The new Laowa 24mm f/14 Probe Lens with included LED lighting at the tip is a really interesting lens for high-speed shooters that would like an edge in their shooting style. The lens looks like a gun barrel but it is really a snake tube-cam-like lens that permits focus at just 2cm from the front element and also shoots at a fairly long distance from the subject.
The Kickstarter campaign project seen here was asking for just $9,999 USD in funding but as of right now with several days to go has reached an extremely impressive $811,113 USD which translates to about 650 lenses to be delivered to backers. The footage that the campaign was able to provide is really amazing at showing what can be achieved when creative minds are able to freely utilize an innovative lens like this.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Now that a few days have passed we now have the first few samples of what the Galaxy Note 9 is capable of in 960fps slow-motion mode. It shows about the same effective resolution as the Galaxy S9 and S9+ which share the same camera system. The Note 9 is supposed to increase the dynamic range but it is unclear how much benefit it will show in a resolution starved 720p high-speed mode.
The best selling factor for the Note 9 as a slow-motion device is the doubling of recording time to 0.4 seconds from the 0.2sec available on the Galaxy S9. This transforms into a 12.8-second video played back at NTSC 30p which makes it much more enjoyable than the 6.4 sec on the other Samsung phone.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Samsung has released the Galaxy Note 9 today and needless to say its a spec powerhouse with a familiar design and feel. No other Samsung has ever sported such amount of features and memory footprint up to 1TB with the 512GB internal plus an optional 512GB Micro SD card. Of course, a fully specced out phone will not be cheap when the handset starts at $1,000 USD in the USA or €1,000 in Europe.
Our interest and focus are the video features and we are far from disappointed. You get improved AF with scene recognition and an increase in dynamic range compared to the Galaxy S9. You get 4k UHD up to 60p and the usual competitive frame rates of 240fps and 120fps Full HD plus the 960fps mode that made its debut in the S9 and S9 plus phones earlier in the year. The extra checkmark in this phone’s sheet is that the slow motion at 960fps is now double the rec time of the S9 at 0.4sec instead of the 0.2sec in the S9 at the full frame rate.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The Chronos 1.4 team has been hard at work on firmware improvements. The latest pre-released software patch shared with HSC improves the h.264 file quality at the pixel level by using a new demosaic algorithm to better match the real camera output. We did a few sample tests to see how big an improvement it is and also to maybe ditch the slow and space eating RAW 16bit workflow which is our preferred file saving format as it retains all the sensor information.
The new improvements are already available to the community as a beta in this post. It is very stable it should immediately improve the way you work with the camera. Also, a new roadmap of upcoming firmware releases was shared in the forums which include HDMI monitoring and a complete OS change to Debian Linux from the current Arago distro for the camera which should improve development and speed in implementing features.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
In what may be described as a practical home application of a stroboscope, the Slow Dance frame by Wonder Machines makes it possible to see the deformation of objects without motion blur with your naked eye and or a typical camera. The Picture frame makes extreme vibrations on deformable lite objects i.e. a flower or bird feather and then uses a synced led light to match the deformation wave period. In essence, creating a snapshot of the motion in real time while your brain is processing the data to create a fluid almost magical effect.
At just $299 for the Slow Dance product, it becomes a very unique gift proposition or conversation starter piece. Electronic Stoboscopes have been with us since1931, when Harold Edgerton (“Doc” Edgerton) employed a flashing lamp to study machine parts in motion. Now you can have a somewhat limited but beautiful display to experiment using the technique. The results are quite mind-blowing as the still life objects appear to take on a spark of life.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Both the Galaxy S9 and S9+ phones shipped with 720p 960fps slow motion capability but the recording was limited to 0.2 seconds which is just too short a time span. This made it difficult to capture things in manual mode since the reaction time of your finger is about the same as the recording time making you miss moments. Pre-record made it easier but still limited to just 6.4 seconds playback in regular 30fps video timelines.
The new S9 update allows for manual high-speed recording to be used in 480fps slow motion mode at 720p for now 0.4 seconds or twice the recording time. This allows for easier capture of moments but in real time playback at 30fps it is the exact same playback time of 6.4 seconds. Since only 192 frames are recorded in the 0.4 seconds same as in the 960fps mode of 0.2sec then the only thing you gain is double the time to capture the moment. It would have been ideal to get also double the playback time. Memory buffer seems to be the limiting factor here!→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
