Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Image processor maker Ambarella has released the H3 System-on-Chip (SoC) for high-end drones and video cameras, including those capturing 360-degree and virtual reality footage. The H3 supports 8K Ultra HD H.264/AVC video at 30 frames per second or multiple video streams with equivalent performance, for example 360-degree cameras that use dual 4K/60fps sensors.
“With the introduction of H3 we believe we provide the highest video performance and best image quality solution for high-end drones and multi-sensor video cameras,” said Fermi Wang, president and CEO of Ambarella. “H3 delivers 8Kp30 video performance to match the next generation of displays, such as 8K televisions and high resolution head-mounted displays.”
The chip comes with a multi-channel ISP for 360-degree video capture and multi-sensor drone applications. 10-bit HDR processing should help deal with high-contrast scenes and Ambarella’s electronic image stabilization should keep things steady, even in difficult conditions, such as high winds or when panning quickly. The chipset is powered by a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU and an integrated hardware de-warping engine supports wide-angle panoramic camera designs and fish-eye lenses. Ambarella has not provided any information as to when the H3 is likely to make its appearance in consumer products, but it’s good to see that in the near future there should be a range of capture devices capable of recording content for the latest 8K displays.
Press Release:
Ambarella H3 SoC delivers 8K Ultra HD at 30 frames per second and 4K Ultra HD at 120 frames per second
SANTA CLARA, Calif., January 5, 2017 — Ambarella, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA), a leading developer of low-power, HD and Ultra HD video processing semiconductors, today introduced the H3 System-on-Chip (SoC) for high-end drones and a new generation of video cameras, including 360-degree and virtual reality cameras. The H3 video SoC enables 8K Ultra HD H.264/AVC video at 30 frames per second, as well as multiple video streams with equivalent performance, including 360-degree cameras with dual 4KP60 sensor video capture.
8K videos played on large 8K displays provide a better viewing experience to the end user, as pixels at this resolution are indistinguishable to the human eye at any reasonable distance. The combination of 8K video capture together with Ambarella’s advanced oversampling and image stabilization also enables higher video quality 4K video recording.
“With the introduction of H3 we believe we provide the highest video performance and best image quality solution for high-end drones and multi-sensor video cameras,” said Fermi Wang, president and CEO of Ambarella. “H3 delivers 8Kp30 video performance to match the next generation of displays, such as 8K televisions and high resolution head-mounted displays.”
H3 includes a powerful multi-channel ISP for 360 degree video capture and multi-sensor drone applications. Its 10-bit HEVC High Dynamic Range (HDR) video processing handles high contrast and wide color range scenes. It also features Ambarella’s advanced Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS), capable of generating a smooth 4Kp60 video output under challenging conditions, including during high winds and with high degrees of rotation. The integration of a quad-core ARM® Cortex®-A53 CPU with floating point and NEON™ provides significant processing power for customer applications including computer vision, wireless networking, and multi-sensor stitching algorithms. The H3’s hardware de-warping engine supports wide-angle panoramic camera designs and fish-eye lenses.
Ambarella will demonstrate the new H3 SoC at a private, invitation-only event held during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, January 5 – 8, 2017.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
One of the most anticipated cameras at CES is the Panasonic GH5, so it’s no surprise that the company’s booth was overrun, in part, by people wanting to see it in person. We met up with Panasonic’s Matt Frazer, who walks through some highlights (and things he likes) on this new camera.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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What happens when you swap out a video pro’s cinema-grade gear with a Canon EOS 80D?
Filmmaker ScottDW found out, when he put down his usual pro kit and picked up the 80D to shoot an installment of his High School Dance Off video series.
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| ScottDW is a professional filmmaker with over 880,000 YouTube fans |
ScottDW put Canon’s Video Creator Kit to use filming the short. The bundle was introduced alongside the 80D and includes a Rode directional microphone along with a power zoom adapter for the camera’s 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 kit lens. Take a look at how it all came together in the video above.
