Chronos V0.7.0 Full Release

[sanjay]

Hey Everyone,

We're happy to announce a new release of software for both the Chronos 1.4 and Chronos 2.1 cameras. This version will benefit owners of both models, as we have improved save speeds and reliability, as well as image quality on the 2.1.

We spent more time setting up image validation tests, and working with some of our users in the field to determine ideal settings for the Chronos 2.1 image sensor, so we hope the benefit is extended to you in this update.

Additionally, the Network Update option is available again, so this should be a fast and easy update for anyone on version 0.6.x. If you perform an update by connecting your camera to the internet via the Ethernet port, and then accessing the Network Update feature accessible through Util -> Storage -> Apply Software Update -> Check for Updates, you will not need to re-calibrate your camera to continue using it as long as you were previously on 0.6.x. You may still use the Network Update function to upgrade from 0.4 or 0.5, but please see the Calibration section of the Release Notes to verify correct re-calibration after the update.

I'll summarize the improvements and changes here, but please also see the official Release Notes here: https://www.krontech.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/RE-PDEV-10012-0.7.0-Release-Notes.pdf


New Features and Improvements

Save Performance and Reliability:

• Save speed has been increased by up to 30%.
• Stability while saving has been greatly improved.

Trigger/IO Settings:

• Clarified some settings with "toggle" mode on the Trigger/IO screen. Now it
  specifies that it's only for buttons/switches and settings that should not be
  changed can't be changed when using this trigger function.
• Trigger/IO screen now has a link to the trigger delay screen, and it will offer a
  reminder when using triggers if the trigger delay is changed from default (in
  case it was set accidentally).

Webpage Improvements:

• Webpage has ?zero-time? black calibration support (accessible from the menu
  at the top of the page). This feature allows for a fast black calibration to take
  place without the need to physically cover the image sensor.
• Option for 'Digital Gain' added to the Main Screen / Homepage.
• Some Chronos 2.1 color matrix options added to the webpage (for that camera).

Misc. Bug Fixes:

• ?Black Cal All? doesn't crash the camera if certain specific trigger modes are
  used, nor will it set the trigger delay.
• H.264 (mp4) files will not overwrite a previous file if a filename is provided
  (instead, it gives a warning that the filename was already used).
  

Chronos 2.1 Image Quality:

• A previous software upgrade introduced a horizontal "shadow" when some
  areas were overexposed. This has been greatly reduced in v0.7.0.
  
• Pink/magenta shift (especially in bright areas) reduced overall.

CinemaDNG Metadata:

• All cameras formerly saved DNG images with metadata that indicated they
  were Chronos 1.4s, but this has been fixed. Chronos 2.1 cameras now say
  "Chronos 2.1" and Chronos 1.4 cameras still say "Chronos 1.4".
• Color matrix settings are saved to DNG images now. Before, color matrix
  parameters in DNG files were always the same and ignored the camera's
  settings, but now the settings on the camera get saved in DNG files.
  

Known Issues, Updating Your Camera, and Calibration:
Please see the list attached in the Release Notes.


Updated User Manual and Datasheets
Please see either the 1.4 Resources or 2.1 Resources page on our website: https://www.krontech.ca/


As always, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] for more urgent support inquiries. Thanks!

 

[NiNeff]

Nice!
With the stability apparently bneing fixes, I'm going to upgrade to 0.7 from 0.5 soon.

By the way: The PDF Release Notes state version 0.6 in the upper left

 

[Nikon1]

Well, i am still out of Empty ?SD-Cards, now i actually need to go and get some for this.
I did order some, but they still didn't arrive yet...  Also a bit short on time currently, but will for sure install it as soon as i can.
Thanks as always for further improving Camera and Software!

 

[muringuets]

Thanks sanjay !!!

Do you have any backlog of things to work on? So we can have an idea what's on the pipeline, softwarewise?

 

[Bian]

Thanks, a great step to increase the picture quality at lower resolutions!!

 

[muringuets]

Did a quick test yesterday with 0.7.0, as far as speed times, it is quite an improve!!! Well Done Krontech!!!

Usually I get 12fps at start, going to as low as 8 or 7 fps when saving .DNG on 1280x1024 pixels (using Chronos 1.4)

Yesterday I tested the same resolution and speeds were at start 40fps, after a while it kept going from 25 to 10fps, not a 25fps steady rate, but much faster saving at all...

