Video Cameras

It’s an inspiring story that reminds you how the wonders of scientific exploration aren’t just limited to research institutions with big budgets... in August of this year, Luke Geissbuhler and his seven year-old son Max attached an HD video camera to a weather balloon and set it loose. They proceeded to obtain footage of the blackness of outer space, 19 miles (30 km) above the surface of the earth. Needless to say, there was a little more to it than just tying a piece of string around a camcorder.  Read More

If you’ve been lusting after GoPro’s HD HERO actioncam, but can’t justify the US$300 price tag, then you’ll be glad to hear this: GoPro has just released a more basic version, that costs $180. As its name implies, the HD HERO 960 is limited to a maximum resolution of 960p, as opposed to the HD HERO’s 1080. If you’re just using it post videos on the web, however, the difference will be negligible.  Read More

Sick of straining your arm to get that all-important above the crowd video angle? Here's a solution that will give you a true birds-eye view. Due to hit the market at the end of the year, FlyingLift is a remote controlled quadrocopter which can carry a conventional video camera of up too 500 grams in weight while beaming images back to the ground in real-time. The system consists of an electrically powered carbon fiber chopper, a backpack-mounted receiver unit, a hand-held controller and a set of video glasses which deliver what the camera sees to one eye while leaving the other eye free to follow the quadrocopter in flight.  Read More

As you can easily tell from the gear we’ve checked out at Photokina 2010, digital cameras are evolving at an almost frightening pace – sensors are getting more sensitive, resolution continues to get higher, high-def movie mode is becoming pretty much standard... what can a camera do now to really stand out? Well, in the case of Superheadz’ Digital Harinezumi 2++, it can devolve. Actually, the 2++ is a couple of steps up from the original model, but the line in general is all about bringing back the primitive charm of Instamatic-like stills and Super 8mm-like video. Think of it this way: if conventional cameras are like a mountain lodge, then Harinezumis are like back-country camping.  Read More

Ah, Gorillapods. There’s something almost endearing about the little tripods that can hold onto things like branches with their grippy, bendy legs – they’re just the thing for getting a steady shot in those tripod-unfriendly locations. One might think that manufacturer Joby had gone as far as it could with its various versions of the Gorillapod, but at the Photokina tradeshow in Germany, we spotted the just-released next step in the evolution of the device: the Gorillapod Video.  Read More

IBC is a globally-important video and content creation show held in Amsterdam each year. It’s where trends emerge and this year it delivered irrefutable proof that the advent of Digital SLRs such as Canon's 5D Mk II has influenced the design of the video camera. The biggest benefit of the huge DSLR sensor is the narrow native depth of field that allows the videographer to isolate a subject. It’s the control which film and TV creatives want, and has seen the 5D spawn an entire industry of gear which turns the still camera into a ripping video camera – in just two years. So successful has the DSLR become as a full-frame video camera, that manufacturers are responding with cameras that take all the DSLR's strengths and add in the features videographers want and/or need. The belle of the ball is undoubtedly Panasonic's EUR 5000 (US$6500) AG-AF101, so Gizmag's Noel McKeegan and Mike Hanlon went to see what all the fuss was about.  Read More

Not so long ago, Sony took its original Bloggie pocket video camera and placed a 270 degrees swivel lens at the top that was said to cater for those spontaneous moments. Now the next generation of Bloggie has been revealed and the swivel lens has gone. In its place is a fixed F2.8 wide angle, auto-focus lens with 4x digital zoom. The new MHS-TS20 and MHS-TS10 Bloggie Touch pocket camcorders have a 3-inch touchscreen display, can shoot up to full 1080p high definition video and are capable of snapping 12.8 megapixel still images.  Read More

JVC has long been a major force in hand-held camcorders, but last year turned its attention to the world of pocket-cams with the release of the Picsio GC-FM1 which offered full 1080p high definition video and 8 megapixel stills. Now the company has added a couple more models to its Picsio range, the waterproof GC-WP10 and the GC-FM2.  Read More

I’ve always been fascinated by actioncams... or helmetcams, or POVcams, or whatever else you want to call them. Even before they were available to us mere consumers, I used to wonder, What would it look like if you could see what a camera saw, if it were mounted on that model airplane/squirrel’s back/cereal spoon/football, etc? Thus it was that when Drift Innovation released its high-def HD-170 this July, with its swiveling fisheye lens and viewing screen, I wanted to try one out. So I’d have something to compare it against, I also got hold of a GoPro HERO HD – probably the most popular actioncam currently available. I put the two through their paces, and you can see the results in the video that follows.  Read More