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| The Canon 80D offers a touch screen, handy for things like AF point selection |
Though you won’t find any choreographed dance routines, you can also check out the 80D’s performance in DPReview’s video feature Barney Builds a Boat.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Michael Shainblum is a skilled professional landscape photographer known for his time-lapse footage and incredible still work. In 2015, he decided to take his photography to the skies to begin working on a drone project.
All told, he shot 16 hours of footage with DJI 3 and DJI 4 drones to produce this breathtaking 4K aerial montage filmed all over the state of Oregon. Be sure to turn the lights down, the sound up and HD mode on to really enjoy this short film.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Many of our readers use Photoshop to edits portraits, but what if all you have is Lightroom? Or you don’t know Photoshop as well? You can certainly do most of your portrait retouching using Lightroom.
Here are some video tutorials that walk you through a complete edit of one portrait from start to finish, using only Lightroom. I have also included one that I myself did too. Every photographer has their own style, so take what works for you from each and apply that to your own editing style.
Photographer Adam Lerner walks you through his portrait editing process from start to finish. He will give you some tips and tricks and great hidden gems inside Lightroom that you can use.
Ed Gregory from Photos in Color processes a portrait using Lightroom from end to end. He makes a very different looking end result so if you’re looking for some style ideas and tips this might be a good one for you. See what he does the same and differently than Adam above, and myself below.
This is my version. Having taught Lightroom in the classroom and done portraits for over 20 years, I may have some good tips for you that you didn’t already know. I’ve been using Lightroom since the beta version 0.9 or so, and it’s my go-to image editor.
I almost never pull an image over to Photoshop unless I need to do layers for something. For portraits, that may be a head swap or something where I have to blend images. But otherwise, I pretty much use Lightroom for everything, even skin, eye and lip retouching.
How do you use Lightroom to process and do your portrait retouching? Do you have any other tips the three of us missed? Please share in the comments below.
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The post 3 Video Tutorials – Portrait Retouching Tips Using Lightroom by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.
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VideoLan has launched VLC 360, a new version of the media player that supports 360-degree videos and images. The current release is a technical preview; all of its features are slated for inclusion with the final VLC 3.0 release across all platforms. VLC 360 Technical Preview is currently only available for macOS 10.10 or later and Windows 7 or later.
VideoLan teamed up with Giroptic to introduce these new features, which include the ability to play 360-degree video and photos, display 360 content with ‘Zoom,’ ‘Little Planet,’ and ‘Reverse Little Planet’ modes, and control content using both a mouse and keyboard. Future mobile versions of VLC with 360 will also support control using a phone’s built-in sensors.
VLC’s makers plan to release future versions of its software with 360-degree features for Xbox One, iOS, and Android. As well, VideoLan says the media player ‘will probably support’ virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift and Google Daydream View starting next year. VideoLan is also working on 3D audio playback support.
Via: VideoLan
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Here at DPReview, we love dogs. They’re great. But they’re notoriously hard to photograph. Even the best-trained are unpredictable and fast-moving, and when they’re not running around they’re unable to sit still.
In this video, DPReview’s Sam Spencer takes one of our favorite cameras – the Sony a6300 – to shoot some of our favorite pups. During a busy day of shooting, we gave both the animals and the a6300 a good workout, culminating in a studio portrait session for the lucky dogs at the Motley Zoo animal rescue center, in Seattle.
See more videos at our YouTube channel
This is sponsored content, created in partnership with Sony. What does this mean?
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Blackmagic Design has announced a software update to its 5-inch Video Assist and 7-inch Video Assist 4K monitor/recorders. Video Assist 2.3 allows users to load up to six 3D LUTs when monitoring on their devices, making it possible to view output from cameras in a form that approximates the final color grade of the footage.
In addition, the update adds several features to the 5-inch Video Assist that were previously only available 7-inch Video Assist 4K model. These include the ability to record DNxHD and DNxHR files in MXF format, improved compatibility with Avid systems running on Windows, false color monitoring to accurately judge exposure in different parts of the image, and additional options for customizing focus peaking indicators.
Video Assist 2.3 can be downloaded from the Blackmagic website.
Press release:
Major update adds new 3D LUTs, focus assist features and improved DNxHD and DNxHR support!
