When you're on the press list at NAB Show, your email InBox piles up an impressive number of press releases and interview offers (currently over 100, so I’m going to stop counting). This year, by my math, about 70% of that first batch had the abbreviation AI somewhere in the headline or lede paragraph. PR-fluff-wording also abounds ("...turns post-production into a strategic lever...").
In alphabetical order, here are the new offerings that I believe have some implication to my readership. Note that I will update the following list if I find new things to report.
▶︎ Atomos acquires Flanders Scientific. This represents an extension of Atomos into post production, as Flanders makes reference monitor systems. The goal here is providing known color monitoring from on-camera (capture) to monitoring (wireless review) to grading suites (post production). The Flanders name will remain as a sub-brand, but this also means that these high-end monitors will now get a world-wide distribution system.
▶︎ Blackmagic Design Resolves to Steal Lightroom Users. A bit surprisingly, Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve 21 launches with a new still photography tool set, including organizing, rating, raw processing (Canon, Fuji, Nikon, and Sony), and even tethering options (Canon and Sony). I use the words “bit surprisingly" in the previous sentence because DaVinci Resolve was already the ultimate everything-but-the-kitchen-sink software program. Now Resolve has the kitchen sink, too. Since this was a beta announcement prior to NAB Show, there's still some lack of clarity as to exactly what will be in the free version of Resolve versus the paid version (US$300 one time fee) when it releases.
The big plus with these new still abilities is that it allows Resolve's extensive and Hollywood-tested color grading and node management (when something is applied in the processing chain) to still photos. The big minus is that, to take full advantage of that, you'll be learning an entirely new post processing skill set. Hollywood (plus Bollywood and all the other woods) will almost certainly embrace this, as it means that you can now match the still photos taken on set to the color, tonality, and processing of a final film using the same set of tools and workflow. Coupled with the products Blackmagic Design is making that enable cloud and group work, this brings more users into shared processing for pools of images and videos.
One final bit: DaVinci Resolve doesn't just run on Mac and Windows machines, it runs on Linux, as well. This new version will quickly become the most sophisticated Linux still processing available.
▶︎ Canon detecting photons. It’s not really an option for those of you reading this site—though some well-financed wildlife endeavors such as the BBC will certainly be interested—but Canon has introduced a new box-type camera, the MS-510. This 1” sensor camera needs only 0.0006 lux to capture a full-color image. To put that in perspective, that’s -7.4EV at ISO 100 (a nightime landscape with almost no moon). It’s just a 3.2mp camera, though, and requires an external power supply. It will capture FullHD at up to 60fps, though, which is why I mentioned the BBC. At US$22,800 just for the camera—you’d still need one of Canon’s broadcast-style lenses in the B4 mount and a power source—it very well may worth it to add to the BBC crews’ gear for some not-seen-at-this-level-before footage in the deep, dark jungles of the world.
I’ve written for a long time that I believe that photon-detecting cameras—as opposed to the photo-accumulating ones we currently use—are coming, and Canon has been plumbing this technology for awhile. The MS-510 now is starting to put it in very usable form for some niche markets. Canon uses SPAD (Single-Photon Avalanche Diode) in their designs, and as you might guess, the real issue raised with photon detection is internal bandwidth within the sensor to acquire each photon and move that data to where it can be used. When Dr. Fossum at Dartmouth first described his own photon-detection invention, the Quanta Image Sensor, he envisioned hundreds of millions of individual detectors running at as much as 1000 times a second in order to build a structure of when and where a photon came from.
You might be surprised to find that single photon detection dates back into the 1960’s. The problem has not been that you can’t detect a photon, it’s that if you want to deal with more than one as we do in photography and video and create a visible file, you quickly generate huge data sets. Canon has now shown that they can handle FullHD at 60fps, so we’re now over the threshold at which photon detection becomes useful. The issue now is bringing costs, processing, and power requirements down.
▶︎ DJI Launches Osmo Pocket 4. The Pocket 3 is something I've been using extensively as I prepare to go MAX, so I'm intimately familiar with what it can do (and it can do a lot). The new version at first doesn't seem to be different, as it uses the same image sensor. However now you can produce 4K/240P with it, there's a new 10-bit D-Log, it has 107GB of internal storage, has a bit more battery life, and adds two new buttons in landscape mode (2x/4x crop, and a customizable button). While these things seem like subtle changes, for some they will make big differences. Plus, there's been a price reduction with the new model. There’s bad news, though. At the moment, it’s unclear whether DJI will get permission to sell the Pocket 4 in the US.
