RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘Video’

The SELDI 7-in-1 wearable video rig simplifies recording POV footage

07 Apr

Meet SELDI, the newest gadget to hit up the photo community for some crowdfunding. This odd contraption is a 7-in-1 wearable video rig designed for action cameras, smartphones, 360-degree cameras, and compact digital cameras. The rig loops over the wearer’s head and rests on their shoulders, though the design also enables it to be used as a handheld mount, to rest on surfaces like a tripod, and to hang from any item it can be looped over, such as a fence post.

SELDI claims its 7-in-1 rig replaces five accessories: hand grip, mini tripod, selfie stick, stabilizer, and chest mount. A pair of hinges on each side of SELDI are key to its flexibility, enabling users to adjust the camera angle based on need. By doing so, SELDI’s rig offers six shooting “modes” total, including the five performed by the accessories above, plus “multi-mount” mode, which involves placing the rig anywhere it can fit, such as on top of a door frame.

The team behind the 7-in-1 rig also present it as an entertainment device, suggesting that owners can use it as a smartphone and tablet holder for hands-free usage to, for example, watch a movie. The device supports 1/4”-20 mounts that weigh less than 500g / 1.1lbs. Additional accessories—such as microphones and lights—can also be attached, and tools aren’t required to make adjustments.

SELDI is offering various rewards to Kickstarter backers who are willing to fund the 7-in-1 wearable, including a super-early-bird “Pro Package” for pledges of at least $ 77 USD. The Pro Package includes a body strap, GoPro mount, mini ball head, hand grip, smartphone holder, smartphone GoPro adapter, super bolt, and the SELDI itself.

To learn more or put down a pledge of your own, head over to Kickstarter where the SELDI is already nearly half-way to its $ 10,000 goal with 32 days to go. If the funding campaign is successful, shipping to backers is expected to start globally in June.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on The SELDI 7-in-1 wearable video rig simplifies recording POV footage

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Video: The story behind Canon’s crazy 50-1000mm CINE-SERVO lens

06 Apr

This short video released by Canon USA just a couple of days ago tells the story behind one of Canon’s most impressive optical achievements: the $ 78,000 Canon CINE-SERVO 50-1000mm T5.0-8.9 CN20x 50 IAS H/P1 lens introduced in 2014. We don’t cover much broadcast equipment here on DPReview, but even we couldn’t help taking note of this impressive lens when it was first announced.

As Canon USA Senior Fellow Larry Thorpe explains in the video, this lens was the result of a challenge posed to Canon by wildlife filmmaker Ivo Nörenberg in 2010. Nörenberg asked Canon to produce a long zoom 4K Super 35mm lens that would allow him to capture a seemingly impossible zoom range.

Zoomed all the way in, Nörenberg needed this lens to be able to “fully frame a subject of 4-5 feet (1.2-1.5 meters) in height from a distance of 300-350 feet.” Then, without changing lenses, he wanted to zoom back out and capture “great outdoor vistas.” And as if that’s not difficult enough, Nörenberg also asked Canon to keep the lens size manageable: no more than 15lbs (~6.8Kg) and no longer than 16 inches (~40cm).

It took four years, but this is what Canon came up with:

Credit: Canon

It wasn’t easy. Thorpe calls this lens “the most challenging project ever undertaken by the Canon optical design team.” But in the end, Nörenberg says Canon delivered 100% of his specifications and ideas. Not only that, Canon also built a 1.5x teleconverter right into the lens, giving the CINE-SERVO lens an extended range of 50-1500mm.

Check out the full video above to hear the story from Thorpe and see the lens in action capturing footage of wolves in arctic Canada, only 1,000Km (~620 miles) away from the North Pole.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Video: The story behind Canon’s crazy 50-1000mm CINE-SERVO lens

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Apple introduces new ProRes RAW video format with Final Cut Pro X update

06 Apr
Credit: Apple

In a surprise update ahead of NAB, Apple has introduced a brand new video format called ProRes RAW. The format was introduced alongside an update to Final Cut Pro X, which also added advanced closed captioning tools for professional filmmakers.

The captioning tools are neat—they allow video editors to more easily create, view, edit, and deliver captions, with support for both the CEA-608 and iTT formats—but this feature will no doubt be overshadowed by the much bigger news: the introduction of ProRes RAW.

