Red Shark review of the year: Q2 2021

We continue our review of the top stories of the year with a look at our most popular stories from April to May 2021.

Sachtler's clever new Aktiv8 tripod head reviewed

We liked this. "In the end it’s not completely new; there have been attempts at quick-adjust ball mounts before, but nothing built quite like this, or this effective. Mature as it is, the fluid head market is often defined by small innovations which afford us small conveniences. The best most people can do is a more convenient place to thread in the spare dovetail plate fixing screws (it has that too). In that context, Sachtler’s new ideas represent a bigger innovation than we often see, much as Flowtech did, and anyone looking at getting into a lightweight ENG rig will certainly want to look at the setup we see here."

Topaz Video Enhance AI: It seems to be doing Voodoo!

We appear to have slightly lost the run of ourselves with this one, suddenly comparing the workings of AI with magic-based myth associated with syncretic theologies. There is a bit of a gotcha to the whole thing in that it takes its own sweet time to work, but on the whole we asked "Does it work miracles?" before immediately answering "Actually I would say yes, it does." 

8 tips for better vocal recordings

We've not had a tutorial appear in this year's round-up yet, so good to see Nigel Cooper's masterclass in making sure that you get the audio right first time. "There is no button that you can click in post production that will make bad audio good," he writes, before recommending the cardioid pattern for any and all spoken word audio. The next 7 tips are fairly golden too.

Ninja V+ records 8K and 120fps 4K in ProRes RAW, plus new Ninja Stream device

Atomos thoughtfully provided a major upgrade to the Ninja family across the board, with two new models including full 8K recording and 10-bit HEVC (H.265) recording for extra efficiency and space saving and an upgrade to the existing Ninja V. "It's a show of how once you reach a certain resolution and quality the gear that you can buy now has the potential to last much longer than before," we wrote. "We see this across technology, such as with smartphones where the average upgrade time is around four years. It's a good thing to see, with budget conscious users being able to afford highly capable products such as the Ninja V, whilst those at the cutting edge, who generally have more disposable income, can afford the latest and greatest to take advantage of the newest cameras."

The metaverse might be invisible now, but it is poised to replace the internet

Proof that we are sometimes so ahead of the game it makes our ears bleed, our article about the metaverse was out several months before the likes of Zuckerberg et al tried to trademark it and co-opt it for their own purposes. In it, our former Editor in Chief, David Shapton, provides an important insight into where technology is heading. "The metaverse - a converged and universal 3D overlay on real life - is the direction that almost all new and cutting edge technology is taking us. Previously only hinted at in science fiction it is now becoming a science fact," he said. And he was right.

LUMIX GH6 announced: Panasonic confirms the development of a new top line GH camera

This was the first sighting of the long-rumoured and very eagerly awaited GH6. Panasonic was quite open about many of the specifications, which would seem to indicate it being along the lines of an MFT sized S1H, and also said it would ship by the end of the year. That's fairly obviously not happened, and sadly there's still no confirmed date.

Doug Trumbull interview: "2001" gets remade, and why HFR is still the future of cinema

"Open the pod bay doors, Hal..." Legendary special effects guru Douglas Trumbull (2001, Close Encounters, Brainstorm, and too many others to mention) spoke to Adrian Pennington at the Makers Pop-up conference about collaborating with Epic Games, his MAGI format, and the importance of high framerate.

BMPCC 6K Pro review: "A lot of picture quality in a highly portable device"

We said the review would be along soon..."It’s almost a new variety of camera, or at least a significant departure from the norm. It’s not a true pocket camera at all, but equally, rigging it to be more like a production camera probably isn’t sensible; in that case, get an URSA Mini Pro. However, it’s still a lot of picture quality in a highly portable device. It’s no longer unusual to be able to say that someone could shoot a major feature film on one of these and nobody would notice."