Rumor has it that a Pocket 4 Pro is next, to be introduced in a month or so, and which features optical zoom via a second lens/sensor, much like smartphones do. The wide angle view is still derived from a 1” sensor, and a 3x lens alongside the wide angle one likely goes to a smaller sensor.
▶︎ Insta360 Is Going m4/3. Behind the scenes, Insta360 is showing off their new m4/3 camera, an EV-less camera that reminds me a lot of some of Samsung’s old APS-C lower-end offerings. Once again we get the 20mp sensor. Other known features are an articulated Rear LCD, front and rear Command dials, and a reasonable hand grip. But are they really going to try to call it a Z1? I’d think Nikon would have immense trademark issues with that.
▶︎ Glyph Introduces CFexpress Cards. Glyph Technologies has long been known for its higher end storage drives. Now, it’s entered the CFexpress market with 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB CFexpress Type B 4.0 cards. While these cards are all labeled with 3700MB/s read speeds, note that the 256GB has a sustained write speed is 550MB/s, the 512GB is 1100MB/s, and the 1TB is 2100MB/s. None of the cards I saw are labeled with the CFA’s certified testing logo, but Glyph is saying they’re all compatible with the Z8/Z9 (though they recommend at least the 512GB version). The initial pricing is relatively low (US$240 for 256GB) given the NAND pricing hikes recently. I’ve used a number of Glyph products over the years, and most have proven to be highly reliable. The exception is an 18TB hard drive that just likes to unmount and remount from time to time on macOS Tahoe.
▶︎ GoPro's Next Generation. While it looks somewhat like previous models—the small blocky brand shape identification is retained—GoPro's new Mission 1 series of cameras is pretty much all new. Starting with the larger 4:3 (Type 1) 50mp image sensor and backed by the new GP3 processor (5nm process, with 2x the speed plus a neural core), the net result is shallower depth of field, better low light capability, faster frame rates, less heat buildup, enhanced stabilization, and better battery life. 32-bit float for audio recording from the four built-in mics is also supported. The Rear LCD is 14% larger, the buttons easier to find, the cameras can take stills in raw mode, and there's even a clip-on "make it a compact camera with grip" option. Three models are being launched:
- The Mission 1 is the basic camera with a max of 8K/30P (at 16:9). Maximum 4K speed is 120fps.
- The Mission 1 Pro provides 8K/60P, including Open Gate, and runs a max of 240fps in 4K.
- The Mission 1 ILS is the same as the Pro, except instead of the built-in lens, it features a (rather large looking for the box size) m4/3 lens mount. Sadly, there’s no autofocus support.
GoPro once again will launch with a ton of SKUs (e.g. Creator kit, filters, housings, wireless mic system, LED lighting, and more, but pricing on everything is up in the air until the product releases at the end of May or early June.
I believe it was with the launch of the Hero3—GoPro is now on Hero13 and this new system would be 14)—back in 2012 that I first wrote that GoPro needed to create a interchangeable lens mount version. The demand was there for a C-mount version, and has been ever since. I’m not sure why they’ve chosen m4/3—probably because of consumer availability over C- or B4-mounts—but that’s too big a mount for the camera size, I believe. And without autofocus support, I’m not sure what the real gain was in adapting m4/3.
▶︎ Nikon Z Cinema Gets a Lens. It’s well known that Nikon will create a line of lenses specifically for the video side, called Nikkor Z Cinema. On Sunday Nikon launched a short teaser video that didn’t say anything (okay, we learned that they have Focus Lock and standard gearing, plus an A/M focus switch, and that there might be a total of nine lenses planned).
▶︎ SanDisk’s New Cards. SanDisk announced new CFexpress 4.0 Type B and SD UHS-II cards. The new SanDisk Extreme Pro CFexpress cards are marked with 800 and 400 certified markings, and come in 128GB, 256GB, 400GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB sizes. The SD Extreme Pro cards are either V60 or V90, and come in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB sizes (the V60 version also comes in 64GB size).
▶︎ Viltrox Adds EVO Lenses. Viltrox added autofocus 35mm f/1.8 and 55mm f/1.8 EVO lenses in multiple mounts (including Z-mount), joining the 85mm f/2 EVO to form a core trio. These lenses are priced at US$395. These new lenses form Viltrox seventh series of lenses, and slot between the Pro and the Air series in both performance and size/weight. Let's see, I think the primary Viltrox series now go LAB, PRO, EVO, and Air, in that declining order.