A question for video pros: from a purely technical standpoint, does it make sense to film and process in 5.1K if the target rendering is going to be 4K? I know, in a photo world the standard approach is to keep your content in the highest quality until the very end.

5.1 definitely takes more space and requires more effort from the rendering machine, which in my case is not a video station.
Considering that most of the world is only catching on even 4K capable screens (HD seems to be the current screen-du-jour), and I'm not going to do any big-screen-worthy footage, but rather casual stuff, is it even worth wasting card space and processing time on handling those large files?

Sorry I was about to share my thoughts but saw the question is for pros and I am not

alex_markov Posted at 11-28 10:57
Sorry I was about to share my thoughts but saw the question is for pros and I am not

Lol, please do. I simply want to to hear from experienced people

DarthSLR Posted at 11-28 11:01
Lol, please do. I simply want to to hear from experienced people

I was joking
This is my personal opinion as a non-pro filmmaker - I prefer 4K 60 fps instead of 5.x K 30 fps - I have not M3 yet but I had EVO 2 pro and Air 2S (that's why the .x instead of .1)  - people who will tell You higher resolution will allow You to zoom in without losing data are right - but I personally very seldom zoom  but often fly on speed and 60 fps are priceless in this case (I fly at the moment DJI FPV and never saw such smoot footage before!)

alex_markov Posted at 11-28 11:29
I was joking  
This is my personal opinion as a non-pro filmmaker - I prefer 4K 60 fps instead of 5.x K 30 fps - I have not M3 yet but I had EVO 2 pro and Air 2S (that's why the .x instead of .1)  - people who will tell You higher resolution will allow You to zoom in without losing data are right - but I personally very seldom zoom  but often fly on speed and 60 fps are priceless in this case (I fly at the moment DJI FPV and never saw such smoot footage before!)

Thank you, appreciate your sharing!

Recording in higher resolution is an advantage, yes you can crop but mostly rendering to lower res IE from 5.1k 60fps to 4K 30FPS will render very smooth footage . Yes it takes space memory and time. But if you’re getting into it for fun then get editing program like LumaFusion great app tremendous value it operates on iPad costs $30 and handles 5.1k like hot knife through butter. Its a simple app to use wit loads of tutorials on YT. It has direct connection to YT and most social media platforms and all footage can be stored on hard drives.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-28 12:09
Recording in higher resolution is an advantage, yes you can crop but mostly rendering to lower res IE from 5.1k 60fps to 4K 30FPS will render very smooth footage . Yes it takes space memory and time. But if you’re getting into it for fun then get editing program like LumaFusion great app tremendous value it operates on iPad costs $30 and handles 5.1k like hot knife through butter. Its a simple app to use wit loads of tutorials on YT. It has direct connection to YT and most social media platforms and all footage can be stored on hard drives.

I heard of LumaFusion a few times already. Still trying to see if I can my DaVinciResolve17 skills up the snuff... Still like the idea of editing on a big screen

Hello there DarthSLR. Good day and thank you for these information that you have given. I hope that our fellow DJI co pilots can give out the best information and recommendation with regards to this matter. Have a safe and a happy flying always.  

alex_markov Posted at 11-28 11:29
I was joking  
This is my personal opinion as a non-pro filmmaker - I prefer 4K 60 fps instead of 5.x K 30 fps - I have not M3 yet but I had EVO 2 pro and Air 2S (that's why the .x instead of .1)  - people who will tell You higher resolution will allow You to zoom in without losing data are right - but I personally very seldom zoom  but often fly on speed and 60 fps are priceless in this case (I fly at the moment DJI FPV and never saw such smoot footage before!)

What about using the 50fps..?

BrianKushner Posted at 11-28 20:56
What about using the 50fps..?

Ha, M3 can do this - great. But I am posting 4k - have no device with higher res yet. And 5+k are tougher on hardware to edit and bigger for storing...
So when (if?) I buy M3 I'll do some experiments but most likely will stik to 4k60

DarthSLR Posted at 11-28 12:13
I heard of LumaFusion a few times already. Still trying to see if I can my DaVinciResolve17 skills up the snuff... Still like the idea of editing on a big screen

Davinci is a great tool I use studio for years and am very happy with results!

alex_markov Posted at 11-28 21:09
Davinci is a great tool I use studio for years and am very happy with results!

My Windows 10 PC does not seem to like h265. I was told iPad Pro would fly through it.
The thing is, I don't do much of a video, but I'm trying to get better, so I'm trying to find what is a good tool for me to use in the long run.

DarthSLR Posted at 11-28 21:20
My Windows 10 PC does not seem to like h265. I was told iPad Pro would fly through it.
The thing is, I don't do much of a video, but I'm trying to get better, so I'm trying to find what is a good tool for me to use in the long run.

Never used an iPad, but Yes Davinci requires some HW - I use it on a laptop But a Video card is important - I have RTX3070 and it exports at 60+ fps

alex_markov Posted at 11-28 22:15
Never used an iPad, but Yes Davinci requires some HW - I use it on a laptop But a Video card is important - I have RTX3070 and it exports at 60+ fps

That's the issue. My video card is about 6-7 years old, and with the damn chip shortage I can't get any decent new one for a reasonable price.

I'm not sure how 'good' the resolving power of the M3 lenses are, but on the smaller drones (everything so far), I see  little difference between 2.7K and 4K.
So I shoot at 2.7K usually, to get the best optimum between file size, processing power needed (rendering times) and image quality.
Maybe the M3 will be much better at 4K, but I have yet to see proof of that.

Montfrooij Posted at 11-29 00:06
I'm not sure how 'good' the resolving power of the M3 lenses are, but on the smaller drones (everything so far), I see  little difference between 2.7K and 4K.
So I shoot at 2.7K usually, to get the best optimum between file size, processing power needed (rendering times) and image quality.
Maybe the M3 will be much better at 4K, but I have yet to see proof of that.

Interesting observation. I made several comparisons between 2.7 and 4K with my MP back then and scratched 2.7 as too much of a compromise with quality never tried again

alex_markov Posted at 11-29 01:36
Interesting observation. I made several comparisons between 2.7 and 4K with my MP back then and scratched 2.7 as too much of a compromise with quality never tried again

For me it was the other way around. Especially with the Mavic Pro that had a limited bitrate.

Montfrooij Posted at 11-29 00:06
I'm not sure how 'good' the resolving power of the M3 lenses are, but on the smaller drones (everything so far), I see  little difference between 2.7K and 4K.
So I shoot at 2.7K usually, to get the best optimum between file size, processing power needed (rendering times) and image quality.
Maybe the M3 will be much better at 4K, but I have yet to see proof of that.

Well, the smaller drones have smaller sensors (and hence smaller lenses), so it's reasonable to think you can't produce higher quality video. Mavic 3, however, is a different story, so I'm really curious to see some proper reports on the subject.

DarthSLR Posted at 11-29 07:11
Well, the smaller drones have smaller sensors (and hence smaller lenses), so it's reasonable to think you can't produce higher quality video. Mavic 3, however, is a different story, so I'm really curious to see some proper reports on the subject.

I do wonder if the lens is that good.
But only a M3 owner willing to shoot and share some source files shot under the same conditions can give that answer.

Montfrooij Posted at 11-29 07:29
I do wonder if the lens is that good.
But only a M3 owner willing to shoot and share some source files shot under the same conditions can give that answer.

I'll do that once I get my M3C back, unless some more advanced video people do that first