InterBEE 2016, Tokyo, Japan – November 18, 2016 – Blackmagic Design today announced Video Assist 2.3, a major new update for Blackmagic Video Assist customers that adds 3D LUTs to both models. This update also adds features to the 5” Blackmagic Video Assist including improved DNxHD and DNxHR support, false color monitoring, expanded focus options and new screen rotation features. The Video Assist 2.3 update is available for download now from the Blackmagic Design website and is free of charge for all Blackmagic Video Assist customers.
Video Assist 2.3 Update is being demonstrated at InterBEE on the Blackmagic Design booth 8216.
Customers using the Video Assist 2.3 update can now load up to six 3D LUTs when monitoring video on set with their 5” or 7” Blackmagic Video Assist. 3D LUTs have become an important part of digital filmmaking because they transform the camera images into a look that closely approximates the final look the director wants. The benefit of monitoring with 3D LUTs is that the crew can see the footage as the director intends it, and it’s completely non destructive because the original camera footage remains untouched. The six x 3D LUTs can be stored and recalled at any time by the user and this new feature is available on both the 5” Blackmagic Video Assist model and the 7” Blackmagic Video Assist 4K model.
For customers using the 5” Blackmagic Video Assist model, this update adds new features that were previously released only on the 7” Blackmagic Video Assist 4K model.
These new features include the ability to record to DNxHD and DNxHR files in MXF format which improves compatibility with Avid systems running on Windows. In addition, customers can now choose between DNxHD 220, 145 and 45 bit rates, or between DNxHR HQ, SQ and LB formats when recording.
The Video Assist 2.3 update also adds false color monitoring exposure tools to the 5” Blackmagic Video Assist model. False color exposure tools make it easier to properly set exposure in different parts of the image by highlighting specific color ranges of luminance with a solid color overlay. For example, green indicates neutral grey, while pink tones are good references for skin, which is typically one stop over neutral grey. Using false color helps camera operators keep exposure consistent from shot to shot.
In addition, Video Assist 2.3 update also expands the options for focus assist so customers can now choose whether they want to see red, green, blue, black, white or traditional focus peaking indicators. This makes it easier for customers to accurately adjust focus in a wider range of scenes and under a variety of different lighting conditions. Customers will now also have the ability to manually control the screen orientation and turn off the auto rotate feature which makes it easier for customers to use the 5” Blackmagic Video Assist model with handheld gimbals and other equipment designed to move the camera and rig simultaneously.
“Blackmagic Video Assist is perfect for customers that need better monitoring and higher quality recording,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “This new update adds incredible LUT monitoring to both models, and brings some of the same powerful high end features from the 7” Blackmagic Video Assist 4K model to customers that have the 5 inch Blackmagic Video Assist model. We think the massive number of features on the 5 inch Video Assist model is amazing when you consider it only costs $ 495! Thats why Blackmagic Video Assist has become an essential part of every filmmakers toolkit because they help customers shoot and capture higher quality video with everything from DSLRs to older tape based camcorders, and even the latest digital film cameras!”
Availability and Price
Blackmagic Video Assist 2.3 update is available now and is a free download from the Blackmagic Design website.
About Blackmagic Video Assist 4K
Introduced at NAB this year, the Blackmagic Video Assist 4K is a portable all in one monitor and video recorder that can be used to add professional recording and monitoring to any SDI or HDMI camera. It features a bright, high resolution 7 inch screen for checking focus and framing, two high speed UHS-II recorders that work with the latest high performance SD cards for non-stop HD and Ultra HD recording. Blackmagic Video Assist 4K has multi rate 6G-SDI BNC connectors for input and output, HDMI in and out, two extremely high quality XLR microphone inputs for professional audio recording, a built in speaker, DC power, dual slots for two LP-E6 batteries and more.
