Getting the best out a new GH4...

I have been shooting documentary type footage with a D5300, with very nice results, and I have GH4 on preorder, thinking that 4k will offer some real benefits for the architectural subject matter I work with. the primary goal is to illustrate architectural details as sharply as I can.

My editing needs are simple, since the agency wants the footage as original as possible - no color manipulation, no sharpening, etc - just trim and join multiple clips and render. so far I am only using adobe premiere elements 12, and rendering in 10800/30fps.

4k will be a new world, and I would appreciate some advice from those more experienced than myself.

1. since this is for archival footage, am I better off shooting in 4k and rendering in 4k - even though I will need to completely replace my entire computer system to handle 4k editing? and of course even then I will have no display/monitor available that displays 4k resolution - will I even be able to see a difference between something shot in 4k and something shot in 1080?

2. or should I shoot in 4k and render in 1080? will this actually give me sharper 1080 footage than if a just shoot it in 1080?

3. should I just shoot in 1080, highest bit rate, and render in 1080?

4. I was thinking of perhaps moving to powerdirector 12 to work with 4k footage - is that a reasonable piece of software for my purposes, or do I really need to move to a more professional editing platform, like FCP or adobe premiere pro? again, I do not do any color grading, or anything but trim and join. does expensive editing software have better rendering engines than software like powerdirector or sony movie studio?

thanks for your assistance.

I'm under the impression that most of your 4k advantages will not be immediately obvious right now because 4k monitors are still not ver common.

What appears to be certain is that the overall quality of your 4k videos improves if you down sample to 2K.

There's some great info on this subject over on eoshd.com

Cheers!

I would shoot 4K and render out what ever format you need to display as the finished result.

When you go to archive your files, include the original 4K files from the camera, so that they will be available to anyone who wants to work with the original source footage.

james b norman said:

1. since this is for archival footage, am I better off shooting in 4k and rendering in 4k - even though I will need to completely replace my entire computer system to handle 4k editing?

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For archival purposes, I would say that you should save everything in 4k. 4k will obviously become more dominant in the future.

As far as your computer being inadequate for editing 4k, is it already running slow doing 1080 HD? Have you downloaded any 4k files from Vimeo.com, and tried editing them with your Adobe Premiere Elements 12? That would be the best test to determine if you need a new computer.

james b norman said:

will I even be able to see a difference between something shot in 4k and something shot in 1080?

2. or should I shoot in 4k and render in 1080? will this actually give me sharper 1080 footage than if a just shoot it in 1080?

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The posts made here in this forum by Mark Rosenzweig have already answered that. He posts as Mark041. Have you not see how absolutely stunning his 4k Sony XAVC-S footage rendered to 1080 HD is?

james b norman said:

3. should I just shoot in 1080, highest bit rate, and render in 1080?

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Take a look at Mark's discussion of his comparison tests between his Panasonic TM900 and his Sony AX100. The answer is pretty obvious.

james b norman said:

4. I was thinking of perhaps moving to powerdirector 12 to work with 4k footage - is that a reasonable piece of software for my purposes, or do I really need to move to a more professional editing platform, like FCP or adobe premiere pro? again, I do not do any color grading, or anything but trim and join. does expensive editing software have better rendering engines than software like powerdirector or sony movie studio?

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Are you not happy with your current software? I believe that Adobe has updated Premiere Elements for 4k. Adobe Premiere Pro has been frozen at version CS 6, and is no longer being updated with new features. I've been able to edit 4k footage just fine with it. But it has no compatible 4k rendering options available. So while I can make lovely 1080 HD footage with it from my Sony AX100 files. I cannot render the edited video to a 4k file format. Adobe Premiere Pro has been replaced by Adobe's new Creative Cloud, which is a subscription service.

All of these video editors have free trial downloads available. You should give them a try, and see which one you prefer.

For doing simple editing like you describe, Mark Rosenzweig has raved about using MPEG Smart Renderer 4, which is a totally lossless editor by TMPGEnc software. That is what he has been using to edit his 4k footage. I'm planning to download its trial and check it out myself.

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EduPortas said:

I'm under the impression that most of your 4k advantages will not be immediately obvious right now because 4k monitors are still not ver common.

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You need to follow the posts by Mark041 here in this forum. He has strongly argued that 4k footage is the best format for rendering to 1080 HD.

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Here's an OSX app that just came out which allows you to resample the GH4's 8-bit 4:2:0 4k to 10-bit 4:4:4 2k:


Why? Because 10-bit 4:4:4 allows you to do better color correction. The GH4 can output 4k in 10-bit 4:2:2 via micro HDMI but that will require an external recorder (which I myself am not going to budget).

lancespring said:

EduPortas said:

I'm under the impression that most of your 4k advantages will not be immediately obvious right now because 4k monitors are still not ver common.

Click to expand...

You need to follow the posts by Mark041 here in this forum. He has strongly argued that 4k footage is the best format for rendering to 1080 HD.

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Will do. Thank you.

thanks to you all for the helpful responses.

lancespring said:

EduPortas said:

I'm under the impression that most of your 4k advantages will not be immediately obvious right now because 4k monitors are still not ver common.

Click to expand...

You need to follow the posts by Mark041 here in this forum. He has strongly argued that 4k footage is the best format for rendering to 1080 HD.

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Click to expand...

An example of the benefit is to do most of your zooms and pans in post production. Doing zooms and pans properly takes extreme technical skill as well as an expensive heavy tripod with a fluid head. Doing this in post production makes it zooms and pans rock steady and you can change the amount of zoom and pan later. You will lose detail at the during the zoom but at 1080 HD you will not even Here's an example that I took with the AX100. All the zooms and pans in this was done in post using Sony Movie Studio. It was shot in 4K and uploaded in 4K but you can watch it in 1080 HD.

JamesJimmy said:

An example of the benefit is to do most of your zooms and pans in post production. Doing zooms and pans properly takes extreme technical skill as well as an expensive heavy tripod with a fluid head. Doing this in post production makes it zooms and pans rock steady and you can change the amount of zoom and pan later. You will lose detail at the during the zoom but at 1080 HD you will not even Here's an example that I took with the AX100. All the zooms and pans in this was done in post using Sony Movie Studio. It was shot in 4K and uploaded in 4K but you can watch it in 1080 HD.

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James: Your video is outstanding. The post production zooming and panning is lovely. So smooth, and so very sharp, even at max magnification. Most impressive. I will definitely have to try that feature in Sony Movie Studio out.

We should also mention to everyone else that a free download of the latest Sony Movie Studio Platinum 13 is included with the Sony AX100 here in the United States. So these editing tools actually come included with the camcorder.

But the software is not expensive, and can certainly be used with the GH4 too.

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