hamster wrote:All pretty silly numbers marketing. 4K at 30fps is essentially SD for any moving content. If it moves by 4 pixels per frame then the motion blur will make the edges just as fuzzy. HD with 60Hz would look sharper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAlm1uazfQYBut the drone's camera angles are really fun and some amazing new shots to be had!
I can't have my life's work dismissed so casually
'4k at 30fps is essentially SD for any moving content' Mmm, well there is a lot going on here which needs to be looked at in order to explore this one. First of all, the constants are pixels and resolution, ie. how many. In other words resolution is the number of 'dots' can be squeezed in to a space. An A4 picture at x resolution will look sharper than an A3 picture at x resolution, so screen size plays a part too. SD, HD, 4k etc are not safely defined but generally accepted in the UK for television broadcasting as 576 interlaced for SD, 1080 interlaced for HD. So, a UK HD TV will have 2.07MP per frame, this is 5 times the resolution than SD. This is the definition.
Lets explore the frame rate now. 30 frames per second is the default US ATSC frame rate adopted due to the use of 30hz mains electricity. In the UK it is generally 25fps and in cinema 24fps. You mix up fps and hz but assuming you mean frame rate, does a faster frame rate give a sharper picture? Well, the human eye can detect frame rates higher than current TVs display, but not much more. Lets go back to our 35mm film cameras, if we want a really sharp image, we would try and get as fast a shutter speed as possible. This would lead to the iris opening wider which would reduce the depth of field. We would freeze the action whilst blurring everything else. It was a compromise which we utilised to get the image we wanted. The same with moving image cameras, the faster they record a frame, the sharper the image. So in this respect, you are correct, a faster camera gives a sharper image. But there are limitations, such as, light levels, lens performance, sensor (film) sensitivity.
So how has the film industry coped with these limitations over the last 120 years? They have maximised and controlled light, developed fast lenses and probably the single most important development, perfected mounts and tracking systems which move with the action, thus 'freezing' it within the frame.
The real issue is that the rest of us just want to film an activity with our GoPros but have no control over lighting and may not have access to tracking and panning equipment. They might be mounted on our helmets or handlebars. Of course the result is going to be less sharp, and to be honest, a frame rate of 300fps is only going to make the footage less watchable!
Are they silly numbers then, no. The numbers indicate to us what we can expect to achieve. For most broadcasters and film makers, that is an excellent watchable product.