We are constantly looking for high-speed camera bargains and one of the best places to find them is on eBay where used cameras go to find a new home. It is hard to judge the actual state of a product until you use it but that is why you can ask questions to the seller and reach a deal if needed. You also have to take into account that many cameras get used in dangerous situations to record events where no human can be close to like on a rocket launch pad or testing artillery.
Make sure if you purchase a camera to be given a determined time to test it and make sure it is working as described. The whole point of finding these bargains is to save a boatload of money compared to purchasing them outright from the manufacturer. HSC is not paid a commission or promotion fee for these listings so make sure you do your due diligence before buying, we are not affiliated with the sellers. This month a few diamonds in the rough were found that could really bring an edge to your slow motion shooting. Let’s dig in!→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Warning: The parent company of FPS cameras “The Slow Motion Camera Company Ltd.” went out of business and entered liquidation proceedings. No further development of cameras is expected. More information here on Google Search!
Last week the site The Information posted a piece stating the possibility of GoPro being bought out by Chinese electronics company Xiaomi which are the makers of the main competitor to GoPro in the same form factor with the Yi camera line. We liked the Yi 4k+ last year as it delivered pretty acceptable quality in 4k 60p in a GoPro like the body+enclosure design. We were not thrilled by the bit rates or the slow-motion quality but it was in the running for the best alternative action camera with a lower price.
If the rumors are true Xiaomi will be consolidating the Action camera market and improving the Yi camera line overnight by rebranding it to GoPro as the name might be just as valuable as the technology being acquired. Most of the current Yi camera products share the components with pre Hero 6 Black cameras like the Hero 5 Black as they were based on the Ambarella chips that GoPro used for a decade.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Z Cam the relatively new Camera company from Shenzhen, China has announced the Z Cam E2 at NAB 2018 MSRP $1,999.00 USD. It is not a direct replacement for their ambitious but half-baked Z E1 m4/3 camera which costs $399. The new camera is a beast specs wise with up to 120fps 4k and full HD 1080p at 240fps. The codecs will be H.264 and H.265 at 10 bit but no RAW support so far which might be acceptable if the codec is clean enough and their promised Log Flat curve preserves the estimated 13.5 stops of dynamic range.
The camera is still being developed for a June 2018 estimated ship date. It lacks a back screen and relies on a Wifi or Gigabit Ethernet link to their dedicated control application. They intend to support iOS devices and or a PC client. No mention of Android support or Mac which should be included in order to maintain the widest compatibility. We feel lacking Android control is a big deal and should be promised in a future update. It is also unclear if the camera will be possible to use by using a touch screen field monitor which probably will not be the case. Using an iPhone or an iPad as the control interface is probably the best use case.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Yes the BMPCC 4k looks like a DSLR crossed with a late 1990s digital camera but it’s insides are not only powerful but could also mean that you can essentially afford two units of this camera instead of a Panasonic GH5s for example and get similar quality with the added ability to shoot RAW and power an XLR microphone directly from the camera with phantom power. Bang for your buck!
As for fast frame rates the camera can shoot 4k 60fps & 120fps 1080p in full RAW or Apple ProRes codec options. We sure wished the camera could shoot 240fps in full HD and 120fps in 4k even while time limited. It would have placed the camera in a much better position on our list due to its $1,295.00 USD price tag which is really the best value for money in a camera today. Well for September 3rd which is the actual ship date which may or may not derail your purchasing plans.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Huawei’s P20 Pro is a beautiful phone that merges the sleek design of the Samsung Galaxy series with the Apple front screen notch while not compromising in camera design with a 3 sensor + lens combo that may be the best camera solution on a phone yet. In fact, DPreview has an article on the stills camera performance here. They call it “the most innovative mobile device we have seen in quite some time” which is a tall order considering how good the competition camera’s like in the Pixel 2 XL, Galaxy S9 and the iPhone X have gotten.
What interests us, however, is the slow-motion mode which allows the phone to shoot a 0.25sec burst of 720p video at 960fps which is slightly above the time recorded by the Galaxy S9 and Sony Xperia XZ series of last year but still below the new Xperia XZ2’s 0.4 seconds at 720p this year. We were not impressed with the quality of either phone when it came to overall resolution and artifacts so we were skeptical about the Huawei P20 Pro since the start.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
