5.4K vs 4K

moldorf · Jul 19, 2022

it will be a patient long term process, but if I'm debating between upgrading the Mini2 to either a Mini3 or the Air2s, I' wondering how to gauge the 5.4K capabilities of the Air2s

mainly, is it better to record in 5.4K, then render to 4K using Davinci resolve...or just better , and easier, to simply record in 4K. Which method will yield a higher quality video?

I have just purchased a 4K TV (Samsung QLED) and is see no use for 5.4K

Eagle Eye 62 · Jul 19, 2022

The only advantage to the 5.4K is if you want to crop the image a little bit. Otherwise, 4K is the way to go since no devices (TV's) support beyond 4k for playback anyway.

Phantomrain.org · Jul 19, 2022

There is another advantage and that is you can get some really nice Frame Grabs from the video timeline . But its very hard to see any visual video difference between the two to make it worth the extra Computer power needed.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water and Grab Frames of the Lightning

moldorf · Jul 20, 2022

so then, 5.4K is more for marketing than actual video quality?

Phantomrain.org · Jul 20, 2022

moldorf said:
so then, 5.4K is more for marketing than actual video quality?

Yes, I can notice on my widescreen computer screen a difference between 1080 and 2K 2k is a sweet spot for video. I cannot notice the difference between 2k and 4K nor 5K on the computer of the Large Screen TV .

Now the 5.4 gives you the ability to Crop but for all extensive purposes more marketing .
I do enjoy the video frames as well as that gives me some cropping room as well.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water .

Tofino · Jul 20, 2022

I have just upgraded to the Air 2S from my old and trusted Mavic Pro and really enjoy all of the new features. Still learning them. But the 4k recording really eats up the space on the sd card fast. Can only get 4.5 minutes as this is the 3.6 gb cap file for the sd cards. I will try recording in 2k as see how long before the cap is reached. Also love the zoom. I changed it to normal 1080 and get zoom up to 8.2 times but only 4.2 in 4k.

This is a great machine and a big step up from the Mavic Pro.

AzJT · Jul 20, 2022

Tofino said:
I have just upgraded to the Air 2S from my old and trusted Mavic Pro and really enjoy all of the new features. Still learning them. But the 4k recording really eats up the space on the sd card fast. Can only get 4.5 minutes as this is the 3.6 gb cap file for the sd cards. I will try recording in 2k as see how long before the cap is reached. Also love the zoom. I changed it to normal 1080 and get zoom up to 8.2 times but only 4.2 in 4k.

This is a great machine and a big step up from the Mavic Pro.

What do you mean you only get 4.5 minutes as this is the 3.6 gb cap file for SD cards? I’m confused.

Tofino · Jul 20, 2022

When recording to my 128gb micro sd card at 4k video the video stops at 4.5 minutes then starts another file right after this one as there is a cap on the size of the file that can be recorded at 3.6gb. I can still keep recording to fill up the sd card but cannot have a file larger that 3.6gb.

There has been other threads in this forum about file size limitations on sd cards and the formats.

Do SD cards have a file size limit?
By default, if you format micro sd card, it will default for fat32 which has file size limit of 4GB.

db4476 · Jul 20, 2022

Tofino said:
When recording to my 128gb micro sd card at 4k video the video stops at 4.5 minutes then starts another file right after this one as there is a cap on the size of the file that can be recorded at 3.6gb. I can still keep recording to fill up the sd card but cannot have a file larger that 3.6gb.

There has been other threads in this forum about file size limitations on sd cards and the formats.

Do SD cards have a file size limit?

By default, if you format micro sd card, it will default for fat32 which has file size limit of 4GB.

To make it simple, below are the formats per the SD card associations specs:
SD/microSD card: FAT12/16 up to 2GB.
SDHC/microSDHC card: FAT32 more than 2GB and up to 32GB.
SDXC/microSDXC card: exFAT more than 32GB and up to 2TB.

The smallest SD cards I use are 64GB, therefore I format all cards with exFAT with no issues.

"Do SD cards have a file size limit?"
The card itself does not have a limit on file size, except for the storage capacity of the card.
Max file size per format:
FAT 16, 2GB.
FAT 32, 4GB.
exFAT, 2TB, limited by card capacity

Hth....

Cheers!

moldorf · Jul 20, 2022

Tofino said:
When recording to my 128gb micro sd card at 4k video the video stops at 4.5 minutes then starts another file right after this one as there is a cap on the size of the file that can be recorded at 3.6gb. I can still keep recording to fill up the sd card but cannot have a file larger that 3.6gb.

There has been other threads in this forum about file size limitations on sd cards and the formats.

Do SD cards have a file size limit?
By default, if you format micro sd card, it will default for fat32 which has file size limit of 4GB.

I don't really see the problem. That's just the exFat limit on file size. You can use an app like AVIDemux to join files from a particular flight if you transfer to a NTFS system. That's what I do in order to edit.

