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skirtfllair
New Participant
August 21, 2019
Question

4K vs 1080P

I would like to know from those that have experience with one or the other or both, for someone just getting into the >$500 quadcopter arena, which format should I get into if I do not have any aspirations to make money at aerial photography? 
I have searched and read a few of the many search results that came back about 1080P vs 4K but they all seemed to end with no definitive answers and resorted to complaints about two accounts/one person agreeing with themselves to make a point.
The air ships I am considering all have the option of either with 4K obviously being more expensive and oft times just going that little bit above my proposed budget but not so much above that it couldn't be a possibility.

    8 replies

    kojack
    kojack
    Honored Contributor
    August 21, 2019
    1080p is 1920x1080.
    4k is 3840x2160. (exactly double each axis)
    Apart from that, 4K is going to take more space to store, so you won't fit as much on whatever storage you are using. It might have a more limited framerate (like 30fps instead of 60), depending on the camera used.

    You'd probably have a better chance of getting suitable answers if you posted on a forum related to quadcopter photography. :)

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    Techy111
    Honored Contributor
    August 21, 2019
    I have a mavic pro with the 4k camera and love it. But to watch on the pc I don't see a huge difference personally. But the mavic is so damn easy to fly.
    A PC with lots of gadgets inside and a thing to see in 3D that you put on your head.
    skirtfllairAuthor
    New Participant
    August 22, 2019

    kojack said:

    1080p is 1920x1080.
    4k is 3840x2160. (exactly double each axis)
    Apart from that, 4K is going to take more space to store, so you won't fit as much on whatever storage you are using. It might have a more limited framerate (like 30fps instead of 60), depending on the camera used.

    You'd probably have a better chance of getting suitable answers if you posted on a forum related to quadcopter photography. :)



    Thx! 
    bigmike20vt
    Honored Contributor
    August 22, 2019
    can you split the difference and get one which does QHD?  (so 2560 × 1440)
    that way you get "almost" 4K levels of fidelity but you will presumably save money on the hardware and will take a lot less space to store the video as well.....

    but i am just guessing.

    Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR :)
    Techy111
    Honored Contributor
    August 22, 2019
    The Phantom 3 standard does lovely 2.7k with gyro stabilisation and 2nd hand are very affordable mate and a good guess @bigmike20vt :)
    A PC with lots of gadgets inside and a thing to see in 3D that you put on your head.
    skirtfllairAuthor
    New Participant
    August 28, 2019
    Thx ya'll.
    jab
    Participant
    August 28, 2019
    4K is obviously better then 1080p.
    But.. Almost none of the current drones (like the Mavic) use high enough bit-rates when encoding to generate true 4K video. So when you include the encoding artifacts the spatial resolution of '4K' is more like 1080p then anything else. Just like when you watch overly compressed '4K' video on youtube or netflix.
    plaxus
    New Participant
    August 28, 2019
    I was about to chime in, but the last comment sums it up pretty well for the most part. 4k and 1080p are just an output. Obviously 4k has the potential to look more clear, but its not a given. What really matters is the quality of the encoding and the sensors installed. You can have 4k and still get a worse image than 1080p if the sensors don't actually pick up stuff fitting of 4k, or your SOC is too slow to even keep up with high quality encoding and storing 4k image quality. The only real way to tell if it does you justice is look up footage for each drone. You need to consider things like HDR, auto balancing, exposure times, how big your photosensor is, does it have stabilization or contrast enhancements? Does it work with in low light or light pollution? There are a lot of low end 4k claimed devices out there that don't shoot that well or do 4k well.
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