Which 4K format is better?

polkau · Apr 10, 2017

Hi, what do you think should I use? 3840x2160 or 4096x2160?

Xcel · Apr 10, 2017

It depends on what fps you want as well, 30fps is only available in 3840.

wolfman · Apr 10, 2017

I think the question was, which is better. Not which frame rate is available. Daahhhh

mildim · Apr 10, 2017

The answer is it depends.

Cyberpower678 · Apr 10, 2017

The higher frame rate is desired. Which means option 1. That being said, option 1 uses the 16:9 aspect ratio which is the common ratio used these days.

ElGuapo · Apr 10, 2017

polkau said:
Hi, what do you think should I use? 3840x2160 or 4096x2160?

Not that I want to hijack your thread, I know the title says 3840x2160 or 4096x2160. In the past I have conducted tests between 2.7K and 4K. For me, this is just me, the sweet spot of the Mavic is at 2.7K 30 fps with a filter, it gives me cinematic look and awesome videos.

On this video I was facing the sun, hard to take pics and video facing the sun, around 1:30PM on a trip abroad. This vid looks awesome in our 4K TV at home, even tough it was shot at 2.7K.

polkau · Apr 10, 2017

What was the main decision to start recording in 2.7K and not 4K?

Cut.Aussie · Apr 10, 2017

I mostly shoot in 2.7k as well, it's a great compromise for both my Mavic and my GoPro

ElGuapo · Apr 10, 2017

Cut.Aussie said:
I mostly shoot in 2.7k as well, it's a great compromise for both my Mavic and my GoPro

One day I took the Mavic out to the park, programmed a 2 minutes Autopilot mission, ran the mission in 4K.
I landed the Mavic and ran that same mission at 2 more times during the day, lighting conditions vary as the hours go by.
A few days later, I ran that same mission 2 different times during the day at 2.7K 30 fps, as suggested by another thread in this forum.

Then I compared the results of the footage taken in 4K vs 2.7K in our 60' 4K TV at home. The video images of the Mavic moving at the speed of 12MPH ( as programmed in my Autopilot mission ) seemed smoother in 2.7K than the one in 4K, keep in mind that I was shooting at the same rate in 4K and 2.7K 30 fps, same filter, same light conditions.
The reason is because the video bitrate of the Mavic is 60 Mbps which is probably just enough for 4K @ 30fps or perhaps a bit tight. Now, this is not noticeable on a HD 1080p TV, so if you compare 2.7K and 4K the difference is not apparent.

ElGuapo · Apr 10, 2017

I have a Phantom 4 Pro capable of shotting in H.264 and H.265. When I shoot 4K at 30 fps with the P4 Pro at 12 mph using a comparable filter the footage is much more smoother. That's because the bitrate of the P4 Pro is 100 Mpbs.

polkau · Apr 10, 2017

Only thing that I'm afraid of is that a I will lose part of this resolution.

ElGuapo · Apr 10, 2017

polkau said:
Only thing that I'm afraid of is that a I will lose part of this resolution.

Why do you say that, if you do not mind me asking?.

Whip_It · Apr 10, 2017

ElGuapo said:
Not that I want to hijack your thread, I know the title says 3840x2160 or 4096x2160. In the past I have conducted tests between 2.7K and 4K. For me, this is just me, the sweet spot of the Mavic is at 2.7K 30 fps with a filter, it gives me cinematic look and awesome videos.

On this video I was facing the sun, hard to take pics and video facing the sun, around 1:30PM on a trip abroad. This vid looks awesome in our 4K TV at home, even tough it was shot at 2.7K.

nice footage!

Any stutter issues with chooing the higher frame rate vs the 24?

thanks

ElGuapo · Apr 10, 2017

Whip_It said:
nice footage!

Any stutter issues with chooing the higher frame rate vs the 24?

thanks

No issues at all.

I normally shoot at a fast fps ( 60 fps ) if I plan on creating slow motion effects during post. The Mavic can only shoot at 60fps in full HD or 1080P. In my P4 Pro I shoot at 2.7K 60 fps when there is fast movement. For example, last weekend I was shooting at a railroad loop mile and a half long train. During post I plan on creating slow motion effects in some parts of the video.

Alternatively 24 fps is more of a movie standard. When I want to create a cinematic look I shoot at 30 fps, like I did on the video posted above. However I was using an ND16 filter which makes 2 f stops, in order to compensate I had to adjust my shutter at double the frame rate, in this case 60.

In some parts of the video posted above, I slowed it down in some parts during post. For example when I launched and was gaining altitude I was going up very fast. When I slowed it down during post the video is not choppy. That's because the fps I was shooting at.

Strafe1 · Apr 10, 2017

The image is best for me in 4k vs. 2.7k. Both are good, but 4k is sharper for me. Equally easy to edit in post as well. It might depend on your other camera settings though. I never underexpose.

geigy · Jun 24, 2017

2.7K is better than my HD TV, and I shot happily in 2.7 for quite a while. Then I got a 4K computer monitor, and I could clearly see the difference in the amount of detail and texture, so I went back to 4K. For now, anyway, I just love the sharpness, even more than the cinematic look.