The folks at OnePlus have been busy and by the looks of the recently leaked images of the OnePlus 6, it seems the phone is almost an identical looking handset to the iPhone X design with notch included. The invitation to the event on May 16th, 2018 for the unveil mentions “Live Life in Super Slow Mo”which we believe will be a 960fps slow-motion mode akin to that in the Galaxy S9 & S9+ or the Sony Xperia ZX2.
OnePlus has been one of the best performing handsets for Android users due to their use of the best components out there along with a streamlined ROM that does away with most bloatware on the main install. Users of these phones also routinely claim huge battery life due to the optimized nature of the background tasks. For Slow Motion, they have only been competitive on the mid-range but that will probably change if Slow Motion is a big feature on this new phone.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
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 ←
There is an aura over the Panasonic GH5s that has not been seen in a m43 camera possibly ever. It is mainly due to the outstanding low light quality in 4k 24, 30p and 60p that beats full frame cameras like the Canon 5D Mark IV and competes head to head until ISO 25,600 with the king of low light the Sony a7s Mark II. But as always, our focus is on the high frame rates which the camera also does quite good on.
The 4k 60fps quality is very close to the 30p quality which means excellent and you can shoot at 60p at night without worrying about noise. The 240fps mode which is a first for a Lumix camera in full HD means that the camera aims to compete with Sony RX series cameras that have stacked sensors. We believe the quality to be acceptable but not good enough to be broadcast quality as stair stepping jaggies are all over the frame with the occasional moire pattern on fine detail that can break a shot.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Kinefinity the company behind the pretty capable and high-quality Terra cinema camera has announced in preparation for NAB 2018 the new MAVO 6k cinema camera in s35 and Large Format sensor options in the LF version. Along with the new body design and expansion options the camera will include ProRes 422HQ, ProRes 444 & ProRes 444XQ recording.
Kinefinity also has a RAW format “.KRW” and this has been updated to version 2.0 to support the new camera. This is akin to REDCODE RAW as the .KRW format can compress in RAW anywhere from 2:1 best quality lossless to 10:1 with more quality loss while maintaining the benefits of RAW like dynamic range, white balance, and higher bit-depth color. It also offers the possibility to record on cinema-DNG format In-Camera at 3:1, 5:1 and 7:1 compression. The camera has several high frame rate formats depending on crop resolution.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
After several camera announcements where slow motion was a main feature instead of an afterthought, things have been calming down until the next wave which will break closer to NAB 2018 from April 7th to 12th in Las Vegas. There will probably be quite a few announcements in the professional space which is mainly where things heat up when it comes to higher quality resolution at higher frame rates.
We expect Sony to steal the show with probably the a7s Mark III which by any measure will probably retain the low light king title for the foreseeable future. If the a7 III released recently is any indication then a lower megapixel sensor anywhere between 12-16MP Full Frame with the same technology in a stacked sensor will give us a camera so capable that room for improvement will be mainly on the ergonomics, interface and higher frame rates going forward.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Has Canon finally woken up from the deep slumber that has crippled the progress in their camera line when it comes to video performance? On paper, the Canon EOS M50 a mirrorless camera that seems to improve in almost every way to previous efforts by the company. We have 4k recording at 24/25 but where is 30P? 120fps slow Motion 720 HD Video in a lower cost body and their excellent Dual Pixel AF System which is one camera feature where the others are playing catch-up.
If the rumors are solid; which seem to be considering the images leaked and detailed information then Canon may finally be releasing cameras that will be worth your while and a clear path out of the EF mount into a mirrorless future. We remain detached until we have image samples and slow-motion footage but its clear Canon and possibly Nikon will not remain still for much longer and let Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, and smartphones eat their installed user base little by little.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
