Should I record in 4K or 1080? (HD, Full HD, etc)
The age-old question arises, what aspect ratio should I film in? When it comes to professionals, they often already know that they are filming in, either according to the director of photography’s direction or their own prowess. However, for people trying to advance their careers, they may get lost and not know what to film in. Well, at Quill’s Digest, we are here to help, so let’s take a dive into this!
So what do these numbers even mean? Essentially, these numbers represent how many pixels are in a given video. A 1080p video has 1920 x 1080 active pixels while 4k video has 3840 x 2160 pixels.
Company Marketing always gets in the way of simple numbers and creates new buzzwords. In marketing lingo 720p is called HD video, 1080p is called Full HD video, and 4K is called ultra HD video. Of course, these terms may be different from company to company, but generally, these are the most common usages.
Generally, as a rule of thumb, its always good to record in the format that you are exporting. If you want to export a 1080p video for YouTube, it makes sense to record in 1080p, but there is are more complications when taking a deeper look.
With people getting obsessed over these numbers, many may forget about the pixel quality itself. Not all 1080p is equal. Not all 4k is equal. For example, 4K on a cellphone is no way comparable from 4K on a dedicated cinema camera. This is for a number of factors, such as sensor size, lens, and processing quality.
Recording in 4K also offers another advantage, pixel oversampling. When recording in a higher aspect ratio and downgrading to a lower one, pixels get averaged (in a proper video editing software), balancing color better and essentially removing noise. This is a very compelling reason to record in 4K when filming on a smartphone when combining it with footage from prosumer cameras. (Prosumer cameras already downsample natively, so there is no need to do it in post).
Many blockbuster movies are not exported in 4k, often sticking to 2k/3k. This is for a variety of reasons, one being that when an actor’s face is displayed on such a big screen, a lower export pixel count helps flatter the face, making blemishes less noticeable.
More pixels also means more tracking for CGI. If you already know how to apply and edit VFX/CGI you probably don’t need this article. But if you are getting started, recording in a higher pixel count allows for more pixels as tracking points, making this process easier and more accurate. This is one of the appeals of 8K cameras, despite the fact that barely any monitor even supports it.
So in the end, what format should you record in? Well, its always best to record in the same format as exporting it, especially for video cameras. These cameras often already have built-in, optimized downsampling so there is no reason to do it in post. However, if you are using a lower quality camera such as a cellphone, you want to zoom in the video in post, or you are planning to put CGI, it’s better to record in a higher pixel count.
