Sony RX10 ii Unboxing Reveals new 4K Powerhouse

The Sony RX10 Mark 2 just hit the Geekanoids studio and thanks to Park Cameras we have one of the first unboxing videos on YouTube. Check out the video below to see what you get inside the box and for a look around this powerful piece of kit.

I really want to make sure that you do not overlook this camera. Many advise the purchase on a DSLR or Interchangeable Lens Camera, only to find that you just use one lens, more often than not, the kit lens. What you get with the Sony RX10ii is a bridge camera, with a fixed lens. However, this is an impressive piece of glass and has a constant f2.8 aperture throughout the zoom range. Sony also included a stacked image sensor on this second gen RX10. This equates to DRAM being stacked on the sensor, resulting is a 5x faster readout than conventional models. 

OK, enough of the tech talk. This new beast of a camera delivers 4K internal video recording, a gorgeous lens, microphone input and headphone monitoring output too. Everything you need to capture extremely high quality video. The lens resolves a lot of detail too, so your videos have the potential to exceed the quality of a DSLR with a larger sensor costing twice the price. Add to this high speed frame rate capture (so you can do those crazy slo-mo videos), plus a decent 20-megapixel camera and it is a very compelling proposition. Stay locked to The Geekanoids Channel for indoor & outdoor 4K video tests soon.

Why Wouldn't You Share Your Own Videos?

Technology changes very quickly and I remember back to when I published that first video on my YouTube channel recorded with my 4 megapixel Canon PowerShot camera. The video quality in comparison to what is possible nowadays was very poor, but the content was more than acceptable. 

My first YouTube camera … the Canon PowerShot A80

My first YouTube camera … the Canon PowerShot A80

That was over eight years ago and the advancements in technology, during such a short time, is simply quite amazing. I experienced compact cameras that gave us 720P video, soon followed by the same small photo snappers delivering 1080P video. Conventional camcorders giving up the ability to not only record in full HD, but also in 3D. Tiny little action cameras, that one could mount to a car, surf board, your body or even your pet dog. If we fast forward to the current day, all of these wonders of technology can now dazzle our visual senses with even more detail in 4K resolution. 

Throughout my journey of creating visual content to share online, I have helped many others with questions and product recommendations. One of the most common questions, or for want of a better term, "excuses" is that many people want to create videos, but use their lack of "expensive" camera as an excuse.
Emails I receive are often like this (what follows is part of an actual email I received)… "Hello Dave, I really want to start my YouTube Channel but need an amazing camera and microphone setup. Can you suggest something around the £1,000 to £1,500 mark. Once I have saved enough money I can then start producing videos like you". 
The perceived need for the so-called "best camera" could not be further from the truth. Look at how I started … with just the family point & shoot compact camera. Also, consider how smartphone technology has also evolved, with many capturing awesome 1080P and some even managing to deliver a crisp 4K experience too. So why wouldn't you share your own videos. Now is the time to use the technology you already have in your pocket or bag and share your story. We can no longer make the excuse that we do not have a great camera, 

Throughout December, Intellicig are running a competition to give away a £200 Red Letter Day experience for two. Check out their #WhyWouldntYou campaign here.

Written in collaboration with Intellicig.

GoPro Introduces HERO4 – The Most Powerful GoPro Lineup, Ever

September 29th, 2014 – GoPro, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRO), enabler of some of today's most immersive and engaging content, today unveiled HERO4, the highest performance line of capture devices the company has ever made.  HERO4 is available in two editions, HERO4 Black at an RRP of £369.99 and HERO4 Silver at an RRP of £289.99. GoPro’s Emmy® Award-winning imaging technology combines with enhanced ease-of-use and powerful new features such as 4K30, 2.7K50 and 1080p120 video capture (Black) and built-in touch display convenience (Silver), to make it easier than ever for consumers to self capture and share stunning, professional quality content of their favourite experiences.

HERO4 Black delivers 2x the performance of its best-selling predecessor and now captures cinema-quality 4K video at 30 frames per second (fps), 2.7K video at 50fps and 1080p video at a blistering 120fps, virtually eliminating rolling shutter in most scenarios while allowing for time-bending slow motion effects. HERO4 Black also features an entirely redesigned audio system that captures high fidelity sound with 2x the dynamic range of previous models. Additional enhancements include improved image quality, low light performance, highlight moment tagging and an improved user interface that allows for easier discoverability and access to key features and controls. The HERO4 Black is simply the highest performance GoPro yet.

HERO4 Silver delivers the same professional image quality as HERO4 Black less some of the higher performance video capture modes including 4K30, 2.7K50 and 1080p120. HERO4 Silver includes a brilliant built-in touch display for those who value convenience and ease-of-use over the no-holds-barred performance of the HERO4 Black.

The new HERO4 line will be available from 5th October on GoPro.com and at select retailers worldwide.

“For the past twelve years, our passion has been to make it easy for people to self-capture jaw dropping, professional quality footage of themselves engaged in their favorite activities,” said GoPro Founder and CEO, Nicholas Woodman.  “That passion led us to embark on our most ambitious design and engineering effort ever, and the result is nothing short of the ultimate GoPro—the HERO4 Black.  We can’t wait to see what the world captures with it.”

