Author Topic: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12  (Read 6809 times)

sanjay

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NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« on: November 14, 2023, 12:46:19 PM »
Hello Folks,

We have been working very hard here for nearly two years to develop a brand-new high-speed camera architecture that can host a multitude of sensors. Today, I am happy to announce the launch of two new cameras that continue to build upon the Chronos 1.4 and 2.1-HD in capabilities, performance, and value as compared to other high-speed cameras around the 12 Gpx/s mark.

Official launch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nbQ1Nykn_Y

The Chronos 4K12 is capable of 4K over 1,000 FPS. It is now available for pre-order and will begin shipping in February.
Details and demo shots: https://www.krontech.ca/chronos-4k12/
Pricing and pre-order: https://www.krontech.ca/product/chronos-4k12-pre-order-deposit/

The Chronos Q12 is capable of HD over 4,900 FPS. It is also now available for pre-order and will begin shipping in March.
Details: https://www.krontech.ca/chronos-q12/
Pricing and pre-order: https://www.krontech.ca/product/chronos-q12-pre-order-deposit/

Camera comparison page: https://www.krontech.ca/product-comparison/


Please feel free to ask questions about the new cameras here, and I'll be checking in to answer any questions. We're very busy at the moment, so it may take me a day or two to respond. If you'd like to expedite an inquiry, please use our official contact page on the website and one of our Product Specialists will reply promptly.

Thank you for supporting us and being an active part of our community!


B.H.V

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #1 on: November 14, 2023, 04:07:01 PM »
Will you guys have U.S.A. distributors to sell the new cameras so we don't have to pay customs/duties?

BTW, this is just an idea. But why don't you have a competition among Chronos owners to see which can make the most creative video and have the winners get a brand new Chronos 4K12 or Q12 camera. I think that would be a great idea!
« Last Edit: November 14, 2023, 04:19:56 PM by B.H.V »

rnighting

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #2 on: November 14, 2023, 08:30:07 PM »
Will the max FPS @ min res be increased with a software update down the road, or is that a limitation of the sensor? Seems a shame that the original 1.4 still wins this spec by a sizeable margin.

weatherproductions

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #3 on: November 15, 2023, 08:42:35 AM »
How is the low light quality and dynamic range compared to the 2.1?

sanjay

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #4 on: November 16, 2023, 04:36:07 PM »
Will you guys have U.S.A. distributors to sell the new cameras so we don't have to pay customs/duties?

BTW, this is just an idea. But why don't you have a competition among Chronos owners to see which can make the most creative video and have the winners get a brand new Chronos 4K12 or Q12 camera. I think that would be a great idea!

We have no current plans to establish US distributors, as the direct from Krontech model is where we're able to extend more value to customers. We do partner with distributors in regions where the logistics are more complex, ie. in regions where we can't speak the language. I also spoke to our sales team about customs/duties and can confirm that if you ship with our preferred carrier (usually DHL) to the US and pay our shipping fee, the order ships DDP with incoterms. This means that Krontech covers taxes/duties the shipment incurs during customs clearance.

Great idea regarding the competition! I've taken note of it and the marketing team has read that note as well.


Will the max FPS @ min res be increased with a software update down the road, or is that a limitation of the sensor? Seems a shame that the original 1.4 still wins this spec by a sizeable margin.

No, the max FPS at min res is a limitation of the sensor. The 1.4 is still a great camera for framerates above 20,000 FPS.


How is the low light quality and dynamic range compared to the 2.1?

Low light quality is vastly improved compared to the 2.1. This is a brand-new sensor, and it has several architectural improvements, such as built-in black calibration, so there's actually no black cal button on the new camera. Image quality is paramount and we've spent a lot of time and resources ensuring that calibration, noise control in low-light conditions, and color science are all optimized by the time the cameras ship.

Dynamic range is 1 stop more than the 2.1 when comparing 12-bit to 12-bit. From our beta testing, even the 8-bit footage looks excellent thanks to those architectural improvements at the sensor level.


B.H.V

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #5 on: November 16, 2023, 05:17:24 PM »
Will you guys have U.S.A. distributors to sell the new cameras so we don't have to pay customs/duties?

BTW, this is just an idea. But why don't you have a competition among Chronos owners to see which can make the most creative video and have the winners get a brand new Chronos 4K12 or Q12 camera. I think that would be a great idea!

We have no current plans to establish US distributors, as the direct from Krontech model is where we're able to extend more value to customers. We do partner with distributors in regions where the logistics are more complex, ie. in regions where we can't speak the language. I also spoke to our sales team about customs/duties and can confirm that if you ship with our preferred carrier (usually DHL) to the US and pay our shipping fee, the order ships DDP with incoterms. This means that Krontech covers taxes/duties the shipment incurs during customs clearance.

Great idea regarding the competition! I've taken note of it and the marketing team has read that note as well.


Thanks! That would be great if you are considering the competition. Also, I see the new Chronos cameras have the ability to go down in bit depth to 8 and 10 bit to increase frame rate. Can a firmware upgrade be done to the 1.4 and 2.1 to allow for this ability as well?

Also, how much faster is the saving speeds to SD card and SSD compared to the 1.4 and 2.1? I'm guessing it's possible to save to a USB C SSD drive now that we have USB C ports. If so, what is the maximum writing speed of the USB C ports on the new Chronos cameras?
« Last Edit: November 19, 2023, 08:42:45 AM by B.H.V »

Phil

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2023, 12:56:27 AM »
Hey! External SSD USB-C recording feature is nice, do you have any approved external SSD model to recommend? Was looking for an official list published by Kron, but could not find one. Unless you only have requirements like a minimum sustained speed? Please provide details, would be much appreciated!  :D

sanjay

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2023, 05:09:30 PM »
Will you guys have U.S.A. distributors to sell the new cameras so we don't have to pay customs/duties?

