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]

GoPro lets all Hero3 owners in on iOS, Android fun with updated app, firmware

If you splurged for the $400 GoPro Hero3 Black Edition, you'll be glad to know that it'll finally work with the Android and iOS GoPro apps, thanks to a new update. The Silver and White Edition Hero3 models will now work with Android as well, which didn't support any flavors of that camera when it first came out. You'll want to update the firmware in all three models of the talented shooter before trying to use the app, according to a tweet from the company, which will let you in on all the live preview and remote control goodies we saw earlier. Check the source to see how to grab everything.

[Source: Engadget]

GoPro app reaches Android, captures reckless Nexus adventures

GoPro left its Android-using audience hanging (from a paraglider) when it posted an iOS app for remote controlling its cameras, but the group won't have been in suspense for long. The action video camera maker has posted a Google-native version that covers roughly the same feature spread as its Apple-oriented counterpart, including remote control, video previewing and daily highlight clips. Any aspiring movie makers will have to fit a narrow set of criteria to start shooting, however -- on top of an HD Hero 2and a WiFi BacPac, Android 4.0 is a minimum requirement to start shooting without hiccups. Hero 3 support won't be coming until later this month. Despite the limitations, it's nice to know that we won't need an elaborate Google Glass setup to record our next skydive in a Mountain View-approved fashion.

[Source: Engadget]

Panasonic launches tweaked AG-AF105A MFT pro camcorder with 10-bit HD video

Panasonic has just launched the AG-AF105A pro camcorder, an updated version of the AG-AF105 model, and for lovers of fine color gamut, there's good news. You can now output 10-bit HD video through the live view SDI port to an external recorder, boosting the color range to a billion hues and 1024 shades of grey. That addresses one of the main gripes with the previous $6k, 8-bit camcorder: it had to live in a world of Red Scarlets and Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera MFTs, which already have deep color. The revised model also brings a new PS recording mode with 25Mbps data rate, full HD progressive modes (1080/60p, 1080/50p), higher fidelity 16 bit LPCM audio and enlarged focus assist. It'll hit shelves on November 15th in Japan (there's no mention of an international date yet) with pricing up to the dealer, so sharpen up those haggling skills if you want one.

[Source: Engadget]

Red gets Epic price cut, drops M, X and Scarlet brains by up to 45 percent

Competition is heating up in the high-end digital cinema market, and Red is responding with a slew of massive price cuts. According to CEO Jim Jannard, this "attitude adjustment" is simply a benefit of scaling up production, yielding a decrease in component and assembly costs, and an enormous reduction in assembly time -- the first Epic took 12 hours to build, while current models require just 13 minutes. As a result, the Epic-M has dropped to $24,000 (from $39,500), the Epic-X is now $19,000 (formerly $34,500), the Scarlet is $7,950 (from $9,700) and the EOL'd One MX is priced at $4,000 (once $25,000). The Dragon sensor upgrade will not be included with any new Epic models, and will remain priced at $6,000. Red customers who took the plunge on cameras with former pricing within the last month (on or after October 1st) will receive a discount off future accessory purchases of $4,000 for Epic and $1,000 for Scarlet. With this latest round of discounts, Red cameras are by no means inexpensive, but they're certainly more affordable. If you were already planning to pick one up, Christmas just came a couple months early.

[Source: Engadget]

Sony goes Red-hunting with PMW-F55 and PMW-F5 pro CineAlta 4K Super 35mm sensor camcorders

Having seen some of its high-end cinema camera thunder stolen by the likes of Red and Arri, Sony has just launched a pair of CineAlta PL-mount cameras with brand new Super 35mm sensors: The PMW-F5 and PMW-F55. Though both pack 4K CMOS imagers, the similarities grind to a halt there -- the higher-end PMW-F55 has a global shutter, wider color gamut and can output 4k along with 2k and HD video, while the PMW-F5 is a strictly 2k and HD model with a rolling shutter. Depending on the level of quality you want, there are several ways to capture video to each camcorder. MPEG-4 H.264 video or Sony's SR MPEG-4 SStP can be recorded onto Sony's new SxS PRO+ media, or if RAW quality is desired, there's the new AXS-R5 Access Memory System for 2K / 4K RAW capture -- which will also work with the current NEX-FS700. Using the latter system, the PMW-F5 is capable of grabbing up to 120fps slow motion RAW video, while the PMW-F55 could capture 240fps, putting it squarely in Epic-X territory. The new camcorders will arrive in February 2013, and while Sony hasn't outed pricing yet, it'll likely be under the flagship 4k CineAlta F65's formidable $65k sticker. Check the PR after the break to get the entire technical skinny.

[Source: Engadget]

Blackmagic launches Cinema Camera MFT with Micro Four Thirds mount, sans autofocus, for $3K

Blackmagic Design has thrown its Cinema Camera MFT into the Micro Four Thirds arena, but it will only work with lenses that have manual iris and focus capability. The shooter is otherwise identical to the original Cinema Camera, with a 2.5k, sub-MFT sensor; CinemaDNG RAW, ProRes and DNxHD capture formats; built-in SSD; capacitive touchscreen; and an included copy of DaVinci Resolve color correction software. That means cineasts already on board that format will have another mount for their glass, and MFT's mirrorless aspect will also permit other lens formats, like PL or Nikon, to be added with third party adapters. So, if the relatively low price, claimed 13 stop dynamic range, higher-than-HD resolution and new mount is enough to push your "start" button, check the PR for the entire skinny.

[Source: Engadget]

Blackmagic Design starts shipping Cinema Cameras in limited quantity

Remember that $2,995 Blackmagic Cinema Camera that shoots full-res 21:9 16:9 video? It's now hitting shelves, or maybe we should say "a shelf," because the initial shipment was "rather small," according to the company. The arrival date was pushed back earlier, and now the 2.5k, 12-bit RAW, sub-four-thirds video camera won't roll out in volume until the "parts supply ramps up." Meanwhile, B&H got a handful along with several other dealers, but if you just decided to order one for tomorrow's shoot, you may wanna cool your ardor -- there's quite a back order to get through, first.

[Source: Engadget]