8-bit vs. 10-bit in 360VR.
What exactly do they mean?
In this video, we will find out why 10-bit color depth is better (is it?) than 8-bit.
We will use the brand new Insta360 Titan as an example, but the same principle applied
on any 10-bit capable VR camera.
Do you need 10-bit?
Let's find out!
Hey, what's up everybody.
It's your boi Hugh here from CreatorUp.
So right now, 8 bit is everywhere.
On the Internet, on your phone, on your TV (except HDR TV - which is a thing), they are
all 8-bit, including your VR headset, for now.
So why you need to spend 15,000 US dollars on the Titan, instead of just the ONE X - the
most reviewed 360 camera on the planets - which only cost $400 dollars.
Well, let's step back, go to the regular video world (boring), and really understand some
technical camera lingo - bit depth or color depth.
Bit depth refers to the color information stored in an image.
The higher the bit depth of an image, the more colors it can store.
You can have 256 shades of RED, BLUE and GREEN in an 8-bit image.
But for a 10-bit video, you can have 1024 shades.
This is a huge difference, especially you intend on using the logarithmic mode.
AKA i-Log for Insta360 camera.
If you are coming from the photography world.
Just think about 8-BIT as your JPG and 10-BIT as your RAW photo.
You can't do much in Lightroom with JPG.
But with RAW, you can really express your creativity on your photography.
If just shoot, and post directly on YouTube or Instagram without any post-processing,
then no.
You don't need Titan.
Your Pro 2 or even ONE X is more than enough.
Well, I hope you are NOT that guy!
If you follow my channel, you want to create better 360 content.
And post-production is unavoidable.
You can still follow everything I do here with a 8-bit camera like the Pro2, Kandao
Obsidian, Z Cam S1Pro or even the very expensive Z Cam V1Pro or Google Yi Halo.
But to avoid the common problem in grading called BANDING, you will need a 10-bit camera.
In fact, upgrading the bit depth is the best way to capture the highest-quality video,
including bumps to dynamic range and color rendering.
Let me explain.
Assuming your camera has 13 stops of dynamic range using a REC 709 regular mode - which
only has 5 - 6 stops.
That 8-bit color spread across that does not utilize the sensor entire dynamic range.
We use Log modes in order to get every stop out of your camera sensor into a limited space.
But you are using 8-bit to record all this information, which need to be stretched back
out in post-production, which creates banding.
It is easier to just show you.
Before showing you the banding issue, let's address the elephant in the room - the biggest
concern many people on the facebook group have - is it Titan really 10 bit?
Well let's take a look.
Now we are in Premiere and imported the Pro 2 and the Titan footage.
These 2 footage are shot at the exact same time and same environment - the Pro 2 can
easily sit on top of the Titan and it won't even be in the frame as Titan is so much bigger
than the Pro 2.
Both are shot in Log Mode to max out the camera sensor dynamic range as you just learned.
We have Lumetri Scopes on the left to help you see the problem.
And now I go ahead to do a standard color grade.
As you see, we can recover color from the sky way easier in 10 bit as well.
I hope by now, you understand the difference between 8 bit and 10 bit.
To grade 8 bit footage, you can actually add noise to hide those banding
that is how the camera manufacture doing it now with their smart
high light recovery color profile. They are not true HDR.