Tag Archives: samsung

VR Revolution Will Need High Speed Video!

GoogleCardboard

The VR of the 1990s was a certified gimmick ; technology wasn’t there for the most part and a simple system then by today’s standards was worth millions of dollars.   Fast forward to 2011 when an inventive young man “only 18 years old then” Palmer Luckey built the first prototype of a VR headset in his parents garage. By the 6th generation prototype he named it the Rift and had a Kickstarter project to be able to launch to the gadget gamer community “raising US $2.4 million or 974% of its original target”.

John Carmack the genius programmer of ID software fame had an Oculus prototype headset and was blown away by it;  he modded it to better performance and was able to run a  Doom 3 edition on the headset in 2012.  Carmack is now the Chief technology officer CFO at Oculus VR. The interest in VR intensified and blew up right after the adoption of the technology by some of the best minds in the gaming industry.  Mark Zuckerberg was so into it and the possibilities it could bring to the future of social media that Facebook acquired Oculus VR for 2 Billion USD in March 2014. Talk about a successful meteoric rise for such a young company!   → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Readers Questions August 2015!

HSCQA

Here are some of the most asked questions received from our readers in the past two months about slow motion gear , phones and other imaging devices:

Q) What will the iPhone 6s be able to do? → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge + and Note 5 Announced!

GalaxyS6PlusNote5

Today the Samsung Galaxy S6+ Edge and the Galaxy Note 5 were announced with somewhat subdued fanfare.  For slow motion aficionados there is not much news regarding the release.  While the Note 5 is a big upgrade in performance compared to the Note 4 of last year; the S6+ is basically a larger screen Galaxy S6 edge.

Slow motion on the original Galaxy S6 was limited to 120fps and the new phone has no changes; the S6 Edge + shares the same camera specs  at a max of 120fps at 720p .  And while Samsung has basicly the same camera setup on the Note 5 ypou could expect similar performance. However as of today there is no confirmation of 120fps on the Galaxy Note 5. There is confirmation of 60fps at 1080p on the Note 5 but no higher slow motion. Even in Samsung’s direct specs it just mentions Slow Motion Mode. We guess it is the deliberate omission of some touting of specs to cater to a different market. Since the Note 4 did 120fps at 720p it is safe to assume the Note 5 at least be on par with it’s predecessor. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Samsung NX500 & Sony RX100 IV Samples!

NX500Samsung

The Samsung NX500 has just been updated with firmware 1.10 There are several improvements and like it’s larger sibling the NX1 now the slow motion mode of 120fps at 720p in this camera is more easily accessible.  The NX1 has a better slow motion mode than the NX500 as it is 1080p Full HD instead of 720p but this camera is also much less expensive and has also 4k video.  These enhancements add a lot of oomph to an already good pocket-able large sensor camera.

The biggest improvements are codec quality bit-rate up to 70Mbps and the large sensor readout for up to 60fps at full HD 1080p which reduces aliasing and moire in normal speed frame rates. It is rare for companies too add so much in firmware but it is encouraging to see Samsung not only try but constantly deliver useful firmware updates to their cameras. It shows they are serious for their camera imaging department. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

LG G4 Best Phone Camera But Simple Slowmo!

LGG4a

At first glance the LG G4 Android smart phone with it’s RAW image capture and completely manual camera might seem like the best ever camera phone to date and it is in many respects but; when it comes to slow motion it is barely mentioned in the specs. It does have a slow motion mode but after looking at samples it is far away from an iPhone 6 in quality and even below the Galaxy S6 which disappointed.

  • 16 Megapixels
  • Aperture f/1.8
  • Sensor size 1/2.6
  • Image stabilization
  • Auto focus type: Laser
  • 4k UHD 30p Video
  • 1080p 60fps – 120fps 720p*
  • Flash Single LED
  • RAW+JPG capture
  • HDR And full manual aperture and shutter
  • Full Manual White Balance
  • 5.5″ 1440 x 2560 pixel Display

The 120fps mode is limited to 720p HD resolution which is now standard on most high end to midrange phones.  The quality is not even 720p in closer inspection it is more like 960*540px or lower scaled up showing all sorts of artifacts from heavy pixelation, aliasing & moire. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Samsung NX1 New Firmware & Panasonic G7

Samsung NX1

Samsung has released an update to the Samsung NX1 4k Camera firmware now (Version 1.3) that among other things it improves the ease of use and selection of the high speed slow motion video 120fps mode.  The improvements are varied and even ad a new USB control application to interface with the camera.  Minor bug fixes and enhancements in workflow and usability are also added. The list of goodies below:

Video recording: → Continue Reading Full Post ←