Just Curious

[GregS]

I was just wondering why many record video in either 720p or 1080P, when most of the drones will record up to 4K?
I have read about editing with 4k is difficult and most do not have 4k monitors or TV's.
I have 2 laptops, a 32" monitor for my PC, and 2 large screen TV's. None are 4k; all are 1080p. However, on everyone of them when I switch from 720p or 1080P up to 1440p, the quality increases dramatically! A huge difference! I don't see much better results in 4k.
I use the Microsoft built in editing program on my PC to do some editing. Seems to work fine. Now I understand when professionals do editing, they need a very good 'paid for' editing program. So for the rest of us, why record in the lower quality for everyday videos? Had a discussion about this with a group and we would like to hear from you. Thanks...

 

[Walleye Hunter]

I could only guess but I can think of two logical reasons. 1) higher def uses more gigs on the card and 2) you can zoom to what, 8.5x with lower resolution?

 

[Deleted member 170899]

Good question. I agree with @Walleye Hunter and add the following:

I use DaVinci Resolve Studio for editing. 4k video does not slow me down because Resolve allows me to edit in lower res (I usually use 1080p) but deliver my video in 4k.

 

[GFields]

Some chose to record 1080 to upload to Youtube etc

 

[old man mavic]

@GregS as others have mentioned when it comes to video then the higher the resolution then the more room is taken up on the SD card ,and unless post editing is your thing, and you are going to view your videos on a high definition device ,then the difference is not really an issue
for me ,i have always used 10.80 p at 30FPS ,which i find plays back on my computer effortlessly,with nice smooth play back ,if i try and playback 4k then because my computers video card is nothing to write home about, then in doing so, it keeps buffering,which causes moving objects to appear to stop and start ,because i dont down load on any sites ,or do any post editing then for me it is not a problem ,

 

[moldorf]

I recorded in 1080 for a while, and the video was fine. But 4K has better quality. At the time, my TV would only play 1080, and the graphics card on my PC would not play 4K smoothly

but, since a USB 3.0 portable HD with 4 TB capacity was 'only' $100, I decided to archive my flights in 4K and just keep the raw video so I could post-process to suit my needs. I have since upgraded my video card and have a new 4K TV so I'm really glad I archived the raw video

when I say raw video, I don't mean the entire flight recording. There is always some hovering time, launch and landing, repeat path, and other uneeded time as I adjust settings, etc. So I use AVIDemux to chop out those minutes. That will usually, for example, reduce a 12-15 minute video to 8-10 minutes. That simple editing (AVIDemux just copies the video, doesn't re-encode so it's quick; a few seconds) usually reduces the video by 3-5GB

and from those videos I can render to 4K or 1080, usually while speeding up the video by 2-4X. I have dozens of 3-7 minute videos rendered from 12-20 minute flights

 

[GregS]

I could only guess but I can think of two logical reasons. 1) higher def uses more gigs on the card and 2) you can zoom to what, 8.5x with lower resolution?

My thought...if you can afford these drones, you can afford a better card. As for the zoom, I failed to mention that I was mainly referring to videos.

 

[GregS]

I recorded in 1080 for a while, and the video was fine. But 4K has better quality. At the time, my TV would only play 1080, and the graphics card on my PC would not play 4K smoothly

but, since a USB 3.0 portable HD with 4 TB capacity was 'only' $100, I decided to archive my flights in 4K and just keep the raw video so I could post-process to suit my needs. I have since upgraded my video card and have a new 4K TV so I'm really glad I archived the raw video

when I say raw video, I don't mean the entire flight recording. There is always some hovering time, launch and landing, repeat path, and other uneeded time as I adjust settings, etc. So I use AVIDemux to chop out those minutes. That will usually, for example, reduce a 12-15 minute video to 8-10 minutes. That simple editing (AVIDemux just copies the video, doesn't re-encode so it's quick; a few seconds) usually reduces the video by 3-5GB

and from those videos I can render to 4K or 1080, usually while speeding up the video by 2-4X. I have dozens of 3-7 minute videos rendered from 12-20 minute flights

Now that makes sense!