As the name suggests, ProRes RAW is an evolution of the Apple ProRes video codec. Apple claims that ProRes RAW “combines the visual and workflow benefits of RAW video with the stunning performance of ProRes.” By pulling RAW data from the sensor, video editors will have a lot more dynamic range flexibility—important as more and more displays, including Apple’s own iPhone X, become capable of displaying true HDR—all while taking advantage of the space and performance benefits of a compressed ProRes file.

In fact, Apple claims that ProRes RAW files take up less space than ProRes 4444. And since it’s Apple’s format, it has been performance optimized for macOS so that you can play full-quality 4K ProRes RAW files on your current MacBook Pro or iMac in real time without rendering.

Credit: Apple

The format drops today, and already Apple has made inroads into the professional community with Atomos and DJI. ProRes RAW compatibility will be made available as a free update for Atomos Shogun Inferno and Sumo19 users, and as “a free update for users with the RAW activation package” for the DJI Inspire 2 Drone and Zenmuse X7 camera.

Once updated, Final Cut Pro users will be able to work natively with ProRes RAW and the ProRes RAW HQ files created by the two Atomos external recorders mentioned above.

To learn more, check out the full press release below; or, if you’re feeling exceptionally brave and nerdy, you can read Apple’s full white paper on the new format here. Final Cut Pro X version 10.4.1 will be available as a free update to current users ($ 300 USD for new users) starting April 9th.

Press Release

Final Cut Pro X update introduces ProRes RAW and advanced closed captioning

Apple is introducing a new update to Final Cut Pro X, the most popular version of its professional video editing software, with more than 2.5 million seats. Final Cut Pro 10.4.1 introduces a groundbreaking format from Apple, ProRes RAW, which combines the visual and workflow benefits of RAW video with the performance of ProRes. The update also adds advanced closed captioning tools that allow video editors to easily view, edit and deliver captions from right within the app. Apple is also adding complementary new features to Final Cut Pro companion apps, Motion and Compressor.

ProRes RAW

ProRes RAW is a new format from Apple that offers the quality and workflow advantages of RAW with the stunning performance of ProRes. With ProRes RAW, editors can import, edit and grade pristine footage with RAW data from the camera sensor, providing ultimate flexibility when adjusting highlights and shadows — ideal for HDR workflows. And with performance optimized for macOS, editors can play full-quality 4K ProRes RAW files on MacBook Pro and iMac systems in real time without rendering. ProRes RAW files are even smaller than ProRes 4444 files, allowing editors to make better use of storage while providing an excellent format for archiving.

Final Cut Pro editors can work natively with ProRes RAW and ProRes RAW HQ files created by Atomos recorders. The format will be available as a free update for owners of Atomos Sumo 19 and Shogun Inferno devices. The format will also be available as part of a forthcoming upgrade package to users of the DJI Inspire 2 drone and Zenmuse X7 Super 35mm camera system designed for aerial cinematography.

Closed Captioning Tools

As closed captioning becomes increasingly important around the world, Final Cut Pro now includes powerful closed captioning tools for professional filmmakers, YouTubers and students looking to add captions to their projects without the need for expensive third-party software or services. Users can import closed caption files directly into their project or create them from scratch. Captions appear in the viewer during playback and can be attached to video or audio clips in the timeline, so they automatically move with the clips to which they’re connected. An all-new captions inspector makes it simple to adjust caption text, color, alignment, location and more. Users can even create captions in multiple languages within the same timeline and easily share captioned videos to YouTube and Vimeo. And in the share window, a new Roles tab displays titles, video and audio roles in a single consolidated interface, making it easy to configure roles and closed captions when sharing.

Motion 5.4.1 and ProRes RAW enable motion graphics artists to take full advantage of RAW image quality with superb performance and flexibility when designing graphics and effects. Compressor 4.4.1 gains support for closed captioning with comprehensive controls to view, adjust and deliver captions as part of a batch or iTunes Store package.

Pricing and Availability

Final Cut Pro 10.4.1 will be available on April 9 as a free update for existing users, and for $ 299.99 (US) for new users on the Mac App Store. Motion 5.4.1 and Compressor 4.4.1 will also be available on April 9 as free updates for existing users, and for $ 49.99 (US) each for new users on the Mac App Store. Education customers can purchase the Pro Apps Bundle for Education for $ 199.99 (US). For more information, please visit: apple.com/final-cut-pro.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Apple introduces new ProRes RAW video format with Final Cut Pro X update

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Facebook Messenger adds 360-degree photo and HD video support

04 Apr

Facebook just released an update that brings high-definition video and 360-degree panoramic photo support to Messenger. The update follows the high-res photo support Facebook added to Messenger in November 2017, expanding the quality and type of content that users can privately share with each other.