HERO4 Black – 2x the performance, yet again.
The flagship HERO4 Black builds upon GoPro’s Emmy® Award-winning technology to deliver the next level of GoPro image quality, versatility and performance:

·         Incredible ultra high definition 4K video at 30fps allows for life-like video capture as well the ability to extract 8.3 megapixel video stills to use as photos

·         Faster* high resolution frame rates of 2.7K at 50fps and 1080p at 120fps

·         12MP magazine cover-quality photos at burst speeds of 30 photos per second

·         Updated user-interface with improved discoverability and access to key camera controls

·         50% faster Wi-Fi* combined with Bluetooth® delivers enhanced GoPro App performance and improved power management

·         RRP £369.99

·         For more information visit the HERO4 Black product page

“A common pain-point is deciding between capturing video or photos of an experience,” remarked Woodman. “Each frame of 4K30 video is similar to an 8.3 megapixel photo. The result is that users can simultaneously capture eye-popping 4K30 video and impressive 8.3 megapixel photo-like video stills at 30 frames per second when using HERO4 Black. It’s one of the many wild capabilities of this impressive new device.”

HERO4 Silver – Professional quality capture. Touch-display convenience.

The HERO4 Silver sets a new precedent for convenience and ease-of-use with GoPro’s first built-in touch display:

·         Brilliant built-in touch display allows for easy camera control, shot framing and playback

·         Professional quality video capture at 2.7K30, 1080p60 and 720p120

·         12MP magazine cover-quality photos at burst speeds of 30 photos per second

·         50% faster Wi-Fi* combined with Bluetooth® delivers enhanced GoPro App performance and improved power management

·         RRP £289.99

·         For more information visit the HERO4 Silver product page

The most advanced GoPro cameras yet.

HERO4 Black and Silver share powerful new features that expand what’s possible with a GoPro.

Protune™, now for photo + video.

·         For those who prefer to take manual control of their GoPro to maximize versatility and performance, we’ve expanded our professionally minded Protune mode to include Color, Sharpness, ISO Limit, and Exposure controls for both photo and video capture.

New settings for after dark.

·         Whether you’re shooting the Milky Way or a campfire hangout, Night Photo and Night Lapse allow you to capture stunning images of ultra low-light scenes with customizable exposure settings of up to 30 seconds.

 

Mark your best moments.

·         HiLight Tag enables you to mark key moments with the push of an on-camera button while recording, making it easy to find, playback and share your favorite clips in GoPro Studio or with the GoPro App.  You can also HiLight Tag using the mobile GoPro App or the new Smart Remote accessory.

QuikCapture speed and convenience.

·         QuikCapture makes it easy to power on and record with the press of a single button. When enabled, a single press starts video capture, while a press and hold engages Time Lapse photo capture.

High-performance audio.

·         A totally re-designed internal audio system combines with a state of the art microphone to capture clean, high fidelity sound with 2x the dynamic range of previous models.

Introducing the HERO – The perfect entry-level GoPro.

GoPro is also proud to debut HERO, the perfect entry-level GoPro. Designed with simplicity in mind and built directly into a rugged, waterproof housing, HERO captures high-quality 1080p video at 30fps and 720p video at 60fps. HERO captures the same immersive, eye-popping footage that’s made GoPro one of the best-selling cameras in the world—all in a simplified package that’s accessible to everyone with an RRP of £99.99. For more information visit the HERO product page on GoPro.com.

New Mounts and Accessories that Help You Capture and Share Your World

October 5th also marks the availability of these new GoPro mounts and accessories:

·         Smart Remote – Control your GoPro from up to 600’ (183m) away with the wearable and waterproof remote. Conveniently mark key moments as they happen with the Smart Remote’s HiLight Tag button when paired with a HERO4 Black or HERO4 Silver.

·         The Handler – A compact floating handgrip. Lightweight, ergonomic and durable, The Handler is perfect for handheld shooting during any activity.

·         New BacPac accessories – A new and improved Battery BacPac provides almost twice the battery power over the camera’s internal battery alone. And a new LCD BacPac provides improved touch and swipe performance when used with HERO4 Black.

NewMediaCreator Launch - helping creators

It gives me great pleasure to share details with you about the NewMediaCreator launch. Everything you need to know is in the video below.

For a long time now, I have been sharing my experience with technology on the Geekanoids Channel. Nothing will change there. However, over those years you (and myself) have had to research products and buy them from companies in the hope that they deliver on their promises. 

Rather than being a box-shifter with 100's of lines, NewMediaCreator features only hand-picked products that I have actually used.

"Here at NewMediaCreator we have hand-picked a selection of products that either meet or exceed our expectations. They will enhance your productions, either in audio or visual quality or in the way they make your workflow easier. We don't believe in struggling or just managing, instead the tools we use should disappear into the background allowing us to focus on our creativity."