About Blackmagic Video Assist
Blackmagic Video Assist is a portable professional monitor and recorder that can be used with any SDI or HDMI camera. It features a 5” full resolution HD monitor that helps you get perfect focus and framing, along with a professional ProRes and DNxHD recorder that uses high speed SD cards and saves files compatible with all modern NLE software. Blackmagic Video Assist has multi rate 6G-SDI inputs and outputs via DIN 1.0/2.3 connections, as well as HDMI in and out. It features a single SD card slot for recording HD resolution video. The touchscreen allows settings, histogram, audio meters, timecode display and much more. Blackmagic Video Assist works with DC power and has dual slots for two LP-E6 batteries.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The Belgian manufacturer that makes some of the sensors used in Leica’s cameras has announced a new offering that features 48MP and a global shutter. Although the CMV50000 CMOS sensor is described as medium-format in the press release, it is actually nearer to being 35mm-sized and measures 36.43 x 27.62mm (the width of a 35mm ‘full-frame’ sensor but elongated out to 4:3 aspect ratio).
The new sensor is also designed to record 8K video at a rate of 30fps and offers, according to the manufacturer, a dynamic range of 64dB at full resolution and a signal-to-noise ratio of 41.4dB. The sensor can increase the dynamic range of its output by recording alternate row of pixels at different exposures (a process comparable with the DR mode of Fujifilm’s EXR CCD designs).
The global shutter design of the sensor allows all pixels to record at the same time instead of in sequence as is usually the case. This means fast moving objects traveling across the frame can be captured without distortion in cameras when using a fully electronic shutter. While some of the company’s target market is industrial inspection the sensor is also said to be suited to still photography and professional and broadcast video.
At the moment the sensor is only available in black and white, but a color version is on its way for the end of the year. The existing sensor costs €3450 (approx. $ 3800). For more information visit the CMOSIS website.
Press release:
CMV50000 features low noise, high frame rate, and high dynamic range; easy-to-design-with sensor excels in automated optical inspection systems, machine vision uses and prosumer video applications
Premstaetten, Austria — CMOSIS a member of the ams AG (SIX: AMS) group, a leading provider of high performance sensors and analog ICs, today launched the CMV50000, an industry first global shutter CMOS image sensor offering high resolution of 48Mpixels, more than twice the resolution of its previous generation CMOSIS global shutter CMOS image sensors.
The CMV50000 is a medium format 48Mpixels sensor with 7920 x 6002 4.6-µm sized pixels using the patented 8-transistor pixel architecture to offer low noise and excellent electronic shutter efficiency. Global shutter operation means, that images of fast-moving objects can be captured without distortion.
Its pixel offers 64dB optical dynamic range at full resolution and up to 68dB in subsampled 4k mode, and the imagers benefits from the implementation of sophisticated new, on-chip noise-reduction circuitry such as black level clamping to enable it to capture high quality images under low-light conditions.
Operating at a fast 30 frames/s with 12 bit pixel depth at full resolution or a binned 4k mode, and at up to 60 frames/s with pixel subsampling to 4k resolution, the sensor is suitable for use in high-speed machine-vision systems, as well as in TV broadcasting and video cameras.
The CMV50000 provides detailed views of a large surface area required in factory automation applications such as automated optical inspection (AOI) systems and systems for the inspection of displays of mobile phones, tablets, laptops and TVs. The combination of high frame rate and high re-solution allows further increase of the already high throughput rates at consumer product assembly plants.
A High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode is supported by an odd/even row dual-exposure operation.
The CMV50000 is expected to replace high pixel-count charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors used in machine-vision cameras and high-end security cameras. Compared to the older CCD sensor technology, CMOS image sensors are easier to integrate in camera designs, use less power, and can operate at much higher frame rates.
“The introduction of the 48Mpixel CMV50000 gives camera manufacturers the opportunity to enjoy the design and operating advantages of a CMOS image sensor while gaining the ultra-high resolution, which has previously only been available through the use of CCD sensors”, said Wim Wuyts, Marketing Manager for image sensors at ams.
“The CMV50000’s advanced noise-reduction features such as black level clamping combined with its high optical dynamic range, results in high picture quality at full operation speed without the need for complex analog output matching required for multi-tap CCD image sensors and therefore also decreases the camera development time significantly.”
The monochrome version of the CMV50000 is sampling now. The color version will be available for sampling by the end of 2016. Unit pricing is €3,450.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)