I have been archiving all my video in 4K on my desktop. Joining specific flights with AVIDemux. Then rendering to 1080 using Davinci Resolve so I could watch on my 1080 TV. Resolve has a bit of a learning curve but it's a free app that can do a lot of things. Often I will increase the speed of the video so the scenery changes more rapidly. Try to mitigate wandering attention span

but I just ordered a 4K TV this weekend. It will arrive in about a week. So I can go back to my 4K archive and start editing the 4K video

AzJT · Jul 21, 2022

Tofino said:
When recording to my 128gb micro sd card at 4k video the video stops at 4.5 minutes then starts another file right after this one as there is a cap on the size of the file that can be recorded at 3.6gb. I can still keep recording to fill up the sd card but cannot have a file larger that 3.6gb.

There has been other threads in this forum about file size limitations on sd cards and the formats.

Do SD cards have a file size limit?
By default, if you format micro sd card, it will default for fat32 which has file size limit of 4GB.

I personally have not seen that. I guess because I haven’t recorded clips that long. After researching this though, it sounds that this is normal, but you don’t lose any video in the process. Apparently the clips get broken into smaller files but can seamlessly be placed together in post.

SoCal2S · Jul 22, 2022

moldorf said:
so then, 5.4K is more for marketing than actual video quality?

Unless you have a specific requirement for 5.4k, 4k is more than enough for most people on most devices.

Roamer105 · Jul 22, 2022

There are a couple of important issues with the A2s recording at 5.4K:
1) APAS is disabled at that recording rate. For the most part, that does not bother me although I have concerns for emergency go-home operation.
2) The most important issue is that the image processor (compression process) has trouble keeping up at 5.4K with a high-detail image panned to quickly. Example panning over a forested scene.

I only use 5.4 selectively when I want to take advantage of lossless zooming in post.

GregS · Jun 14, 2023

Tofino said:
I have just upgraded to the Air 2S from my old and trusted Mavic Pro and really enjoy all of the new features. Still learning them. But the 4k recording really eats up the space on the sd card fast. Can only get 4.5 minutes as this is the 3.6 gb cap file for the sd cards. I will try recording in 2k as see how long before the cap is reached. Also love the zoom. I changed it to normal 1080 and get zoom up to 8.2 times but only 4.2 in 4k.

This is a great machine and a big step up from the Mavic Pro.

Good to hear you like the Air 2S better than your Mavic Pro. I have the MP1 and have considered upgrading, but love my MP...and my P4P. I have a lot invested in my MP. It's perfect, but would have to sell the MP combo package first.
I record all video in 4K. All my TV's and computer screens are 1080P. When watching drone videos recorded in 4K, I select 1440P and it makes a huge difference. With 1080p I can see the trees; in 1440p I can see the leaves.
If someone records in 720 or 1080, I don't watch them. I like to see the details in the videos.

Phantomrain.org · Jun 14, 2023

GregS said:
Good to hear you like the Air 2S better than your Mavic Pro. I have the MP1 and have considered upgrading, but love my MP...and my P4P. I have a lot invested in my MP. It's perfect, but would have to sell the MP combo package first.
I record all video in 4K. All my TV's and computer screens are 1080P. When watching drone videos recorded in 4K, I select 1440P and it makes a huge difference. With 1080p I can see the trees; in 1440p I can see the leaves.
If someone records in 720 or 1080, I don't watch them. I like to see the details in the videos.

Not sure many understand how much of a difference. 1440 or 2K makes over 1080P but I thik it has a lot to do with there computers just not able to Render the Timeline , But there is a huge difference in Qualty that you can really see as you say.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water.

tokertm · Jun 16, 2023

No need for 5.4K. was a bit pointless adding it TBF. Only need 4K 60fps for that extra smooth fluid feel on videos. Personally I don't record in anything less (or more lol) so that way I can slow the video down if needed (but then export at 30fps) or keep as is. File gets automatically split at around 3min 17 on average in HDR mode at 6fps.

Phantomrain.org · Jun 17, 2023

The 5.4 allows for Bigger Frames to be pulled from the Timeine and that is where you get some advantage if you can make use of that feature and or being able to Zoom in an Crop.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the water.

karlblessing · Jun 20, 2023

Phantomrain.org said:
The 5.4 allows for Bigger Frames to be pulled from the Timeine and that is where you get some advantage if you can make use of that feature and or being able to Zoom in an Crop.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the water.

Or even just super sample the footage better down to 4K or HD (plus as you recall, 5.4k uses more of the sensor and not cropped down like 4K).

Roamer105 · Jun 22, 2023

karlblessing said:
Or even just super sample the footage better down to 4K or HD (plus as you recall, 5.4k uses more of the sensor and not cropped down like 4K).

Not so fast: There is NO cropping for ANY of the modes in the Air2s. 5.4K is simply straight from the sensor while 4K uses the same capturing resolution but downsampled in the drone to 4K.

karlblessing · Jun 22, 2023

Roamer105 said:
Not so fast: There is NO cropping for ANY of the modes in the Air2s. 5.4K is simply straight from the sensor while 4K uses the same capturing resolution but downsampled in the drone to 4K.

It's not hard to test, you're up in the air, looking at a building, switch from 5.4k to 4k, and the frame is a little more 'zoomed in' without the same objects still at the edge of the frame (despite both being the same aspect ratio).

Edit: Specifically when you go over 4K 30fps, it crops FOV, otherwise 4K and 5.4k has the same sensor readout (but no pixel binning on 5.4k it's 1:1). So going from 5.4k 24p to 4K 60p the FOV crops down.

From : Air 2S FOV - 4K 30FPS VS. 4K 60FPS