 

[GregS]

Some chose to record 1080 to upload to Youtube etc

I always upload to YouTube in 4k. Takes a while to render, so I wait until it renders in 4k before I publish.

 

[GregS]

@GregS as others have mentioned when it comes to video then the higher the resolution then the more room is taken up on the SD card ,and unless post editing is your thing, and you are going to view your videos on a high definition device ,then the difference is not really an issue
for me ,i have always used 10.80 p at 30FPS ,which i find plays back on my computer effortlessly,with nice smooth play back ,if i try and playback 4k then because my computers video card is nothing to write home about, then in doing so, it keeps buffering,which causes moving objects to appear to stop and start ,because i dont down load on any sites ,or do any post editing then for me it is not a problem ,

Have you noticed the difference in quality when switching from 1080p up to 1440p on a 1080p screen? My 77 yr old eyes can see a huge difference. At first I see a tree, then going to 1440p, I see each leaf. I have an old PC and never a glitch. My laptop runs Intel I-5 chip. Never hesitates. I have a couple of Extreme 128 gig cards, but only use one. Haven't filled it yet.

 

[BobaFut]

A related, additional question I have is why don't people edit their videos? I tend to record most of my flights, which is just panning and maneuvering and all that as I line up the shots that I want. I don't even care to watch that, much less have others watch it. I guess this is the "pilot with a camera attached to their aircraft" vs "photographer with a flying camera" divide?

 

[GFields]

I always upload to YouTube in 4k. Takes a while to render, so I wait until it renders in 4k before I publish.

So do I but many do not. Thus my answer.

 

[GFields]

A related, additional question I have is why don't people edit their videos? I tend to record most of my flights, which is just panning and maneuvering and all that as I line up the shots that I want. I don't even care to watch that, much less have others watch it. I guess this is the "pilot with a camera attached to their aircraft" vs "photographer with a flying camera" divide?

I do and often export in different formats.

 

[BobaFut]

I do and often export in different formats.

Yeah same. I'll do cuts with music, no music, 9x16, 720p for Twitter/Mastodon, sub-60 cuts for stock footage, etc...I prefer to edit from my PC hard drive, but keep everything backed up on external drives. Different strokes and all that, just hard for me to imagine just watching 1080p straight from my drone and not doing anything else with the footage. But I guess editing and sharing are a big part of the fun for me.

I have an Air2s and shoot in 5.4k, so even exporting to 4K feels like a bit of downgrade!

 

[maggior]

A related, additional question I have is why don't people edit their videos? I tend to record most of my flights, which is just panning and maneuvering and all that as I line up the shots that I want. I don't even care to watch that, much less have others watch it. I guess this is the "pilot with a camera attached to their aircraft" vs "photographer with a flying camera" divide?

When I started I videoed my entire flights. Some I would then go back and edit down to a digestible 3-4 minute video with music. I occasionally took pictures. I was dazzled by flying and capturing footage from above.

When I upgraded from my MA2 to my A2S, I started taking more photos and editing them in Lightroom. Video footage that I take is done in clips for specific shots rather than just hitting record and flying around.

Perhaps I've morphed from a pilot to more of a photographer. Now that I'm familiar with the drone's capabilities and know the bounds of my comfort level quite well, the flying part is feels kinda routine. When I want to get a thrilling pilot experience going, I fly my FPV drone or fly a toy drone line-of-sight in my yard.

 

[Merrill277]

I shoot everything in 4K, edit and produce in 4K. And I have a computer with a 4k monitor and fast SSD so it works for me. But then if I want to share it, like youtube etc. its difficult. Then certain viewers cannot handle such large files so I have to dumb them down for them to see. The problem is not that it is do-able but rather the equipment you use and your target audience, what they have to view it.