Is It Time For You to Go 4K?

While 4K video recording is being heavily promoted this year by several camera manufacturers—Canon, Sony, Samsung and Panasonic to name a fe­w—most of us lack computer monitors, televisions and other devices that take advantage of the higher resolution. It certainly hasn’t been a technology advancement that many working photographers/videographers have immediately embraced—though 2015 is likely the year that this changes.

There was a big push for 4K and Ultra HD televisions at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in January, marking a transition from 1080p displays to 4K/UHD. With estimated worldwide sales of UHD televisions expected to make up over 26 percent of television sales by 2015, there will be a growing demand for higher-resolution content. Between cheaper 4K TVs and the marketing blitz surrounding them, the average consumer will be exposed to 4K like never before—a fact that will inevitably finds its way into the discussions that photographers have with their clients.

But before you run out and buy a 4K camera and monitor, let’s walk through the pros and cons of doing so, and how it might change what you offer your clients.

Photos © Maring Visuals

4K Versus UHD?
4K and UHD are often used synonymously, but each deserves some clarification. Ultra HD (UHD) refers to any display capable of a resolution of 8 million active pixels with a minimum resolution of 3840 x 2160 (many products marketed as 4K are actually UHD). UHD provides four times the resolution of “full HD” or 1920 x 1080 resolution. 4K falls under the definition of UHD but delivers a slightly higher resolution of 4096 x 2160.

Practical Application
“We don’t shoot 4K for the concept of delivering 4K, but rather because 4K makes for sharper 1080p video,” says Charles Maring, who along with his wife, Jennifer, runs Maring Visuals, a successful photography business offering both stills and video.

They began incorporating video in 2012, with the release of the Canon 5D Mark II. Since this past summer, the Marings have produced video using the Panasonic GH4, which offers 4K recording capability. Though most of their clients are not currently requesting final products delivered at 4K resolution, Charles and Jennifer have nevertheless found ways to take advantage of the newer technology.

“With 4K, we can crop in a medium shot and get a close-up if we need to when we’re editing the footage,” Charles says. “Another nice feature is that we are able to go in to the video and pull a still from a favorite celebrative moment, and these captures are good enough to provide a proof print to the client.”

This is another important fact about 4K: With each frame of video equivalent to an 8-megapixel still photo, your video clips can be a viable source for usable stills. When filming in standard HD, a frame is just 2 megapixels. “There are times when we find some very dynamic moments that are different from what the photographer has captured,” Charles says.

Couples are captured by Maring Visuals using both stills and video.

Practical Realities
Even if you’re currently delivering video to clients at a resolution of 1080p, the higher resolution capture makes it possible to crop or even pan within the frame with virtually no loss of image quality. Pulling a tighter head and shoulder shot from a video that captured the subject from head to toe serves as both a time-saver as well as offers more versatility while editing a final video.

This higher resolution also provides additional advantages including improved stabilization and noise reduction.

Compatibility
The higher resolution of 4K means bigger files (which also means more demand on your computer, editing software and storage). But if your computer is relatively new and you are working with compressed UHD video, you shouldn’t have a problem. However, editing uncompressed 4K footage demands a computer with more processing power. Unless there’s a specific need, event photographers will find that the compressed video files delivered by cameras like Samsung’s NX1, Panasonic’s GH4 and Sony’s A7 series are more than adequate to deliver high-quality content.

Applications such as Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro are designed to leverage the power of a computer’s GPU (graphic processing unit) for processing, editing and applying effects. If you want to jump into 4K, you’ll want to read the system requirements on your software and check them against your computer’s specs to avoid a meltdown. For example, Adobe Premiere Pro recommends a compatible GPU with at least 1GB of VRAM for GPU-accelerated performance. Graphics cards such as the NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M, NVIDIA Quadro (Windows) or AMD Radeon M290X (Mac) can provide ample power for video editing.

Storage
Likely, the biggest consideration: because of the demand that high-resolution video editing will place on your system, it’s best to work on these files using an external hard drive optimized for 4K editing.

Maring Visuals utilizes a Thunderbolt-compatible drive for working with video files while editing. But once finished, they will archive the footage and the final edit on a Drobo, a backup storage system that uses multiple hard drives to provide a secure
data backup.

Charles Maring (left) says video is now being valued as much as still photography, and for some clients, video is more important.

Deliverables
“There was a time when photography was appreciated more than video,” Charles says. “Now we are seeing an uptick where video is being valued as much as still photography. And with some clients, video is more important.”

But the Marings aren’t working on an old model where the deliverable is given to the client on a DVD. The ubiquity of smartphones and tablets has created an opportunity to provide a wider range of choices.

“There are a few clients that are still stuck on the DVD idea, but that really dumbs down the idea of what we are producing,” Charles says. “Instead, we are preparing our files for digital download from Vimeo or putting them on USB hard drives that we then deliver to clients. We optimize them to be viewed on phones or tablets or in whatever way our clients wish.”

So, as technology continues to improve, it’s likely clients will also expect their videos delivered in 4K. Whether you prefer to future-proof your content or merely to leverage the advantages that UHD resolution provides, there is little doubt that the 4K era is dawning.

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