RED’s V-Raptor cameras can now upload 8K RAW footage directly to Adobe’s Frame.io

Adobe’s Camera to Cloud system, which can upload footage from cameras to the cloud (shockingly enough), is now available without the need for additional hardware. In what the company is calling an industry first, the tech is integrated into RED’s V-Raptor and V-Raptor XL cinema camera systems, which can directly upload 8K RAW footage to Frame.io. The only other thing you’ll really need is a high-bandwidth internet connection.

Swift cloud uploads should let post-production teams start work on the footage quickly, wherever they may be located. Adobe suggests this can save production companies time and money. It previewed the RED Camera to Cloud integration at Adobe Max in October, noting at the time that Fujifilm’s X-H2S mirrorless camera would also be able to upload RAW photos to Frame.io directly.

Adobe says more than 6,000 productions are already using Camera to Cloud, which until the RED integration required another piece of gear. Now, anyone who happens to have a V-Raptor camera can try it out. Direct Camera to Cloud uploads will likely remain the domain of professionals for now (the V-Raptor starts at $24,500), but here’s hoping Adobe brings the integration to other cameras soon.

In addition, Adobe announced at the Sundance Film Festival that a beta version of an AI-powered video editing tool is opening up to more users, but not everyone just yet. The web-based Project Blink pinpoints people, objects, dialogue, actions and sounds in video and makes them all searchable. When the AI finds the relevant section, it creates a new clip. You can copy and paste text and the tool will slot in that part of the video.

Among the new features and upgrades include more audio tags (which flag elements like applause and laughter) and the option for users to upload as many files as they wish thanks to infinite scrolling in the library. Project Blink isn’t the only text-based video editing tool around, however. Other companies, such as Descript and Runway, have developed their own versions.

Canon EOS R6 II review: An excellent hybrid camera with few flaws

Sony and Canon are locked in a pitched battle for the full-frame mirrorless camera market, and Canon’s latest salvo is the $2,500 EOS R6 II. It’s not just a key rival to Sony’s like-priced 33-megapixel A7 IV, but gives Canon the opportunity to rectify …

Panasonic debuts its first hybrid autofocus mirrorless cameras, the S5II and S5IIx

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LG teases a smaller smartphone camera module with true optical telephoto zoom

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Fujifilm X-H2 review: A perfect blend of speed, resolution and video power

Fujifilm recently launched the best, albeit most-expensive, APS-C camera yet – the X-H2S. But it wasn’t done. Today, we’re looking at its stablemate, the 40-megapixel X-H2. It’s the highest-resolution APS-C camera ever released and boasts impressive vi…

Xiaomi’s 13 Pro is an early look at 2023’s flagship phones

Xiaomi’s 13 series flagship smartphones are here, and as usual, they’re loaded with the latest technology and features. With the 13 and 13 Pro, Xiaomi is the second manufacturer to use Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 platform, following Vivo with the X90 Pro and IQOO 11 series. They also have new camera modules with improved image quality, ultra-fast charging and more. 

As with the previous models, the Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro have separate designs. The 13 Pro uses a wrap-around 6.73-inch 2K+ AMOLED screen (3,200 x 1,400) with vegan leather or ceramic back versions. Meanwhile, the 13 has a flat 6.36-inch 2,400 x 1,080 AMOLED display, iPhone-like aluminum sides and either glass or leather back options. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform offers hardware accelerated ray-tracing and improved gaming performance, so both phones have 120Hz displays to keep up.

Xiaomi's 13 Pro packs a 1-inch camera sensor and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
Xiaomi

The Xiaomi 13 Pro has top-flight camera specs, too. It packs a 50-megapixel (MP) f/1.9 main camera with a Type 1-inch sensor (like other Type 1-inch sensors it’s really only 8.8 x 13.2mm, but still significantly larger than with most smartphones). It also includes a 50MP 3.2 zoom camera (75mm equivalent) with optical image stabilization (OIS) and a floating lens, as pictured above. Finally, it has a 50MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera (14mm equivalent), and 32MP punch-hole selfie cam. 

The Xiaomi 13 (below), meanwhile, has the same selfie camera, a 50MP f/1.8 OIS main camera with a smaller sensor, a 10MP 3.2x zoom OIS zoom camera and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide (15mm equivalent) camera.

Xiaomi's 13 Pro packs a 1-inch camera sensor and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
Xiaomi 13
Xiaomi

The 13 Pro offers impressive 120W charging (more than many laptops), bringing the 4,820mAh battery from zero to a 100 percent charge in just 19 minutes. That’s fast, but still significantly slower than Redmi’s Note 12 Discovery Edition. Wireless charging happens at “just” 50 watts, or 36 minutes to a full charge. The Xiaomi 13, has a slightly smaller 4,500 mAh battery and is limited to 67W wired charging (38 minutes to 100 percent) and 50W wireless charging (48 minutes to a full charge). 

