Hasta La Gadget!

Inside tech fiends the world over, there is a deep-seated desire to film lightning strikes, bullets penetrating glass and objects dropped into water, if only to see the fantastic, chaotic patterns played back in slow motion. (Peep an example after the break.) Thing is, most cameras fast enough to catch such phenomena do so with a tradeoff — like the Phantom V12, which had a tiny 256 x 8 picture at its impressive 1,000,000fps. But now, Vision Research claims they have a camera that does it all: the Phantom Flex, which captures 1080p images at up to 2,800fps — with 1000 ISO sensitivity — and can shoot higher (2560 x 1600 at 1,560fps), faster (640 x 480 at 13,000fps) or even slower (down to 5fps) for regular filming. Since the high speed modes fill the onboard 16 or 32GB of memory in the blink of an eye, the sexy black number supports hot-swappable SSD modules for storage, and can even be synced in pairs to film blue alien Pocahontas reenactments in stereoscopic 3D. Hit the source link for a mouthwatering spec sheet, and don’t ask how much it costs. You really don’t want to know.

Continue reading Vision Research’s Phantom Flex captures 1080p at 2,800fps, our full attention

Vision Research’s Phantom Flex captures 1080p at 2,800fps, our full attention originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 05:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 17, folks. That’s the date when the grumpy doctor you wish you were and the snazzy camera you wish you owned will join forces on American network television. The final episode in this season’s run of House has been shot exclusively using Canon’s 5D Mark II, and the show’s director Greg Yaitanes has been taking questions about the experience on Twitter. PetaPixel have helpfully collated the Q&A session into a coherent pseudo-interview, which you’ll be able to find at the source below. The major takeaway is that the crew liked the experience and didn’t have to do an overwhelming amount of work to adapt to the different shooting method. Guess after SNL and its own movie, the 5D Mark II just had to go and do a guest appearance on its favorite TV show.

[Thanks, Ben K]

Canon 5D Mark II used to shoot entire House season finale, director says it’s ‘the future’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not sure where Panasonic gets off calling its AG-AF100 a “professional” digital video camera. It’s certainly not in the same class as RED or ARRI Alexa. It is, however, a very interesting video rig for shooting flicks on a budget with its Micro Four Thirds sensor and collection of micro 4/3 lenses, filters, and adapters. The AF100 records native 1080/24p using the AVC/ H.264 Hi Profile AVCHD codec to a pair of SD slots supporting both SDHC and newer SDXC removable media. The AVCCAM HD camcorder features a pair of XLR inputs, 48-kHz/16-bit two-channel digital audio recording, and supports LPCM/Dolby-AC3; it also packs USB 2.0, HD-SDI out, HDMI, a built-in stereo mic, and time code recording. So yeah, it won’t record the next Hollywood blockbuster but it’ll probably do fine by indie filmmakers without breaking the film school budget. Perhaps we’ll better understand all this professional talk when Panny reveals its price in time for a year-end launch.

Panasonic’s AF100 Micro Four Thirds video camera considers itself ‘professional’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 03:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our army of Best Buy informants has struck again, this time delivering an internal systems entry that references an S1240W model from Cisco’s consumer division, described as a digital camcorder. Aside from the obvious appearance of the Flip name in the top right corner, the retail box dimensions listed herein — 7.7 by 1.5 by 3.6 inches — seem an almost perfect match for the recently spied Flip Slide HD product box. At that time, we were furnished with supplemental pics pointing out 16GB of built-in storage for up to four hours of video, and today we can add a price and potential release date to the dossier. April 18 is the reputed “in stock” date for this Flip shooter, with a $280 “regular retail” price shown on the other snapshot we’ve come across (see it after the break). That means we’ve only got a few days of mystery left before Cisco flips the covers away.

[Thanks, Jae]

Continue reading Flip S1240W priced at $280 in Best Buy’s systems, reads an awful lot like ‘Slide HD’ to us

Flip S1240W priced at $280 in Best Buy’s systems, reads an awful lot like ‘Slide HD’ to us originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 05:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All we have is this one image, care of a gracious anonymous tipster who said it was found at Best Buy. Our best guess? Well, it’s a Flip camcorder, and there’s a sliding element to it — amazing deduction skills, we know. Perhaps Cisco has something up its sleeve soon? Inquiring minds want to know.

Flip Slide HD caught at Best Buy, slides into camera’s view originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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