The Art of Resolution

R

Razz16mm

Veteran
Hey guys, I just want to share a blog post by Joe Rubenstein that is a thoughtful response to the question of whether 2k and small format cameras will soon be obsolete in a large format 4k and future 8k world. It is an outgrowth of an ongoing forum discussion we have been engaged in on the Digital Bolex site. Food for thought.

http://www.digitalbolex.com/art-came...ion/#more-2425
 
I think anyone who's clamoring for bigger, better, more resolution, who hasn't given the slightest thought about what they'd do with that resolution, is missing the point entirely.

Simply put, if you don't know how to choose formats based on your artistic need, let alone it even dawning on you that you should make a conscious format choice rather than just drooling "MOAR RESOLUTION!!!!", then you won't even know what to do with 4K or 8K (or 2K, for that matter) if you had it.
 
Razz16mm said:
...the question of whether 2k and small format cameras will soon be obsolete in a large format 4k and future 8k world.
Click to expand...

Meh. And if you listened to the hype three years ago, you'd be in a 3D world right now. And we all know how well that's worked out for the people pushing 3D.

Me, I couldn't care less about more resolution. What I want, is more dynamic range. What I want, is better handling of highlights and shadows. Less noise. Better compression with less artifacts. Better tonality. Better skin tones. Better image stabilization when hand held or shoulder mounted. Higher frame rates. Elimination of rolling shutter....

I could go on for a while and never get to more resolution, because I just don't need it, and I'm not willing to pay a premium for it. Exactly like 3D.
 
Razz16mm said:
Hey guys, I just want to share a blog post by Joe Rubenstein that is a thoughtful response to the question of whether 2k and small format cameras will soon be obsolete in a large format 4k and future 8k world. It is an outgrowth of an ongoing forum discussion we have been engaged in on the Digital Bolex site. Food for thought.

http://www.digitalbolex.com/art-came...ion/#more-2425
Click to expand...

My continual whine... more 'intensity resolution' at 'popular prices', and 'officially from the manufacturer'... rather than some hack...

At the moment 1960x1080 as as reasonably close to 2K as I need, and of course, my 'work flow' can stand... I would like to have more dynamic range, so that I need not 'worry' about fitting 12 stops of scene range in to 8-bits...

On the other hand... I do need a lot more time to just get out and shoot with what I have... How about Bigger Time resolution... get work done in 2 hours, so I can spend 10 hours on filmmaking...
 
At least in terms of theatrical display, there is no difference in spatial resolution between 2k DCI and 1080p HD, just a slight difference in aspect ratio.
I too prefer better color gamut and dynamic range to just higher resolutions. 12 bit raw is a really nice palette to work with. But uncompressed 2k or 1080p raw is about as much data volume as I care to wrangle to enjoy the benefits.
Personally I think digital will tier into 1080pHD/2k, UHD/4k, and 8K production models. All of these will coexist in the market for the foreseeable future, just as 16mm film has coexisted, and even thrived alongside 35mm and 70mm film formats for nearly 90 years. People should choose formats based on a realistic assessment of their own practical needs. The cost differential for shooting 4k vs 2k digital is becoming much smaller than the historical differences between 16mm and 35mm film. But there is nonetheless a significant cost delta between them at every level throughout the production chain. Even though most of the major theater chains have already converted to 4k projection, most post production for feature films is still done in 2k for cost reasons.

But the reality is that major theatrical distribution is a very insignificant market for indie films. Less than one in 10,000 indie feature releases ever make it there. What is the significance of high resolution in an online streaming world where most content doesn't even come close to the historical image quality standards of analog SD NTSC?
 
TheDingo said:
Dang it! ...How come your get 1960x1080 resolution, when all I get is 1920x1080 ? ( life's not fair ) :-)
Click to expand...

Phantom resolution... you have to pay extra for it... or get the Zymurgy Hack.

(Actually I've been halving my recent classroom videos to 960x540... so the fingers just filled out the number automagically...)
 
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