BTW, this is just an idea. But why don't you have a competition among Chronos owners to see which can make the most creative video and have the winners get a brand new Chronos 4K12 or Q12 camera. I think that would be a great idea!

We have no current plans to establish US distributors, as the direct from Krontech model is where we're able to extend more value to customers. We do partner with distributors in regions where the logistics are more complex, ie. in regions where we can't speak the language. I also spoke to our sales team about customs/duties and can confirm that if you ship with our preferred carrier (usually DHL) to the US and pay our shipping fee, the order ships DDP with incoterms. This means that Krontech covers taxes/duties the shipment incurs during customs clearance.

Great idea regarding the competition! I've taken note of it and the marketing team has read that note as well.


Thanks! That would be great if you are considering the competition. Also, I see the new Chronos cameras have the ability to go down in bit depth to 8 and 10 bit to increase frame rate. Can a firmware upgrade be done to the 1.4 and 2.1 to allow for this ability as well?

Also, how much faster is the saving speeds to SD card and SSD compared to the 1.4 and 2.1? I'm guessing it's possible to save to a USB C SSD drive now that we have USB C ports. If so, what is the maximum writing speed of the USB C ports on the new Chronos cameras?

The firmware on the 1.4 and 2.1-HD can't be upgraded to allow for adjustable bit depths. It is always 12-bits per pixel in those two cameras.

Saving speeds to SD card are TBD, but saving raw frames to SSD is looking to be about 3x faster vs 1.4/2.1-HD for raw frames. The maximum write speed of the USB-C interface is 20 Gbps. Sustained write speeds will vary by the type of drive you're saving to, and we're still making optimizations to the save speed within the software.


Hey! External SSD USB-C recording feature is nice, do you have any approved external SSD model to recommend? Was looking for an official list published by Kron, but could not find one. Unless you only have requirements like a minimum sustained speed? Please provide details, would be much appreciated!  :D

Just to clarify, the camera still needs to save to the internal 64 GB or 128 GB RAM buffer before you can transfer it to a USB-C SSD. I'd recommend the Kingston X2000 as it will take advantage of the camera's USB 3.2 2x2 port as mentioned above. We've used them here in the office and they work well with the camera to save footage off quickly.

B.H.V

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #8 on: December 08, 2023, 08:07:47 AM »
Thanks Sanjay! Is there a reason why the 1.4 and 2.1 can't allow for adjustable bit depth? Is it a sensor thing?

hummingbirdography

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #9 on: December 08, 2023, 12:49:36 PM »
Thanks Sanjay! Is there a reason why the 1.4 and 2.1 can't allow for adjustable bit depth? Is it a sensor thing?

The bit depth limitations are dictated by the sensor. Both the Chronos 1.4 & Chronos 2.1 image sensors only provide 12-bit analog to digital converters:

Chronos 1.4: https://www.luxima.com/product_briefs/LUX1310.html
Chronos 2.1: https://www.luxima.com/product_briefs/LUX2100.html

The Chronos 4K12 uses a GSprint 4510 image sensor, which provides support for 12, 10, and 8 bits per pixel

https://gpixel.com/en/pro_details_1191.html

B.H.V

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #10 on: December 08, 2023, 01:02:55 PM »
Thanks Sanjay! Is there a reason why the 1.4 and 2.1 can't allow for adjustable bit depth? Is it a sensor thing?

The bit depth limitations are dictated by the sensor. Both the Chronos 1.4 & Chronos 2.1 image sensors only provide 12-bit analog to digital converters:

Chronos 1.4: https://www.luxima.com/product_briefs/LUX1310.html
Chronos 2.1: https://www.luxima.com/product_briefs/LUX2100.html

The Chronos 4K12 uses a GSprint 4510 image sensor, which provides support for 12, 10, and 8 bits per pixel

https://gpixel.com/en/pro_details_1191.html

Understood! Thanks! Looking at the spec sheet of the Gpixel, does that mean HDR could be enabled in future firmware updates to the 4K12 and Q12?

Another thing, I'm reading the spec sheet of the 1.4 and 2.1 and saw this.

"Up to 1,000,000 FPS @ 1280 x 1"


"125,000 FPS @ 1920 x 8
It can be windowed down to achieve frame rates of 300,000+ FPS"


If I understood correctly, the reason we can't get these frames rates is because of an H.264 encoder issue so can it be enabled when doing Cinema DNG RAW shooting?
« Last Edit: December 08, 2023, 01:17:33 PM by B.H.V »

Ronald

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #11 on: December 25, 2023, 08:43:16 AM »
Hi
Is the square sensor of the Q12 made for all the 9-16 format requests that we get all the time?

www.ronaldkoetzier.com


B.H.V

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #12 on: December 25, 2023, 08:58:07 AM »
Hi
Is the square sensor of the Q12 made for all the 9-16 format requests that we get all the time?

www.ronaldkoetzier.com

You should have more flexibility for cropping to 9:16 when using the Q12 because of it's squarish sensor.

paulsmith6193

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Re: NEW: Chronos 4K12 and Chronos Q12
« Reply #13 on: December 27, 2023, 07:57:27 AM »
hi you are right