Not sure the speed oscilation comes from my SSD, cable or camera itself, I'm using a SSD and the e-SATA cable.

So far very happy with the new release!!!

Thank again sanjay!!!

 

[BobbyKurtz]

On shoot today and tested yesterday. Wish this would have come out a day earlier as currently saving all 11 seconds CinemaDNG on 2.1 to a 16GB SD card. Have yet to be able to get network or EsaTa working correctly or for it to recognize 64gb u3 cards.

Any fixes for this in the speed improvements?

 

[sanjay]

Nice!
With the stability apparently bneing fixes, I'm going to upgrade to 0.7 from 0.5 soon.

By the way: The PDF Release Notes state version 0.6 in the upper left

Ah yes, thank you for catching that!

Thanks sanjay !!!

Do you have any backlog of things to work on? So we can have an idea what's on the pipeline, softwarewise?

For the moment, there isn't much in the pipeline for 1.4/2.1 software updates aside from bugfixes as they come up. We'll usually give the latest release ~2 months to get out onto cameras in the field, and then work with our Support and Sales & Marketing teams to look at our maintenance priorities for the 1.4/2.1.

On shoot today and tested yesterday. Wish this would have come out a day earlier as currently saving all 11 seconds CinemaDNG on 2.1 to a 16GB SD card. Have yet to be able to get network or EsaTa working correctly or for it to recognize 64gb u3 cards.

Any fixes for this in the speed improvements?

Personally wasn't aware of the issue with 64GB u3 cards, but I will ask the team. It may be helpful to send us a support email about this one as well.

 

[Photopage]

thanks Sanjay,
Perfect timing, I'm about to start a series of shots with very light backgrounds and was worried about the magenta cast in highlights...
Great to have the Ethernet update back, so easy!
Cheers,
Col

 

[weatherproductions]

Thanks Krontech,

i tested it yesterday, now i get between 13 and 17+ fps saving speed on the 2.1 in 1080p DNG, average speed something around 15-16fps. With older software it was something around 10fps!

Great update so far!

 

[BobbyKurtz]

So I was able to get a SanDisk 64GB u3 card to work. I get a popup message when I insert the card that says there is no High speed media available.  This was making me think it did not support it but was able to write to it.  This was still on 0.6.0, but upgraded to 0.7.0 last night and will try again.

I was unable to get network update to work but was sharing a wifi connection from Mac Book Pro via 2.5G ethernet adapter so will try again with direct ethernet. 

Still trying to get Network SMB saving and eSATA saving working.  Thank you.

Personally wasn't aware of the issue with 64GB u3 cards, but I will ask the team. It may be helpful to send us a support email about this one as well.

 

[takashima]

Thanks! 0.7.0 is very nice!
My camera is 2.1, and I always use 0.5.1.

In 0.7.0, especially when saving as H.264, the color is very beautiful.
On the other hand, I feel that it has become very difficult to handle the colors of CinemaDNG.
I'm thinking about shifting to 0.7.0 and shooting H.264 to the main.

Thank you.

 

[Tiny]

Hello Everyone,

Just upgraded to V0.7.0 yesterday and there's a color shift of the white balance while saving in Cinema DNG. Saving in H.264 is fine. Does anyone have the same problem? No matter how I set the white balance, the color is off saving in Cinema DNG. I.ve attached 2 screen cap for comparison.

 

[clkdiv]

Hello girls and guys! I really wonder what happened to the horizontal banding problem when having strong contrast in the scene. I don't have the camera here right now. The problem was discussed here and here.

Some experiences already? Thanks!

 

[Nikon1]

Hello girls and guys! I really wonder what happened to the horizontal banding problem when having strong contrast in the scene. I don't have the camera here right now. The problem was discussed here and here.

Some experiences already? Thanks!

Bought an Micro SD and installed 0.7.0 already by now, but still didnt have time to do in-depth testing so far. The Banding got improved from what i can tell, for some Settings even by a lot, but is still there on some others. Like the Release notes say, it got improved, but still is not completely gone. Quite a bit better though overall. Once i managed to do any meaningful amount of testing on this and other Aspects of Image Quality on this Software Release, i will try to share Results here.

 

[Tiny]

Thanks! 0.7.0 is very nice!
My camera is 2.1, and I always use 0.5.1.

