So, you’ve got yourself a fancy new camera,
capable of shooting 4K video.
Except your final destination for your project
is YouTube, or Facebook,
where majority of people view it on mobile devices,
most not even capable of displaying 4K.
So, is it worth it to shoot in 4K,
even when your project is set to HD?
Stay tuned to find out why it is.
Hey guys, whats up.
This is Serge, and welcome to my channel,
where today, we’re going to take a look
at top 5 reasons to shoot in 4K,
even when your project and final output is only HD.
If you find this video helpful
make sure to hit the like button
and share with someone else who might like it.
If you have a shoot like mine,
where the camera wasn’t set up straight,
or maybe the subject of your shot is in the middle
of the frame instead instead of just off to the side
like you want,
having the extra resolution
gives you the ability to scale in and re-frame your shot,
while still retaining full HD resolution.
In my case, I’ll hit the transform button,
and first,
use the rotation handle to straighten out my shot.
Next, I’ll use the scale slider
to scale in on my shot to fill the entire frame,
and reposition the clip to frame it
just the way I want it.
With 4K video in a 1080 timeline,
you can scale your clip up to 200 percent,
while still retaining full HD resolution.
Unless your using a tripod,
chances are there will me some minor bumps
and shakes in your footage,
especially if you have to move with the camera.
Having extra resolution available
allows you to scale in on your clip
as much as necessary
in order to apply a stabilizer effect in post production.
In my example, I’ll select the video,
and in the inspector check the stabilization checkbox.
Final Cut Pro analyzes my clip,
and counteracts the camera movements
by moving my video clip in the opposite direction.
Having the extra resolution
allows me to scale in as much as necessary
to fill the frame,
without giving up any video quality.
And if there isn’t too much movement in the shot,
Final Cut Pro allows you to use
the tripod mode to make it look
as if the camera was on a tripod.
Recording your clips in 4K
allows you to add nice,
smooth camera pans to your video.
In my example, I have a still shot,
that can be a little boring.
But, because I have the extra video resolution,
I can either use the transform tool,
or apply the Ken Burns effect.
For my example
I'll use the Ken Burns effect
to add a nice, smooth camera pan to my shot.
I’ll select and resize my start frame,
and my end frame,
and hit done.
A nice smooth pan like this,
can be almost impossible to achieve,
without using specialized equipment.
For one reason or another,
sometimes it can be very hard,
if not impossible
to get close enough to your subject.
Without the need for a zoom lens for your camera,
shooting in 4K
allows you to zoom in up to 200 percent on your video,
while still retaining full HD resolution.
To zoom in on your shot,
you have a couple options.
One, is using the sale slider in the video inspector,
or, if you know you need to scale in as much as you can,
you can use the Spacial Conform parameter
in the video inspector.
For example, in my demo clip
I’ve already scaled in a little to stabilize my shot,
so if I zoom in 200 percent,
I may loose a bit of resolution.
But, if I set the spacial conform parameter to none,
Final Cut Pro will scale in on my clip as much as possible,
while keeping the full 1920 by 1080 resolution.
This next trick I learned
by watching one of Abe Kislevitz
behind the scenes tutorial videos.
This shot is from one of GoPro’s promo videos,
and appears to be a dolly shot
that moves with the subjects in the video.
Except, there was no dolly.
This was filmed with a GoPro camera shooting in 4K,
mounted to a ski pole stuck in the ground.
Here’s how its done.
This is our starting shot,
and as you can see the camera does not move.
What I’ll do first, is trim off the start
and end of my clip,
where the subject is close to the edges.
Next, with the playhead at the start of the clip,
I’ll hit the transform button,
scale in on the clip to 200 percent,
and reposition it
so my subject is in the middle of the screen.
I’ll set a keyframe here by hitting the keyframe button.
Next, I’ll move my playhead to the end of the clip,
and reposition my clip
to keep the subject in the middle of the screen.
Last, I’ll right click on each keyframe in the viewer,
and select linear.
So, as you can see,
adding this cool effect
makes it look like the camera is tracked on a dolly
to move with my subject.
I’ll link Abe’s tutorial video in the description,
where he goes a little more in depth into creating this look.
Check it out, it’s a really good video.
So, these were my top five reasons for shooting in 4K,
even though most of my projects are
exported as 1080 P HD video.
What do you think?
Do these benefits outweigh
the extra storage space needed for 4K video?
Or the longer render times?
Let me know in the comments below.
And, as always, if you haven’t yet,
make sure to hit the subscribe button below.
New videos released weekly.
Thank for watching,
and I’ll see you next week.