Nicolas Vuignier is an extreme skier and pretty able action camera man that has devised a contraption that creates a centrifugal force tether to suspend a camera in this case an iPhone 6 and record 360 degree slow motion video for a “The Matrix” like bullet time effect while descending from a steep snow covered mountain.
He is working on a behind the scenes video “Making Of” which will show how he was able to do it in terms of gear, the tether and the skills necessary to pull it off. In theory a tether like this could be used with even more slow motion capable cameras at higher frame rates for an even greater effect.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The end of 2015 is upon us and now it is time to look back and see what the year brought us in the shape of affordable slow motion gear. While many cameras had higher frame rates, only a few really shined and delivered on the promise of offering HD quality and higher than normal frames per second in an attractive price point and one that you may already own if you have a recent mobile device.
Samsunghas pulled out the German market with the Samsung NX1 camera for lack of adoption it seems or a big marketing failure. Will other markets be impacted in the future? It is quite a capable camera with 4k video and 120fps Full HD recording which currently sits in#11 in our Camera Guide for slow motion on a budget. While the line may continue in the future those prospects have become more doubtful in recent days with the announcement. The good news is that the camera may be heavily discounted by years end getting you a great bang for your buck with pretty respectable slow motion capabilities for a mirror-less camera.
Due to overwhelming user requests Microsoft has finally added with an update to its Windows 10 Camera app the ability to shoot slow-motion video on some Lumia smartphones. The feature is not terribly groundbreaking as it is limited for now to 120 fps at 720p resolution. However this may open the door to higher frame rates like 240p and 480p in future devices as now the feature is not completely ignored. Windows 10 Phone users rejoice, well until the platform fully launches in the near future.
Microsoft: “Slow-motion video has been one of the most frequent requests we hear from people using the Camera app on Windows Phone and Windows 10,” Microsoft says. “So, we’re happy to announce that you can now capture slow-motion video with Camera for Windows 10.”→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
So you have an iPhone and want to get the best video possible out of it. Should you stay with Apple’s camera implementation or should you branch out and look for better capture apps? Those that do the best job at compressing your footage and extracting the utmost quality from it.
For years the App to flock to if you own an iPhone is the FiLMiC Pro for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch by Cinegenix. It was used in the Zacuto revenge of the Camera shootout in 2012 to capture the segments with the iPhone which rivaled, according to the audience of judges, cameras much stronger in specs and capture quality. It tied with the Canon C300 and beat the Sony FS100. That test was highly subjective with a lot of light to fill in the soft spots of the camera, however that did not detract from the fact that FiLMiC Pro did an amazing job at delivering a more grade-able and professional looking footage than Apple’s stock implementation on the then iPhone 4s. You can see the test here!→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Now that a couple of weeks have passed it is clear that the camera in the new iPhone 6s is better than the previous model in every single way. It has 12MP instead of 8MP, it has UHD 4k recording in video and has 120fps 1080p slowmo which is up from 720p. The dynamic range is on par with the previous model but with the added feature of less noise and artifacts due to new in sensor technology and software processing. While most users will not notice much in the way of improvements; they are there and especially if you look at the video mode the new iPhone is a fantastic upgrade from the regular 6 model.
The 120fps 1080p mode is very good and the detail is retained as long as there is not a lot of minute detail and extreme numbers of objects/changes in the scene. It is not as good as regular 1080p but it is close as there is not a lot of detail loss especially when using Macro mode. If you want it to shoot a single water drop it should do great but if you are recording assorted splashes the codec will break apart and macro-blocks will start to invade your scene. It works very well for people and large scene objects and a lot of detail is preserved. The 240fps mode is also improved in the artifacts and noise which means the processing is improved as you can see much less aliasing and moire. It is still not true 720p but it is very close. As of now we think the iPhone 6s has better slow motion quality than the GoPro Hero 4 Black and the Sony Action Cam Sony FDR-X1000V . It is the best slowmo phone available in quantity as of today. The New Nexus 6P has 720p 240fps to compete with the iPhone but no realistic samples besides the Hummingbird Video which is still unconfirmed exist. This will change in the near future when users get their hands on it.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