In 0.7.0, especially when saving as H.264, the color is very beautiful.
On the other hand, I feel that it has become very difficult to handle the colors of CinemaDNG.
I'm thinking about shifting to 0.7.0 and shooting H.264 to the main.

Thank you.

Hello Takashima! I saw a clip from Youtube Channel, 【Slow Motion】キアゲハの求愛【Chronos 2.1 Highspeed】, may I ask, is the color shift from Cinema DNG only? Because I have this problem after upgrading to V0.7.0. Thank you very much for your time.

 

[takashima]

Hello Takashima! I saw a clip from Youtube Channel, 【Slow Motion】キアゲハの求愛【Chronos 2.1 Highspeed】, may I ask, is the color shift from Cinema DNG only? Because I have this problem after upgrading to V0.7.0. Thank you very much for your time.

Hello Tiny san. Thank you for watching my YouTube video!
I also have trouble with Cinema DNG, after upgrading to V0.7.0. As Tiny-san said, DNG color is very very shallow. I tried various things in Lightroom, such as increasing the saturation, adjusting the color temperature and Tint, but I could not get the color as I wanted.
------ I can do well with 0.5.1.

But when I recorded it in H.264, I got a very natural and beautiful color video. I've been recording with CinemaDNG for a long time, but with 0.7.0, I feel that switching to H.264 seems to make me happier.

The following two movies both have some color adjustments in Finalcut Pro.

↓Cinema DNG, Ver.0.7.0  Color is strange.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ5VMazF788

↓H.264, Ver.0.7.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G94gvbVhOIg

 

[Tiny]

Hello Takashima! I saw a clip from Youtube Channel, 【Slow Motion】キアゲハの求愛【Chronos 2.1 Highspeed】, may I ask, is the color shift from Cinema DNG only? Because I have this problem after upgrading to V0.7.0. Thank you very much for your time.

Hello Tiny san. Thank you for watching my YouTube video!
I also have trouble with Cinema DNG, after upgrading to V0.7.0. As Tiny-san said, DNG color is very very shallow. I tried various things in Lightroom, such as increasing the saturation, adjusting the color temperature and Tint, but I could not get the color as I wanted.
------ I can do well with 0.5.1.


But when I recorded it in H.264, I got a very natural and beautiful color video. I've been recording with CinemaDNG for a long time, but with 0.7.0, I feel that switching to H.264 seems to make me happier.

The following two movies both have some color adjustments in Finalcut Pro.

↓Cinema DNG, Ver.0.7.0  Color is strange.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ5VMazF788

↓H.264, Ver.0.7.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G94gvbVhOIg

Hello Takashima san. Thank you very much for your time! I'm having the exact same problem like both your clips. I've also tried tweaking the color temperature and tint, no luck to getting the color of cinema DNG files close to the H.264 ones. I'm switching back to V0.6.0 for the time being. Thanks again Takashima san for your time.

 

[muringuets]

I also have problems with tint on DNG files using 0.7.0, it's really hard to do white balance, something is off... (uploaded a sample)

not sure what to do now. the saving speeds on 0.7.0 are way better, but I don't like H.264...

You just can't have it all, right? lol

 

[mklinger]

Hi guys,

I wasn't allowed to share my experience with the 0.7 version of the software before it was released, but now that it's out, I'm sure they won't mind me sharing my initial findings.

I haven't had the time yet to properly evaluate the release version of 0.7, but I did do some work helping the Kron folks evaluate an alpha version of the software and the color change with Cinema DNG was present there too.

Here is a link to a video showing my findings:

https://youtu.be/a4dAjT9dE0k

The short answer is that Cinema DNG can be color corrected properly with 0.7, but it's harder and you really need to use a color chart and know how to manipulate the hue/hue and hue/sat histograms using a VectorScope.

I would really recommend watching Gerald Undone's video on color correction, as this type of manipulation is required to get the best out of Cinema DNG (and H.264 for that matter):

https://youtu.be/71ebKrT2XlY


IMHO, the 0.7 release is a massive improvement over 0.6.  Solving the pink cast problem and at least most of the gain problems at lower resolutions is a HUGE deal.

One of my recommendations to them was to publish a LUT for both H.264 and Cinema DNG footage to give folks a good starting point.  They said they are working to find a color scientist that can help them out with this.  I expect they'll come up with something soon.

Once I have time to spend with the release 0.7 version, I will create a custom LUT with DaVinci Resolve using my 5600K lights that I can share if people are interested which might be a decent starting point.