If you’re feeling in the mood for a video on the same topic
as the one that Philip Bloom just released,
but that’s less creative, a bit less interesting,
and has exactly 5 fewer cats,
then I think you’ll really enjoy today’s showcase
on Accsoon’s new CineEye 2S Pro. Let’s get undone!
[offbeat music] ♪ Gerald Undone ♪
♪ He's crazy ♪
What’s happening, everybody?! I’m Gerald Undone
and I put the bottle back in the genie.
Alright, as usual, some disclosure.
This video is sponsored by Accsoon.
They sent me the products I’m talking about
in this video for free, and they’re
also paying me money to make this.
I do not, however, make sponsored videos
on junk products, so while this showcase cannot
be completely objective, you can trust that I think the product
is good enough to promote on my channel.
Oh, and knowing me, I probably titled this video
something clickbaity like “Accsoon Exposed”
or “The Truth about the CineEye 2S Pro”.
I hope you’ll indulge me a little ,
as only did it to annoy Philip Bloom.
So starting with the build, it’s quite good.
Great tolerances, quite a bit of metal, it feels rugged
and there’s 1/4-20 mounting point on the bottom,
and the kit comes with a pair of cold shoe adapters as well.
You’ve got a power button, a knob
for changing groups, and your HDMI and SDI ports.
What makes this model the 2 “S” Pro is that it now
has SDI compared to the previous CineEye 2 Pro,
which was HDMI only. This has a pro and a con.
The pro is that you can actually output from both the SDI port
and HDMI port at the same time on the receiver,
giving you two simultaneous outputs instead
of the single output on the HDMI-only receiver.
However, this new transmitter does not offer the passthrough
function that the HDMI-only transmitter does.
On this transmitter you have either an HDMI
or SDI input, no passthrough.
Both versions will be existing alongside
each other, however, so keep those differences
in mind when it comes to purchasing.
They all feature an LCD screen,
which displays your audio and video format,
your group and channel, and your battery life.
The battery life has been quite good on these in my testing.
They take Sony L-series batteries
and have a well-made sled for that on the back.
Accsoon claims 14 hours of runtime
with a NP-F970 battery, and that seems plausible,
as I’ve only been using 550 batteries for my testing
all week, and I still haven’t had to charge them.
Now this is a dual-band Wi-Fi device that intelligently
leverages both 2.4 and 5G transmission to maintain
signal quality over an advertised distance
of 350 meters or 1200 feet with line of sight.
Now there’s already several tests of this online
of with people walking across fields, through train tunnels,
down hallways-- hell, I even saw one video
where they tested it walking down the street
in Tokyo-one of the most Wi-Fi congested places
on the planet, and they managed to hit the advertised mark.
So, it was no surprise to me that I was also able
to get to over 300 meters where I live with no issues.
But I also tested it indoors in various
circumstances and I have my results to share.
So first off, I had great success within
50 meters or 165 feet regardless of how many walls
and doors I put between it and me when on ground level.
And when mixed between indoor and outdoor--
so if put the receiver here, but walked outside
and around the building-- I was about to get about
100 meters before I noticed issues.
However, I didn’t have as much success
when I went down into the parking garage.
As soon as I got about 15 meters or 50 feet away
and had two layers of concrete overhead, the signal
dropped fast, but that seems reasonable to me.
What’s cool about this dual-band technology
is that in this system, according to Accsoon,
the algorithm can identify what data was
lost from the 2.4GHz and 5GHz transmissions
separately and then combine them
together to restore the original intention.
So, I’d say that this system should cover you range-wise
for most applications without issue, as long as
you’re not storing your clients or crew with the receivers
half a kilometer away or in the sub-basement,
you should be fine. But what do I know?!
I’m just a YouTuber, I haven’t tested this on
any large-scale productions, but I feel like
on those kinds of productions you’d probably
have the budget for the high-end systems.
Because it’s important to remember that this kit
is only $650, and I think it’s probably
the best you’re gonna get at that price point.
I compared it to the little ikan kit I’ve got here,
which is basically just a rebrand of those
Hollyland systems, and although
the Accsoon is a bit more expensive,
it did much better in my latency tests.
