Smartphone Filmmaking News Roundup
Stories on DJI Osmo Action, Sony Xperia 1 and Zeiss, Snoppa Atom, ShiftCam’s new 12mm lens, FiLMiC Pro update, Apple iPhone’s battery life tested.
DJI Osmo Action Announced
Not so long after the DJI Osmo Pocket emptied our pockets late last year, DJI have acted with rapid osmosis to get their hands on some of GoPro’s profits.
Indeed, the new Osmo Action looks an awful lot like a GoPro and comes with some very effective EIS. Hey, HyperSmooth meet RockSteady. You guys should get on well, you have a lot in common.
Like the GoPro Hero 7 Black, the Osmo Action is waterproof down to around 11 metres without the need for case.
Where they differ is the Osmo’s front-facing screen, making it more of a vlogging tool as well as an action cam. the Osmos Action also shoots in HDR to help add extra dynamic range. Like the pocket, the Action has a less wide angle view than a GoPro camera.
Some GoPro users might prefer to stick with the wide to shoot more of the action. Personally, I prefer the narrower view, but then I don’t film myself biking down mountains. Osmo Action also comes with 8X Slow mo and 4K60p.
You can buy the DJI Osmo Action right now from the DJI Store for £329.
New Sony Xperia 1 with Zeiss Lenses LEAKED
Rumours are out that the new Sony Xperia 1 smartphone will come with Zeiss made lenses. A new report suggests that two of the Xperia 1’s three rear cameras have been developed in partnership with Zeiss.
Sony and Zeiss have worked together before, but this would be the first time they have collaborated on a smartphone. This is exciting news for smartphone filmmakers. Especially if you were disappointed by the RED Hydrogen One and it’s failure to push smartphones closer to a pro camera set up.
The rumours started after an image was leaked online revealing the camera module of the Xperia 1. The word “MILVUS” was spotted, which is coincidentally a line of lenses made by Zeiss. So it seems the German manufacturer has made the wide and ultra-wide lenses for the Xperia 1.
Snoppa Atom Foldable Gimbal
A quick update on the Snoppa Atom. The gimbal looked to be doing something new when it appeared on IndieGoGo last year, with the ability to fold up and fit in your pocket. But how did the gimbal actually perform?
Reviews are pretty mixed which doesn’t bode well for the new gimbal, considering it’s not the cheapest out there.
Anything that makes smartphone filmmaking even more lightweight and trimmed-down is good, but only if the device itself works well.
The reviews from YouTube and customers reveal the gimbal has issues – specifically the horizontal balance. A gimbal isn’t much use if it can’t maintain a level horizon. If your smartphone is skewed on the gimbal, the rest of the features just become pointless gimmicks.
The World’s First 12mm Ultra Wide Angle Aspherical Lens For Mobile
Smartphone lens-makers ShiftCam have announced they will be producing a new 12mm wide angle lens.
ShiftCam say that “thanks to the pioneering use of specialist DSLR lens manufacturing techniques on a much smaller scale, the first-of-its-kind aspherical lens allows for zero distortion of lines even with the impressive 122º Ultra Wide angle of view”
This means you will be able to use the lens to get extreme wide shots but without the barrel “fish eye” distortion we are used to with such lenses.
Filmic Pro v6.9.3 adds white balance lock on record
While I was taking the MoMo “shoot fast” smartphone filmmaking workshop last Sunday, I was explaining how to lock the white balance using FiLMiC Pro. Someone asked what it meant when the button turned orange.
I’d never seen the orange white balance button before, so I was unable to answer. But now I know!
Toggling through the white balance button gives you manual (grey), auto (blue), locked (red) and now “lock on record” (orange). This means the white balance will still be in auto mode but will fix as soon as you start recording.
As I was explaining in the lesson, having the white balance fluctuating during a shot is not usually a desired look. And fixing it in post would be very hard. Having the lock on record is great because it saves you time setting and locking the white balance every shot.
You might still want to do that, but this gives you another (faster) option should you be pressed for time.
Apple significantly overstates iPhone battery life compared to Which? tests
Which? claim Apple has been overstating the battery life of their iPhones by a considerable amount.
The consumer champion carried out its own tests to establish the average talk time for popular phone models from five brands and compared the results to the manufacturers’ claims. It found that two big names – Apple and HTC – both appeared to overstate the battery life length of their mobile phones.
The claims by Apple were not just a few % out. The iPhone maker stated that its batteries lasted between 18 per cent and 51 per cent longer than the Which? results.
Apple’s iPhone XR had the biggest battery overestimation for talk time on full charge. In Which? tests, the battery lasted for 16 hours and 32 minutes, whereas Apple claimed that it would last 25 hours – 51 per cent more.
Meanwhile, Nokia, Samsung and Sony all underestimated talk time when compared to Which? tests.
Read the Which? press release here.
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