For 360-degree photos, users capture the panoramic content using their phone’s camera app or a third-party app, then share the panorama in Messenger like any other photo. The app automatically processes the panorama, converting it into an immersive 360-degree image that recipients can ‘explore’ by either moving their phone around or tapping and dragging the photo. Panoramic photos feature a compass icon in their upper right-hand side.

High-definition video sharing, meanwhile, supports the sharing of 720p videos from both the Camera Roll and a user’s newsfeed. To distinguish these videos from standard definition videos, Messenger now shows an HD or SD marker with the content.

360-degree photos are now available to all Messenger users on Android and iOS. HD video support is only available in the following countries:

  • Australia
  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Hong Kong
  • Japan
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Romania
  • Singapore
  • South Korea
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Taiwan
  • UK
  • USA

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Facebook Messenger adds 360-degree photo and HD video support

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Video: Canon shows off its new 120MP APS-H CMOS sensor

30 Mar

Full HD resolution video comes out to about 2-megapixels per frame. 4K UHD-1 closer to 8.3MP. Even 8K UHD, which hasn’t really hit the mainstream in any way yet, still only scratches the surface at about 33.2MP. Given all that, can you image capturing video at 120MP? Because Canon can, and has… sort of.

Canon’s 120MXS sensor—first introduced at CES in January—is a 120MP APS-H CMOS sensor that can capture “video” at 9.4fps. Of course, 9.4fps isn’t strictly video, but that hasn’t stopped Canon from showing off what this sensor can do in a side-by-side “video” test up top.

The video was published to YouTube earlier today, and it demonstrates this camera’s capability as a security or industrial cam. The ability to capture 120MP at 9.4fps might not make for smooth footage for filmmakers, but it gives you insane digital zoom capabilities if you’re trying to spot imperfections in a small gear mechanism, or identify suspicious subjects in a crowd:

Screenshots from video. Click to enlarge.

According to the video’s description, the sensor features a square pixel arrangement of 2.2µm x 2.2µm, with 122 million effective pixels, and the high-res readout is made possible by multiple signal output channels:

Ultra-high-resolution is made possible by parallel signal processing, which reads signals at high speed from multiple pixels. All pixel progressive reading of 9.4fps is made possible by 28 digital signal output channels. It is available in RGB or with twice the sensitivity, in monochrome

We don’t expect this sensor to pop up in any of Canon’s consumer cameras anytime soon, but it’s an interesting proof of concept… a technological feat that proves the megapixel war is far from over.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Video: Canon shows off its new 120MP APS-H CMOS sensor

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Teardown video shows how the Galaxy S9 variable aperture works

15 Mar

The YouTube channel JerryRigEverything recently tore down (or rather tore apart…) the new Samsung Galaxy S9, giving us the closest look at yet at the new smartphone’s camera hardware. So if the still images in the iFixit teardown weren’t quite interesting enough for you, this might just do the trick.

The camera teardown is about one minute and a half long, running from the 3:30 mark until about 5:00. In that time, we get to see the Optical Image Stabilization system demoed and torn open to reveal the magnets inside:

Then, we get really close look at one of the phone’s most intriguing features: the variable aperture. It turns out the system works using a little lever on the side of the housing. So when the phone senses that there is enough light to justify it, it’ll flip this switch electronically and switch from it’s world’s-brightest F1.5 setting to F2.4.

Here’s a very close look at that switch in action:

You can check out the full teardown in the video at the top. And stay tuned, because we’ll be bringing you a full smartphone camera review of the Samsung Galaxy S9 just as soon as we can put a unit through its paces.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Teardown video shows how the Galaxy S9 variable aperture works

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Video: 360° 8K timelapse of the aurora borealis during a lunar eclipse

15 Mar

Photographer William Briscoe captured this spectacular 360° 8K timelapse on January 31st near Fairbanks, Alaska. He shared the video on his YouTube channel and Facebook page a few weeks ago, alongside this description:

Here is a 360 video of the Lunar Eclipse, Alaska style, which I filmed on January 31st near Fairbanks. Lady Aurora, being the Diva she is, just couldn’t let the moon have all the attention that night, so she made a nice showing as well.

If you have VR glasses of some sort, by all means slap them on! If not, simply drag the video around until you spot the moon, then watch as it disappears and becomes a black disk by about 30 seconds in, allowing the aurora to cover it entirely for the duration of the eclipse.

