • Color ISO 3,060D (sat) / 24,480D (sat)
  • In the $30k USD Range

510 Specs:

  • 4,980 fps @ 1920×1080
  • 1,000,000 fps Max Frame Rate
  • 18/36/72/96/144 GB RAM Memory
  • Mono ISO 8,500D (sat) / 68,000D (sat)
  • Color ISO 3,060D (sat) / 24,480D (sat)
  • In the $50k USD Range

513 Specs:

  • 6,382 fps @ 1920×1080
  • 1,000,000 fps Max Frame Rate
  • 18/36/72/96/144 GB RAM Memory
  • Mono ISO 8,500D (sat) / 68,000D (sat)
  • Color ISO 3,060D (sat) / 24,480D (sat)
  • In the $100k USD Range

“State-Of-The-Art 1080p HD Sensor
The heart of the i-SPEED 5 Series is a custom 12-bit CMOS light sensitive image sensor capable of recording 3,980 fps at full HD resolution, with a maximum speed of 500,000fps*. With the optional Fast mode shutter option*, the 5-series can achieve 250ns exposure times. Other features include an internal SSD of up to 8TB, an external SSD of up to 2TB, high-speed image download, memory segmentation, and camera control via the unique touch-screen CDUe control device or via the powerful i-SPEED Software Suite 2.0 that controls the i-SPEED 7 cameras.”

More information about these and other iX Cameras at the official company website: https://www.ix-cameras.com/best_value_high-speed_camera_slow_motion.php

Chronos 1.4c Camera Software V0.3.2 Development improves Frame Rates and adds new features:

We installed the Chronos V0.3.2 RC1 Beta software and on initial testing find the software to be mostly stable and the new features make it a better camera all-around.

In our testing, we found that noise and column gain was reduced considerably after a 15min warm-up.  Also, the saving to SDHC cards is faster in RAW mode, we were getting 4.8fps instead of 3.7fps in 0.3.1 this makes a very noticeable difference in saving speed which seemed too restrictive in RAW.

We did encounter some problems when using HDMI external monitors and viewfinders when using the peaking function. These are already being patched for the next release so we recommend you wait for v0.3.2 RC2 if that feature is needed while monitoring.

The camera now has the ability to format and see how much space is left on SD and USB/SATA media which is a very welcome feature set for on the field users. We would love the ability to load saved clips for playback at a later date as software evolves including post save editing and clip erase if possible.

Another welcome feature is now the ability to shoot even faster frame rates for all resolutions. 720p has gained 17 frames from 1502fps to 1519fps which is our main use resolution.  However, the camera is now able to shoot up to 40,420fps at 320*96 pixels which used to be 38,565 fps for a 1,855fps gain with no quality degradation. It is not often that you get free speed in any camera, this time it is lossless and operates just as before.

For more information on the Chronos 1.4 camera visit the Krontech.ca and or info on the patch at the development forum thread here: http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?topic=488.0

Notable Changes:
– Automatic ADC calibration during black calibration, which should reduce column banding across a wider temperature range.
– Add a storage tab to the util menu to view, eject and format the attached storage devices.
– Speed boost at most resolutions, with a top speed of 1069fps at 1280×1024, and 40420fps at 320×96.
– Configurable automated power-on and off depending on the AC adaptor status.
– Option to disable the ring buffer when in segmented recording mode.

Minutae:
– Factory black calibration is now user accessible from the Factory tab of the util window.
– The software update button has been moved to the storage tab of the util window.
– Shipping mode to disable power-on by battery until an AC adaptor is attached.
– Add a watchdog to reboot the camera in case of a power-on boot failure.
– Display descriptive error strings instead of number on failure.

Fixed Bugs:
– Gated burst record mode may lock up after several trigger edges.
– Gated burst record mode unreliable when trigger debounce is enabled
– Memory leak in the M3 video coprocessors which could lead to a crash after lots of H.264 encoding.
– Ignore video which was recorded during zero-time black calibration (which happens after changing resolution).
– Stuttering issue on the playback window on new production LCD modules.
– Fixed deadlock in camera when restoring user settings from external media.

Fixed since V0.3.2-beta-6:
– Changes to focus aid or exposure aid (zebra stripes) would have no effect until resolution is changed.
– Changes to exposure may be overwritten during black calibration.
– Bad image quality at 336×120 resolution
– Util window, storage tab – bottom of text cut off if device has multiple partitions
– Factory black cal (black cal all resolutions) would get overridden by old user black cal, if a user had done their own black cal, even before.

Known Issues:
– On the save file settings window, the bitrate as listed above the resolution may be lower than the actual bitrate, if Saved File Framerate is lower than 60fps

Updating Your Camera
====================
– Extract the `.zip` file into the root directory of a FAT32 formatted USB drive.
– Turn on your camera and insert the USB drive into the USB/eSATA combo port, not the one labeled ‘OTG’.
– From the main window, tap the `Util` button to open the utility window.
– As a precaution, tap the `Backup Calibration Data` button on the utility window before starting the update.
– When the backup is completed, a pop-up window will be displayed.
– Tap the `Done` button to close the pop-up window.
– From the utility window, tap the `Apply Software Update` button to begin the software update.
– A warning message will be displayed, tap the `Yes` button to confirm and begin the update.
– If a pop-up that says ‘No software update found’ is displayed, even when a USB stick containing the update in the correct location is connected, reboot the camera and try again.
– During the update, the screen will go blank and an `Applying Update` message will be displayed.
– After approximately 60 seconds, the update will be complete and the camera will restart.

Xiaomi Black Shark 2 Pro Phone Announced with 1920fps at 720p!

As we have seen from Chinese phones this year, the 1920fps spec for slow motion at 720p is included in several spec sheets like the Nubia Red Magic 3 but we found out that it is not only a fake spec but the actual video quality is pretty low.  The phone uses a 480fps capture at 720p and then creates interpolation of 4x  which is 480 x 4 =1920fps to create the final video. In some phones, it is just playing back 4x slower but in others there is interpolation. WHatever the came may-be, you are better off by avoiding this feature in your buying decision.  The quality is low and compression high, then the stuttering of faking the 1920fps kicks in and you end up with a subpar experience.

Here is a video sample of what appears to be a real clip from the Blackshark 2 Pro. You can easily notice the interpolation.

Blackshark 2 Pro – 1920 FPS Slow Motion Video by Shail 360:

Now for some fun, The Slow Mo Guys have played with a huge amount of Gallium metal which becomes liquid at under 30 degrees C and looks pretty close to mercury without the toxicity. They do remind us that Gallium corrodes Aluminum on contact as it amalgamates with it, Aluminum which is what most cameras and lens cases are made of are pretty vulnerable,  so if you try this with your slow motion camera, be sure to use a barrier. -HSC

 

Pouring a Liquid Mirror in Slow Motion – 4K by The Slow Mo Guys: → Continue Reading Full Post ←