Cameras
Steadycam For iPhone & Hero HD Cam
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Steadicam has recognized the consumerization of what is considered professional videography by releasing their $150 Steadicam Smoothie. These come with specialized mounts, weighted and balanced for the Hero HD… The iPhone… and the iPad. There were several other manufacturers offering similar rigs for these devices, but this one felt like the “real deal” and was actually less expensive than some of the alternatives.
GoPro Remote & Slicing Time
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What could GoPro do that was cooler than the camera itself? Beyond the TimeSlice technology their announcement of live wifi monitoring and remote control of one or multiple cameras was pretty astounding. For $99 you get a new back to the camera, and wider back door to accommodate and the remote control. It will then stream live what ever it is seeing over wifi to your smartphone or tablet through an app. This will be released in the next few weeks.
TimeSlice Films was showing its HD Hero rig it uses to create multidimensional time paused videos – think “The Matrix”. Quite impressive rig and output and fun with the Hero HD. Thinking there could be some research applications for this type of photography. Right now it appears they offer this as a service.
Here’s a making of video – although it’s not the Hero, it’s still really interesting.
K-tek Tadpoles™ Help Steady Your Cam
0K-tek’s Tadpole’s unique design allow you to stick your small camera such as the GoPro or iPhone into hard to reach areas or help steady them for tracking or moving shots. They sell for around $100, more or less depending on the length
HD Pan/Tilt/Zoom Cameras
0Although we’ve been deploying Cisco PTZ cameras with our video conferencing installations, I was on the lookout for cameras that might be used in a studio situation for Duke Chapel’s exploration into HD upgrade or other facilities where a camera with expanded dynamic range would be required.
The new Canon XU80 has a 1/3 CMOS image sensor and 20x zoom with 180° pan and +220°/-40° tilt. It features fast, quiet and precise pan and tilt movements and can be mounted upright or upside down. It also has a low light capability through the slow shutter function. The camera will sell for about $10,000.
At the higher end of the spectrum, the Panasonic AK-HC1800G features a 2/3 type 3CCD sensor with 2.2 megapixel resolution and a variable frame rate function that can produce film-like images. It has extraordinary low light sensitivity and a 12-axis color matrix adjustment. At $28,240 list for just the camera (lens and pan/tilt housing separate) it would be an investment but would most likely produce exceptional images.
More comparable with the Canon is the Panasonic AW HE120 which was recently released. It features a 20x zoom lens and 1/3 type Full HD 3MOS as well as 16-axis color correction and Panasonic’s exclusive dynamic range stretch feature. It can be controlled via Crestron (or other RS-422 controller) or directly via a web browser and can store up to 100 camera presets. The camera’s list price is $8,900
Q-Ball Specialty Camera Systems
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The Q-Ball from Camera Corps, LTD in England can create custom HD PTZ cameras for any applications. They always have a really fun booth. The cameras are of good quality and feature a 10x zoom with 1/3″ 2mpixel CMOS sensor.
Tiny HD Camera
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The camera head for the HD1200 HD Camera from Lux Media Plan weighs in at only 4.9 ounces and measures 5.5 x 4.7 x 1.2 inches but still produces resolution up to 1080p/60 through its 2/3 inch, 2.1 megapixel CMOS sensor. It’s small size and light weight might have interesting applications in research or capturing video in athletics where space is at a premium.
If that’s not small enough for you, they also have the MicroHD camera system
SONY 3D Recording Binoculars – A Bird Watcher’s Dream
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The new SONY Dev-5 and Dev-3 digital recording binoculars provide full HD resolutoin in 2D or 3D plus 7.1 megapixel stills. With 10x optical zoom (10x digital) they can be used for wildlife observation/recording or during sporting events. The binocs sell for just under $2000 for the DEV-5 and $1399 for the DEV-3 which has no digital zoom, eye cups or GPS tagging.
BlackMagic Digital Cinema Camera – Price Breakthrough
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One of the shockers of the show was the introduction of the $2,995 Digital Cinema Camera from Blackmagic Designs. That price comes with DaVinci Resolve color grading sofrware and UltraScope hardware/software waveform monitoring. The camera features 13 stops dynamic range (which is good and wide) 2.5 k high resolution sensor, built in SSD recorder (uses standard cards), touch LCD metadata recording and Thunderbolt connectivity. Standard Canon EF lenses can be used on the camera. It was strange seeing a traditional NAB camera display at the BlackMagic booth. It was packed!
New Panasonic AVCCAM
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At a list of $4795, the new Pansonic AG-AC160 AVCCAM HD handheld camcorder features variable frame rate recording in 1080p, Linear PCM audio, and a HD-SDI output. Other features include a high-sensitivity 1/3″, full-HD 2.2 megapixel U.L.T. (Ultra Luminance Technology) 3-MOS imager as well as 22X HD zoom lens (the longest in its class), to offer a wide field of view and operability much like an interchangeable lens. The camera records utilizing MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 at bitrates from 24Mbps to 6 Mbps and can shoot at different frequencies to accommodate its use anywhere in the world. The AC160′s Variable Frame Rate (VFR) function provides overcranking for slow-motion and undercranking for fast-motion effects.
New Hitachi Remote Camera
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The new Hitachi HV-HD33 is designed for applications where high sensitivity, low-noise, and low-user intervention operation are required. It uses a 1/3-inch C-mount lens. The camera has the distinct advantage of outputting SDI at multiple frame rates and TV signal standards.