The full video is only a minute and ten seconds long, but that doesn’t mean it was easy to shoot. Responding to a comment on YouTube, Briscoe revealed that it was -31°F (-35°C) out that night, so just getting his 360° rig (a custom-built array of numerous 35mm DSLRs) to work was a challenge.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Video: 360° 8K timelapse of the aurora borealis during a lunar eclipse

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Buying Guides updated: Panasonic GH5S selected as best camera for video

07 Mar

As part of an update to our Buying Guides, we’ve crowned a new winner in the video category: the Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5S. Its excellent video quality and extensive range of support features see it take top honors from its sister model, the DC-GH5, which we recognize as a better fit for run-and-gun style shooting.

Read our updated Best Cameras for Video Buying Guide

The GH5S’s sensor allows it to continue shooting excellent quality footage in a wider range of lighting conditions than the regular GH5, and the provision of 10-bit capture ensures its footage is tremendously gradable, even in high dynamic range conditions.

Meanwhile, the higher bitrate capture and in-body stabilization of the Fujifilm X-H1 see it displace the X-T2 in our ‘also consider’ list for video cameras, and the a7 III’s lower price and full-width, oversampled 4K capture see it take the a7R III’s place, pending full review.

We’ve also added the Canon EOS T7 and EOS M50, and the Panasonic ZS200/TZ200 to the appropriate Buying Guides. This way, anyone shopping for a camera is aware of these models, while we continue to work on their full reviews. Each will be considered for recommendation as soon as our testing is complete.

Read our updated Buying Guides

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Buying Guides updated: Panasonic GH5S selected as best camera for video

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Video: Sony a7 III overview

28 Feb

The a7 III may be the “basic” model in Sony’s full-frame mirrorless lineup, but it borrows many of its capabilities from the high-end a9. With a 24MP BSI-CMOS sensor, oversampled 4K video, silent shooting at 10 fps and a highly capable Eye AF mode all for $ 2000, “basic” starts to sound anything but. Take a look at the video above for a quick rundown of what’s included.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Video: Sony a7 III overview

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Sony Xperia XZ2 brings 4K HDR video to smartphones

26 Feb

Sony Mobile’s contribution to the Mobile World Congress 2018 comes in the shape of the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact smartphones. With a 1/2.3″ 19MP image sensor and F2.0 aperture the basic camera specs remain unchanged from the predecessors, but the cameras in the new models offer a couple of improvements that will be especially welcome by mobile videographers.

The Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact are the first smartphones capable of recording 4K HDR video footage, using the Hybrid-Log-Gamma (HLG) standard. This means 4K HDR clips shot on the XZ2 will be playable on most HDR-capable TVs and can be processed by Youtube.

The phones are capable of processing the massive amounts of data that is recorded for HDR video thanks to a built-in DRAM buffer in the imaging chip. The same technology also helps drive Sony’s motion-eye super-slow-motion mode that was first introduced last year. The 2017 Sony flagships could record 960 frames per second at HD resolution for 0.2 seconds, resulting in 6 seconds of playback time – the same as on the brand new Samsung Galaxy S9.

The new models come with an 18:9 aspect ratio display.

On the new XZ2 Sony has taken things one step further and offers the same frame rates at 1080p Full-HD resolution. On the downside, recording time is cut in half, to 0.1 seconds, resulting in 3 seconds of playback time. Super-slow-motion clips can be embedded in standard video, though, so there is plenty of opportunity to get creative with the super-fast frame rates.

Both new devices are powered by Qualcomm’s latest top-end chipset, the Snapdragon 845 and come with Full-HD displays with 18:9 aspect ratio – 5.7″ in size on the XZ2 and 5″ on the Compact model. The latter remains pretty much the only option in the market that combines a compact form factor with high-end performance.

The Xperia XZ2 (left) next to its smaller cousin Xperia XZ2 Compact

Apart from display size the XZ2 and XZ2 Compact differ in several ways: the smaller model does not offer Qi wireless charging nor the new Dynamic Vibration function that translates sound, for example when watching videos or playing a game, into vibrations for a more immersive media consumption experience. It also comes with a smaller battery (2870 mAh vs 3180 mAh) than its larger cousin.

More information on the new Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact is available on the Sony website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Sony Xperia XZ2 brings 4K HDR video to smartphones

Posted in Uncategorized

 
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »