What is everybody's preference when shooting?  I'm currently shooting 4K but honestly I'm not that much of a video junkie to really tell the difference.  Plus when I export I'm exporting to 1080P anyways.  I RARELY use the zoom or crop so I'm not gaining anything from 4K for that.  I'm starting to talk myself into just using 1080P when I record.  Thoughts?

You can record in 4k and render videos in 1080p. makes for a much more crisp video IIRC

shotgun10ga Posted at 2017-1-3 15:21
You can record in 4k and render videos in 1080p. makes for a much more crisp video IIRC

It's a great question.  I had the same thought.

If you record in 4K do you take it all the way through post in 4K and just step down at the point of rendering?  If so, are there specific pointers for reducing the processing load through post (e.g. reducing the timeline resolution)?

I'm very new to this, so if there's a list out there of things you can do in post to speed up editing that do not affect the final product quality I'd love to find it.

2.7k 30fps and downscale to 1080p 30fps

1080p 30 fps are not really good and 1080p 60/96fps are unusable, pretty bad...

I tried shooting in 4K, then zooming in. It looked terrible.

So I did an experiment. I let the mavic float in the same place and took three different videos in 4K, 2.7K, and 1080p. They all looked good when viewed normally.

Then I zoomed in. The 1080p was noticeably more fuzzy than the other two. However, 4K did not look any better than 2.7K. It was slightly sharper, but it also had slightly more color banding.

4K and 2.7K seem to be equivalent visually on the Mavic, so save the disk space and go with 2.7K. Just don't zoom in more than x2.

JasonMBryant Posted at 2017-1-3 16:07
I tried shooting in 4K, then zooming in. It looked terrible.

So I did an experiment. I let the mavic float in the same place and took three different videos in 4K, 2.7K, and 1080p. They all looked good when viewed normally.

If you're not zooming in (say you're just shooting scenery and putting it to music and enjoying it) is there an advantage to 2.7 over 1080P?  For shoot and post are they the same?  I'm new to this also.  Inquiring minds want to know........
Thanks in advance!
Sarge

lucrousseau,  Why is 1080 60 fps "unusable"?

sarge43 Posted at 2017-1-3 16:25
If you're not zooming in (say you're just shooting scenery and putting it to music and enjoying it) is there an advantage to 2.7 over 1080P?  For shoot and post are they the same?  I'm new to this also.  Inquiring minds want to know........
Thanks in advance!
Sarge

Not really. Unless you're showing the video on a gigantic, 70+ inch TV, 720p is fine. There are tons of guys who will tell you they can totally tell a difference, but I've never believed them. Whenever I've had the chance to test someone on something like that, they couldn't actually tell the resolution they were looking at.

However, the ability to zoom in is a nice advantage. Sometimes you want to reframe a scene. Having a higher resolution allows you to crop down to a close up, then still publish in 720p.

If you're not planning on doing any kind of editing, then the lowest resolution on the Mavic will still look good.

Tripp Posted at 2017-1-3 17:08
lucrousseau,  Why is 1080 60 fps "unusable"?

It's been discussed here a few times.

From what I gathered, it seems that 2.6K is the way to go. It gives a benefit of future crop if ever required, and 4k on Mavic is just a gimmik, because bitrate they use is not suffcient for a frame of that size, making 4k in no way better (or even worse) then 2.6k

fansb113793c Posted at 2017-1-3 19:11
From what I gathered, it seems that 2.6K is the way to go. It gives a benefit of future crop if ever required, and 4k on Mavic is just a gimmik, because bitrate they use is not suffcient for a frame of that size, making 4k in no way better (or even worse) then 2.6k

I like to think it gives them room to improve for the Mavic 2.

lucrousseau Posted at 2017-1-3 18:52
https://youtu.be/fyzq8VZ0vFk

It's been discussed here a few times.

I am so bad at this.  They look the same to me, except the 4K looks 'muddy'.

I have more chance of judging a village baking competition than video clips...

I am also new at this.  I would need a class to learn how to be good a video editing.  For me, I just want to be able to upload the best quality video to youtube straight from the micro card.  So, with that said would shooting in 4k be preferred or is 2.7K better.  Do I need to change a setting in the Mavic after I shoot in 4K or 2.7K before uploading to youtube.  Also I don't see how to change to FPS on Mavic.  I am currently using 4K at 24FPS, but I don't know how to change it.

I guess I'm bad at this as well... of course the 4k video is going to be better, but I don't see the 1080 60 fps as bad or unusable.  If you are shooting 4k at 30 fps and then scaling it down to 1080 at 30 fps what do you gain if you don't zoom/crop?  I'm a photographer and when I shoot photos, it pays to have more resolution so that you can crop, but with video I don't see why more fps wouldn't be better.  The Phantom 4 pro shoots 4k @ 60fps...wouldn't you shoot 60 fps @ 4k if you had a phantom 4 pro?  My brother has a phantom 4 and he shoots at 4k thinking that in the not so distant future all media will be 4k and I can see that argument, but today with most everything being 1080 I trying to understand why shooting mpeg 4 at a higher resolution and then down scaling would be beneficial.

lucrousseau Posted at 2017-1-3 18:52
https://youtu.be/fyzq8VZ0vFk

It's been discussed here a few times.

That is a terrible comparison video. Showing different things. I honestly can't tell the difference between the two.

Is the 60mbps bit rate maintained further down the resolution scale? If I wanted to shoot 1080p/24 would it be "better" letting the camera/chipset do the scaling, mayb e before compression, than doing it later?

I'm not good enough a videographer to "need" 4k, I'm still mostly learning how to shoot (on both the P4 and Mavic) now that I am more confident at actually flying.

I´m also quite new to video edititing and quality. What is about the 1080p/48fps setting? Or the /96fps setting? Are they also bad like the 1080p/30 and /60? I read it is about the pixel binning from the CMOS of the camera ... ?

JasonMBryant Posted at 2017-1-3 18:17
Not really. Unless you're showing the video on a gigantic, 70+ inch TV, 720p is fine. There are tons of guys who will tell you they can totally tell a difference, but I've never believed them. Whenever I've had the chance to test someone on something like that, they couldn't actually tell the resolution they were looking at.

However, the ability to zoom in is a nice advantage. Sometimes you want to reframe a scene. Having a higher resolution allows you to crop down to a close up, then still publish in 720p.

Thank you for your reply, I appreciate the information!
Sarge

shoot 4K. If you want 1080p, Just export in 1080p

WYHSniper1007 Posted at 2017-1-4 09:31
shoot 4K. If you want 1080p, Just export in 1080p

When you say export you mean upload or do I have to use editing software to export it to 1080p, then upload to YouTube.  I know YouTube likes 30FPS, but I havent figured out how to change to FPS on Mavic even though I know the correct screen to be at.

Nick823 Posted at 2017-1-4 10:25
When you say export you mean upload or do I have to use editing software to export it to 1080p, then upload to YouTube.  I know YouTube likes 30FPS, but I havent figured out how to change to FPS on Mavic even though I know the correct screen to be at.

The highest video resolution in the Mavic doesn't support 30fps. For the others, select your video resolution, then the FPS options will be directly under that.

When he says export, he probably means export from video editing software.

By the way, I made a thread with examples of the different resolutions. It shows the issues with 4K.

Resolution comparison thread

Ok let's say I decide to shoot in 2.7K.  What do I choose for exporting?  I'm using Adobe Premiere Pro CC.  I may upload to YouTube at some point but for now it's really just for personal use and sharing with the family.  I rarely watch the footage on my 4K TV, so mainly nice computers and iPhones/iPads.  I want to keep the best looking quality as possible.

Nick823 Posted at 2017-1-4 10:25
When you say export you mean upload or do I have to use editing software to export it to 1080p, then upload to YouTube.  I know YouTube likes 30FPS, but I havent figured out how to change to FPS on Mavic even though I know the correct screen to be at.

I means export it in 1080p

Parrotheadcubs Posted at 2017-1-4 11:48
Ok let's say I decide to shoot in 2.7K.  What do I choose for exporting?  I'm using Adobe Premiere Pro CC.  I may upload to YouTube at some point but for now it's really just for personal use and sharing with the family.  I rarely watch the footage on my 4K TV, so mainly nice computers and iPhones/iPads.  I want to keep the best looking quality as possible.

so Uploading straight from card to youtube is an option, but I should export from a video editor first like GoPro studio which I have used to export GoPro videos

WYHSniper1007 Posted at 2017-1-4 12:58
I means export it in 1080p

Export to 1080P, then uplload to youtube.  The only editor I have is GoPro Studio, anything you guys recommend that is free

Nick823 Posted at 2017-1-4 13:04
Export to 1080P, then uplload to youtube.  The only editor I have is GoPro Studio, anything you guys recommend that is free

You can download Premiere pro pirated version. It's free

BuzzCut Posted at 2017-1-3 15:33
It's a great question.  I had the same thought.

If you record in 4K do you take it all the way through post in 4K and just step down at the point of rendering?  If so, are there specific pointers for reducing the processing load through post (e.g. reducing the timeline resolution)?

I am not familiar with video editing, Sorry.

I use 2.7k 30fps and I export  in 2.7k. And I use iMovie for minor editing. Also I use a beefed up MacBook Pro. A 2 min video is like 10 gigs.  Big file.  

Reasons for shooting 2.7 k instead of 1080P: If you shoot in 2.7k and scale it to fill the frame in 1080P, it is at 70.6%. So you can zoom in about 45% before it will look at all pixelated. This allows you do do "Ken Burns" effects on video by zooming in and out or panning on video. Very easy and effective editing techniques. Additionally, if your horizon is a bit tilted (I know, never happens) you can rotate the video a bit without having any black borders. The problem with 4K and the Mavic is that data is maxed at 60 megs/sec so there's a fair amount of compression artifact (unlike the P4P which is 100 megs/sec) so I think the sweet spot (if you are outputting at 1080P) is clearly shooting at 2.7k.

What we know..

The sensor on the Mavic is NOT the same as the P4(non Pro).
24fps/30fps is the best setting. All frames higher than 30fps seem to cause aliasing/moire from the sensor pixel binning (to accommodate for ocustink).
Max write speed is 65mbs on the Mavic.
"True" 4K is 100mbs, therefore the 4K @ 60mbs on the Mavic is highly compressed. You can see artefacts.
2.7K is 60mbs on the Mavic and does not show artefacts.

So 2.7K@24/30fps is the sweet spot for the Mavic.
I don't do much slow-mo (60/96fps), but if I did, I wouldn't suggest the Mavic.

Best thing about 2.7K is that most decent PC's can still edit.

4K has better results as long as your computer can handle it in post-production.

QuanthonyTrang Posted at 2017-1-4 21:04
What we know..

The sensor on the Mavic is NOT the same as the P4(non Pro).

Hi. I where can find where the Mavic video modes and framerates specified?  I'm shooting at 2.7k 30fps and it only records at 45Mb/s not 60 Mb/s

4K video is only good on 4k monitors or TVs, which still has yet to take off. Do 1080p, but fps depends on what you're using it for. For standard videos to post online, 30fps, for more cinematic, shutter at 1/50 and 24fps, and for slowmo, 60fps, and then downgrade to 30 or 24fps in post. Hope that helps. I'm new to drones, but know a bit about camera work.

I did my own test and for me 1080p is bad on Mavic, so i was shooting 4K@30fps but reading here will give a try to 2.7K ;)

lucrousseau Posted at 2017-1-3 15:34
2.7k 30fps and downscale to 1080p 30fps

1080p 30 fps are not really good and 1080p 60/96fps are unusable, pretty bad...

I use same on my mavic (also my gopro hero5 black).
I shoot 2.7k 30fps on the mavic (60 fps on the GPH5B) and export to 1080.

JasonMBryant Posted at 2017-1-3 16:07
I tried shooting in 4K, then zooming in. It looked terrible.

So I did an experiment. I let the mavic float in the same place and took three different videos in 4K, 2.7K, and 1080p. They all looked good when viewed normally.

thanks jason

Dirty Bird Posted at 2017-7-16 10:55
Mavic is fine with 1080x30.  Has aliasing issues at 1080x60.

pardon my ignorance - what is aliasing?

Watch it in 720p then in 1080P and then in 4K (if you don't have a 4K TV or screen don't bother ) but there is a difference
I record in 4K 24 fps, then either output the same, or at 1080 @24fps.

Example below

bantis Posted at 2017-1-3 21:07
That is a terrible comparison video. Showing different things. I honestly can't tell the difference between the two.

Completely agree with bantis.
This video was posted on another site, and it was kind of bashed and had a lot of negative comments because it wasn't the same route, and someone was able to point out how the rock quarry was taken at much different times of the day, and how he was flying much faster in 4K then 1080p for most of the video.