Now, latency tests are weird
and there’s a couple factors you need to keep in mind.
Most of the devices in the chain add latency,
including most cameras and recorders,
so we’re more concerned with the latency added by
the wireless system when it comes to comparing products.
However, if you’re a focus puller, you need to be more
concerned with the latency of the entire chain, which I can’t
give you as it will depend on the other gear you’re using.
What I have noticed, however, is that some people
tend to freak out over even inconsequential amounts
of latency without realizing that human beings
have some hard limits on reaction and processing time
of visual stimuli, with the average being
around a quarter of a second for most people, that’s 250ms.
There have been some recorded extremes of people
reacting within 180ms and some rare cases of 120ms.
So basically what I’m saying is,
anything less than 120ms isn’t worth panicking about,
as you likely can’t tell your focus-pulling-fingers
to move fast enough for that to matter anyway.
But anything over 200-250ms will start to be problematic.
So, with all that being said, my control test was going
from the Sony a1 via HDMI cable to my reference monitor,
which is actually a fast gaming monitor,
and I measured the latency at 24 fps, and 60 fps.
At 24p, I got 125ms, and at 60p, I got 50ms.
That’s just using a direct cable, no Accsoon connected.
Then when I put the CineEye 2S Pro in place of the HDMI cable,
the latency increased to 230ms at 24p and 108ms at 60p.
So that means the Accsoon is responsible for adding about
105ms of latency at 24p, and 58ms at 60p.
Which also means that Accsoon's advertised rating
of “less than 60ms” of latency is true, but only at 60p.
For comparison, doing the same test with
the ikan/Hollyland, I got 333 and 208ms respectively.
So that’s an added latency on this system
of 208ms in 24p, and 158ms in 60p,
which is noticeably worse than the Accsoon.
But to put this all into more practical terms,
it means that for most purposes the latency
on the CineEye 2S Pro is acceptable and much
better than the similarly priced competition.
The only time I could see the latency being a problem
is for focus pulls in critical, fast-moving situations.
I actually think it would probably be fine at 60p,
because I was only getting a total latency of 108ms,
which is faster than most humans can react, but again,
this might be worse depending on the camera and monitor used.
But at 24p, we’re getting dangerously close
to that quarter of a second amount of latency
that I suggested was too much for pulling focus.
But something interesting is the Sony mirrorless cameras
can actually output 60p over their HDMI,
while still recording 24p internally, so
you could actually get better focus-pulling latency
without affecting your internal recordings.
But, again, that's based on this particular camera combination,
and all this talk is very subjective
based on whatever gear you're gonna be pairing
with this wireless system.
But let’s be honest here, if you really need
ultra-low latency for critical focus pulling,
there are other systems that do that.
And I don’t imagine Accsoon will mind me saying that either,
because those other systems cost a lot more money
and are designed with that purpose in mind,
and don’t have as much of the feature set
of the Accsoon, like their app for example.
Usually, I don’t care that much about apps and find
many of the camera apps buggy and annoying,
but to be fair, the Accsoon app is terrific.
It’s stable, intuitive,
and absolutely loaded with functionality.
You can add up to 4 mobile devices to the network
which connect to the same transmitter.
And you can use it in conjunction with monitors
connected to the receiver, but you can also
use it with just a phone and the transmitter,
and leave the receiver at home, which is pretty cool.
Alright, so I got a little app demonstration set up here.
This camera, the Sony a1, has the transmitter on it,
and you can see here that that's what it's shooting.
And this camera is just recording the phone.
Ignore this one. This is what the app can see.
I'm just gonna show you what you can kind of do with the app,
which-- there's a lot of functionality here.
So, we'll go over the buttons here, first.
So, we can switch to greyscale.
We can go through some RGB colours that you set.
We can turn a histogram on. We can turn on waveforms.
We can turn on focus peaking. It also has LUTs, which--
there's my regular LUT that I apply.
And with most of these you can--
so this tray down here you can adjust what goes in here.
There's obviously some more things will show in a second,
but you can also adjust them. So if we go over to Look,
you can see that I'm using the S-Log3 to LC709,
but you can also install your own LUTs
onto the device, so that's great.
