Lens Curator s03e06

Nvidia goes slow-mo with its A.I. research

Researchers from NVIDIA developed a deep learning-based system that can produce high-quality slow-motion videos from a 30-frame-per-second video, outperforming various state-of-the-art methods that aim to do the same. Even though Twixtor has been doing this for years, it’ll be interesting to see if Nvidia can outperform it. Twixtor is notorious for bad results when dealing with 30fps or less… Especially when the footage has lots of artifacts and a ‘busy’ background. It uses an algorithm for frame blending while this new Nvidia research deals with artificial intelligence.

Shutter speed tips

The rule of thumb when shooting a scene is to set your shutter speed at double the inverse of your frame rate. So if you’re shooting at 25fps then set your shutter speed to 1/50, or if you’re shooting slow-motion footage at 60fps then set your shutter speed at 1/120. Easy right? But there are situations where you can creatively use shutter speed and its effect on motion blur to your advantage.

It’s all about the balance

Gimbals are an essential part of any videographer’s kit. They make your footage look cinematic and most of them won’t break your bank. What they can do is set you apart from your competition (but please be rational with its use, nothing screams more amateurish than seeing gimbals used on EVERY shot in your edit). Modern gimbals are pretty easy to use (especially if your camera has an auto-focus option). One thing you DO have to master is ‘the ninja walk’ and the other is to balance a gimbal head properly. It will please the gimbals motors but also enhance the look of your footage.

Instagram bites in the online video cake

Instagram has recently launched a stand-alone app called IGTV – ‘Instagram TV’. It will allow users to upload videos up to one hour in length, up from the previous one-minute limit. IGTV will let anyone be a creator, not just big-name celebrities. People at Instagram understand that no one wants to watch crap quality video for an hour, so they’ve built-in a desktop uploader that will allow creators to actually shoot high-quality footage on proper cameras and upload it to IGTV. In my humble opinion, YouTube will reign as the online video king for many years still, but it’s good to see other major players trying to compete.

slow demise of a photography giant

Remember Kodak? The name was once synonymous with cameras and film. They were innovators in the industry and the leaders of it for 100 years. Nowadays the company is a shell of its former self. What happened? This video will reveal just what happened.