I am so excited to share this all with you. Geekanoids is an open community, so if you ever have any feedback or suggestions for new products just get in touch.

iPhone 5S May Include Slow Motion Video Recording Feature

Code hidden inside iOS 7 suggests that the next generation iPhone could include a new "Mogul" camera mode, offering video recording at a rate of 120 frames-per-second, reports 9to5Mac.

According to our analysis and testing of the code, "Mogul" is a feature in development that allows the iPhone to capture video at an exceptionally fast and precise rate. Specifically, our testing indicates that the feature can allow the iPhone to record video at a rate of 120 frames-per-second (FPS). The resolution at which this 120FPS video could be recorded at, however, is currently unclear.

Capturing video at 120FPS would allow iPhone users to create slow motion films. Slow motion video requires frames to be captured at a fast rate, which then appear to be slowed down when replayed at a standard speed. 

Many action cameras, such as the GoPro Hero3, include slow motion recording capabilities. Samsung's popular flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, also includes a slow motion mode. While the code does not suggest a resolution for Apple's Mogul mode, recording at 120FPS often requires a lower resolution. The video below demonstrates 120FPS video shot with the Samsung Galaxy Camera...

Read the full story here. Source: Mac Rumours

 

 

BOOM! NASA CAPTURES MASSIVE MOON EXPLOSION ON VIDEO

This NASA artist concept shows what the impact may have looked like.

It's a good thing you weren't standing on the moon's Mare Imbrium crater on March 17. You might have been ground into space dust. A meteoroid "the size of a small boulder" crashed into the lunar surface and exploded with a flash so bright, it was visible to the naked eye from Earth.

NASA has been keeping an eye on the moon for eight years, looking for explosions caused by meteoroids. The space agency has seen hundreds of detectable impacts, but none quite so spectacular as this one. "For about one second, the impact site was glowing like a fourth magnitude star," NASA says...

Read the full story here. Souce: CNET

Blackmagic's Production Camera 4K gets full size cinema sensor, $3,995 pricetag

No matter how hard companies try and keep secrets, when it comes to trade show floors there's always the risk that someone will snap a picture and steal their thunder. The latest casualty is Blackmagic, which will be announcing both a Pocket Cinema Camera and this, its Production Camera 4K. We're fairly sure that this will sit above its Cinema Camera, offering a bigger Super 35 sensor, global shutter and Thunderbolt connector alongside the SSD recorder, touchscreen LCD and EF lens mount we found on last year's model. When the company gets around to announcing the hardware properly, it'll be available for $3,995 -- low enough to make even the most ardent of DSLR fans think twice.

[Image Credit: Danielo Garcia]

[Source: Engadget]

CES 2013: JVC launches Procision slow-mo HD camcorder, refreshed Everio line at CES

When it comes to launching a groundbreaking flagship video camera at CES, JVC's got previous experience. The company has outed the Procision GC-PX100, a 1,920 x 1,080 camcorder that shoots at 36Mbps, a bit-rate that the company claims makes it perfect for slow-motion and special effects work. Light will be pouring forth into a F/1.2 lens, a 1/2.3-inch 12.8-megapixel backside illuminated CMOS censor with optical image stabilization. JVC is claiming that it's capable of cranking out 600 frames per second and shoot still images in bursts of nine frames a second -- although not at the same time. When you're done, you can push the footage straight to your smartphone or tablet over WiFi and the company is also offering a mobile app that'll let sports coaches analyze their players movement in staggering detail. It'll be available in March, but you'd better all of that athletic scrutiny is worth it, as it'll set you back $1,000.

At the same time, the company's outing a game of Everio camcorders, with the entry-level GX-E100 setting you back $230 for the most basic model the company can offer. At the other end of the range, the $500 GZ-VX815 offers a f/1.2 lens, a 12.8-megapixel sensor and WiFi when it goes on sale in March.

[Source: Engadget]

CES 2013: Panasonic HC-X920 Hands on

Panasonic's new flagship consumer camcorder for 2013 looks very much like Panasonic flagship consumer camcorder for 2012. Don't be fooled by its appearance though as the Panasonic HC-X920 has three major upgrades over last year's Panasonic HC-X900.
First and foremost are the upgrades to the 3MOS sensor array. This now uses BSI (backside illuminated) sensors with superior low-light performance. The raw resolution of the sensors has also increased from 6.57 megapixels in total to 8.49 megapixels. We were shown some examples of footage shot with the camcorder, and it looked more composed with less glare at 100 lux (bright conditions) and had far less noise at 10 lux (low light) - that's compared to last years model. Of course we'll have to see what Sony has up its sleeve for 2013 before making any final conclusions though.

The lens looks to be identical to last year's at first glance, but it has a new nano surface coasting apparently, but we're not clear on what benefits this provides.

Another major upgrade to this year's model is Wi-Fi support. This allows for real-time broadcast of events via the popular Ustream service. It can even send email out to preregistered addresses to inform them the live broadcast is beginning. Great for sharing event footage with family and friends in distant locations. A smartphone app is also available for Android and iOS, which lets you see the footage from the camcorder and control the zoom and other functions.

[Source: Expert Reviews - Click here to read the full story]