Other features include LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage on both models (8GB and 128GB up to 12GB and 512GB on both models), Dolby Atmos on the Pro model and Leica camera tech. For the latter, Xiaomi and Leica built a color model based on 4,700 scenes, presumably allowing for improved accuracy. Prices start at 4,999 yuan ($720) for the Xiaomi 13 Pro and 3,999 yuan ($570) for the Xiaomi 13. Those are seriously good prices for such high spec phones, but as usual, you likely won’t be able to buy them in North America. 

Tecno’s Phantom X2 Pro phone has a pop-out portrait lens for ‘pure’ bokeh

Many smartphones these days offer artificial bokeh in their portrait photography modes, but with the help of a retractable camera, you can achieve true optical bokeh without missing any edges. Chinese brand Tecno is now bringing such a feature to its latest flagship device, the Phantom X2 Pro 5G, which packs a “world-first” pop-out portrait lens. This is just a little over two years after Xiaomi showed off a retractable 120mm-equivalent wide aperture lens, but it never left the prototype stage.

Tecno’s intriguing portrait camera has a 50-megapixel resolution with a relatively large 1/2.7-inch sensor and 1.28um pixel size. Optically, this 2.5x zoom lens offers an f/1.49 aperture, 65mm focal length and 18.9cm depth of field. When you switch to portrait mode in the camera app, you can see (and hear) the portrait lens physically pop out on the back of the phone. This is complemented with Tecno’s “self-developed” beautification mode with upgraded make-up settings — up to three faces are supported in each image. 

I had a chance to shoot some portraits with my Phantom X2 Pro 5G earlier today, and with the exception of the aggressive skin smoothing, my subjects were quite pleased with the natural bokeh, optimized brightness and virtually non-existent distortion.

Tecno Phantom X2 Pro 5G
Richard Lai/Engadget

There’s more on this amusingly large camera island. The 50-megapixel main shooter uses Samsung’s 1/1.3-inch GNV ISOCELL 3.0 sensor, which offers 1.2um pixel size and is supported with an f/1.85 aperture. You’ll also find a 13-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera nearby, as well as a 32-megapixel front camera on the other side of the phone — in the form of a punch-hole near the top of the curved 6.8-inch AMOLED screen (2,400 x 1,080 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate; Gorilla Glass Victus).

The Phantom X2 Pro 5G is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000, which is a 4nm octa-core processor — similar to the faster Dimensity 9000+ found in ASUS’ ROG Phone 6D series. It also packs 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, along with a generous 5,160mAh battery with 45W fast charging support. While this phone lacks an IP rating, a company rep claimed that the retractable portrait lens is waterproof and dustproof — the interior of the lens is apparently sealed, and likewise with the connection between the lens and the body. Still, it’s probably best to avoid the water when you’re carrying this device.

Tecno’s new phone runs on a customized Android 12 system dubbed HiOS 12, which features an AI gallery with face recognition and editing functions, along with some productivity tools (built-in translator, file scanner with text and PDF conversion etc.) and a connection speed optimization engine. Tecno added that its device passed TÜV Rheinland’s fluency test over a 36-month simulation, meaning its storage memory performance shouldn’t deteriorate much (read: fragmentation) during the same period in real life; but we’ll take this claim with a pinch of salt for now.

Tecno will initially be launching the Phantom X2 Pro 5G in markets including India, Nigeria, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Turkey, and the Philippines from the end of December, and it’ll reach over 60 markets globally later (we’re waiting for specific details on Western markets). The device will be available in “Stardust Grey” and “Mars Orange,” with the latter featuring an eco-friendly back cover composed of plastics recovered from the shores around the Indian Ocean. Tecno claims that this “Eco-Friendly Edition” reduces carbon emissions by approximately 38 percent when compared to virgin plastics, “with each individual cover producing an estimated 2.4g fewer emissions on average.” 

If you manage to come across a Phantom X2 Pro, the asking price is around $930 (based on the 3,499 Riyal price tag in Saudi Arabia), which is probably difficult to justify for just some natural bokeh. There’s also the Phantom X2 which is around $215 cheaper and looks very similar, but it only has 8GB of RAM and lacks a retractable portrait camera; you’ll instead get a 64-megapixel main camera and a 2-megapixel depth camera, along with the same 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera and 32-megapixel front camera as the Pro model. The orange option is also replaced by a “Moonlight White” design.