GH4 Some thoughts on 4k vs 1080p for my shoot?

F

filmguy123

Veteran
I will be delivering in 1080p HD, and I understand the 4K looks great downscaled. However the 1080p seems to look great, too.

1.) Does 4K @ 100mpbs and 1080p @ 100mbps take up the same amount of space?

2.) 1080p 200mbs VS 4k 100mbps for quality when delivering @ HD?

3.) Does 4K tax the computer more than 1080p even at the same bitrate? I am going to be shooting a lot of footage and working on mobile (it's a good mobile - maxed out top line 15" MBP Retina, but still).

4.) Workflow ease - working in Premiere, it's just a whole extra step to be making a 4K timeline for footage and then bringing that into my 1080p and 50% scale. Not a huge deal but with a lot of clips it adds up in organizing especially when I need to apply warp stabilizer, rescale, etc. I'm also thinking of file size and how well the computer will handle it with a larger project file.


Anyway, I could go either way. I just picked up the GH4 this weekend and leave early AM for an international shoot so any feedback would be awesome! I am debating shooting everything in 4K + 1080p VFR mode (and I will be using VFR mode heavily) so not sure if I ought to just shoot in 1080p 100mbps except for any speciality shots in 4K (i.e. an interview to simulate 2 camera coverage, or something where I need the "extra zoom" with the 2.3x crop factor). Or maybe 1080p 200mbps & 100mbps for slow motion...?


Also, which 4K mode and why (sorry I'm sure this has been asked but I'm short on time!!)


Thanks!
 
1. roughly yes (depends on level of detail and motion)
2. No real advantage to 1080@200 over even 1080 @100
3. With a 2013 iMac w/ Premiere, there is a minor processing slowdown to working with 4K vs. 1080p, but not much.
4. your call

If you're shooting for 1080p delivery, I'd suggest just using UHD vs. Cinema 4K because it's a direct downscale and is drop frame to work easily on a standard 1080 timeline.

As to if to use it or not... tough call, and all yours. It gives a slight bump to image quality and allows for editing flexibility, but introduces the extra crop and does take just a wee bit more computer oomph to work with. Working with 4K will also ever so slightly slow you down switching from VFR mode to 4K mode
 
Anything that's 24p I shoot in 4K mode, not 1080p mode. I believe that 1080p mode introduces some aliasing/moire artifacts, while 4K is cleaner. I'd rather let my computer do the downscaling work, instead of the camera trying downscale to 1080p.

I also use UDH because it's a direct downscale to 1080p.
 
+1 what they said.

I'll add, I finally shot something in 1080 with the GH4 and the guy's shirt was a "Dance of the Moire". Haven't seen Moire yet in 4k
 
We recently shot a few videos for a few car dealerships at first we used 1080 and noticed a lot of moire then when we switched to 4k (UHD) the moire was minimized, so we felt it's best to shoot in 4k and deliver on 1080. We also been recently told of many distributers are looking for 4k footage instead of 1080, so that's something to consider as well.
 
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