Then we also have zebras, false colour,
different anamorphic squeeze factors.
You can put your audio meters on the side there
and you can actually hear audio through the phone.
I have it muted so we don't get feedback,
but if I were to turn this up, you would hear me
talking through the tray here. Let's see if we can do it.
You'll probably get feedback in a second though. Check. [echoes]
So you can actually monitor the audio through the phone as well.
It's probably best if you wear headphones.
We've got different frame guides that we can go through
and rule of thirds grid, and then you can change it
from limited to full range if that's what you need.
So there's more functionality built into this app
as a monitor then there are some dedicated monitors.
I am truly impressed by this app.
You can actually use this more than just a monitor if you want
because you can see there's a record button here
so you can actually record this feed as well.
Obviously the quality is not gonna be as good as recording
internally in your camera, but I think it might be surprised
with how good the quality is if you set the transmitter
to high quality mode and you're within
a decent range, you're not too far away,
you can get a pretty darn good looking image
recorded straight to your phone just by using the app.
Now, I was testing this on an Android phone,
but if you use iOS there's even a bit more functionality
like live streaming and even reduced latency.
But since I don't own an iPhone,
let's pass this next section off to someone who does.
Thank you Gerald. Yes, the Accsoon Go app
on iOS devices, like here on my iPad,
does have a number of advantages over the Android version.
One of the main ones is you can go live from it.
So, how do that you? You press the Live button.
Comes up with your settings asking you
for your RTMP URL and live stream code.
So, like, from YouTube you put it in there,
click Go Live, and you're live.
I would probably recommend making sure
you don't have all this stuff on the screen at the same time.
Now of course you will need connection
to the Internet for this and you are taking up
your Wi-Fi connection with the CineEye.
So, we're talking about data from your cellular connection,
so 4G isn't really gonna be--
well, you can make it work just about 5G ideally,
but there is a work around if you have Wi-Fi.
You can get something like this which is Ethernet repeater box.
Connect it up to your iPad or iPhone,
and it sees it as an Ethernet device.
So you can use that as your Internet connection
while still maintaining a Wi-Fi with the CineEye.
So, that's pretty good if you want to go live.
The big thing for me that about the app is just how good it is.
I can have a really high quality display on a nice big screen.
This is the 11-inch and I've got the 12.9-inch here as well,
and of course iPhone, and have up to four devices connected
and it's so much more convenient when I'm filming at home to--
well, myself that is, I can have my iOS device
in my hand and walk around and make tweaks and stuff.
Rather than having a hard-cabled monitor,
which is what I would normally do.
And you can have up to four devices.
What I have found is if you have four iOS devices
it pretty much stays the same.
The latency-- nothing really gets affected.
But when I added my Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra--
whatever it was called-- it affected the whole thing.
It basically slowed the iOS devices down
and it introduced stuttering.
Without the iOS devices, it was fine, it was just...
trying to mix them together, it didn't like it as much
and you could really see a difference in that latency.
So, just something to be aware of if you are going to be
mixing and matching all of those different mobile devices.
I did some really insanely over the top latency tests,
which you can see in my video, which I'm sure Gerald
will be kindly linking in the description below,
as well as potentially maybe
up in the top of the screen. You never know.
Alright back to you, sir, and to Canada.
So the app is truly excellent.
Of course, if you only ever plan to use your phone,
and don’t need to connect a monitor to a receiver,
you can instead opt for the cheaper CineEye 2 or 2S,
which do pretty much exactly that:
they transmit directly to your phone
without a the need for a receiver, but for less money.
And those devices also offer a great value and were how
I first heard about Accsoon. Overall, I like this system,
and I was happy to make this sponsored video for Accsoon
because I think they’re making great products at fair prices
and are worthy of talking about. But that's gonna be it for me.
I hope you found this video entertaining
or at least helpful. And if you did, make sure
to leave it the old thumbs up and consider subscribing
if you haven't already. But if you did not find
this video helpful or entertaining,
try setting the playback speed to 75%.
Alright... I'm done.