Do you use 4K video?

Do you use 4K video?

  • I never use 4K video either as a consumer

    Votes: 29 59.2%
  • I rarely use 4K video as a consumer

    Votes: 6 12.2%
  • I sometimes use 4K video as a consumer

    Votes: 4 8.2%
  • I often use 4K video as a consumer

    Votes: 5 10.2%
  • I never use 4K video as a professional

    Votes: 12 24.5%
  • I rarely use 4K video as a professional

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • I sometimes use 4K video as a professional

    Votes: 3 6.1%
  • I often use 4K video as a professional

    Votes: 4 8.2%

  • Total voters
    49
  • Poll closed .

docsmith

CR Pro
Sep 17, 2010
1,214
1,070
I was reading another thread that was essentially stating that Canon has epically failed because of its handling of 4K video.

Maybe this is true. But, have been listening to talk about 4K video for a good number of years here on CR. I still haven't seen "the 4K future" happen. On a personal level, my previous cable provider, Comcast, still delivers 720 which is upsampled to get 1080i (we just cancelled, but not because of that, more that the rates kept creeping up yet we were watching more and more of Netflix/Amazon Prime).

While my TVs are still 2K/FHD, I have several tech friends who own 4K tvs. Now and again, I ask them about content and I have yet to hear content as anything more than just sporadic and that most of what they watch is 2K/FHD. I bought a new monitor.....Benq sw2700....not 4K. Also, I am sure many of you know, you need a video card capable of 4K. My computer has a new solid video card in it, which is not 4K.

So...when is this "future proofing" going to become relevant? We have been talking about 4K for what, about 5 years? I am beginning to think Canon, yet again, has it about right.

There are high end professional applications that will want/need 4K, but most of the world is 2K, and will remain there for the foreseeable future.

That is likely a controversial statement. Feel free to debate it (I really do not have a horse in this race), but I actually thought it would be more interesting to poll CR and see how many of us are using 4K either personally or professionally and, if so, how much? You can vote for two entries, of course, I was thinking 1 for personal and 1 vote for your professional use.

BTW...I did look, but if I missed a similar poll, please let me know and I'll take this one down.
 
There is nothing wrong with using 4K for recreational or professional use-cases. I often use it for recording classic concert music video in multi-camera setting, using dedicated video cameras. Never used a DSLR or mirrorless for that purpose because of image quality (poor codec, color, etc.), record duration limits, heat and focus (breathing, etc.) issues.
Those who whine for 4K and no crop in full-frame, must first understand that the camera has been designed to have the operator stay behind and not in front of the camera! And those who scream for 120p should first understand that professional takes are the most pleasing when taken, processed and played back in their natural time.

Sadly, some click-bait-info-tainment personalities review video features of cameras as if you must always operate the camera by staying in front of it and they present video of skateboarders and ducks in pond as the benchmark!
 
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docsmith

CR Pro
Sep 17, 2010
1,214
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... and the results above are rather skewed towards video given people who hang out here. So population statistics will be even lower.
Yep....and it will be interesting to see what the final split is. It started off very skewed to never using 4K. But right now, another trend, which is the two ends of the spectrum, you either use 4K or you don't.

And it is human behavior to assume other people behave similar to yourself.....we'll see...only 20 people have voted so far. Hopefully we'll see more.
 
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stevelee

FT-QL
CR Pro
Jul 6, 2017
2,383
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Davidson, NC
I shoot 4K on the rare occasions that I use my iPhone for video. Since it is permanently stuck with a wide-angle lens, I can use the extra resolution to give very clean 1080p or 720p output when I crop in editing. I don't have 4K on any of my real cameras, and don't miss it, since the G7X II can zoom in, and the DSLRs can accept longer lenses.

My computer is a 5K iMac that is almost 4 years old now. It can display 4K and leave room for other stuff, so it works well for editing. My actual TVs are 1080p and 720p, and would not benefit from higher resolution giving my viewing distances and source options.
 
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docsmith

CR Pro
Sep 17, 2010
1,214
1,070
I don't do video, so, of course, I don't do 4K either. The poll is flawed because it does not take people like me into account, and there may be a lot of us that don't do video at all.
???

Wouldn't you "never use 4K video" either as a pro or a consumer?

Perhaps, for your intent, it would have been better to have a category for "video, 2K only" and "no video whatsoever"....but, for my intent, never using 4K video is never using it. Regardless of the reason.

Also, I assume you watch television, do you watch 4K? Or are you 1080i/p?
 
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Jul 28, 2015
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I don't use video - or, more exactly, I have shot less than 5 minutes in the 13 years I have been using DSLRs.
Correction - I video's a friend's wedding as a favour so he could show it to his mother who was ill and unable to attend.

I live in a major UK city and he major UK supplier (British Telecom) trialled 4k only last year. I am not aware of much content for 4k streaming to make it worth my while.
 
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Apr 23, 2018
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never capture any video, except very occasional, very casual 20 sec clips with iPhone. Don't even know what res it is set to.

tv = 1080, almost never watch.

monitor = 4k. love it. for stills content. rarely watch videos on it, and if so youtube windowed in some low res. no video/graphics card, CPU with integrated Intel graphics unit drives 4k monitor just fine. don't play 3D games.


imaging gear: i want a choice of "pure stills cameras" unfettered by any video recording shenanigans, whether 2k, 4k or 8k. not interested in high fos either. 5-8 fps without full, uncompromised Af tracking are fine with me. i think, large majority of Canon "non-dedicated video" camera purchasers would take a less expensive, 100% stills- oriented camera over "hybrid" model.
 
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never capture any video, except very occasional, very casual 20 sec clips with iPhone. Don't even know what res it is set to.

tv = 1080, almost never watch.

monitor = 4k. love it. for stills content. rarely watch videos on it, and if so youtube windowed in some low res. no video/graphics card, CPU with integrated Intel graphics unit drives 4k monitor just fine. don't play 3D games.


imaging gear: i want a choice of "pure stills cameras" unfettered by any video recording shenanigans, whether 2k, 4k or 8k. not interested in high fos either. 5-8 fps without full, uncompromised Af tracking are fine with me. i think, large majority of Canon "non-dedicated video" camera purchasers would take a less expensive, 100% stills- oriented camera over "hybrid" model.

That's the key. I want that choice too, and I think many consumers do. Oh, I long for that day, but we know it is not coming. :cautious:
 
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Jack Douglas

CR for the Humour
Apr 10, 2013
6,980
2,602
Alberta, Canada
After a few years on CR as others have said, there are vocal 4K screamers but they don't represent anything close to a majority. For novices like me video is challenging but I'm really appreciating my 1DX2 video capabilities. I now use a 4K TV to initially cull my shots and view video. I find it excellent for comparing similar shots taken in bursts to get the best and with two hands on the camera and a front button dedicated to enlarge/view I can fly though the shots much faster than on the computer. No recovering a delete though>;)

Jack
 
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Jack Douglas

CR for the Humour
Apr 10, 2013
6,980
2,602
Alberta, Canada
Sorry there wasn't a tick box for "What is video"!

I bought stills cameras for taking stills - perhaps I am weird?

You thought it was a stills camera or does it actually not do video? If you don't care for video no reason to use but it in my case I've shot 4K60 and enjoyed looking at the still images of, for example, cedar waxwing flight, and it was pretty educational. 4K video paused on a 4K TV makes a pretty nice image.

Jack
 
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docsmith

CR Pro
Sep 17, 2010
1,214
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65% don't use 4K (the poll is setup strangely, so that is my calculation). Given that most people on here are more advanced users than the average consumer, I'd say its even less for the average consumer. And yet, 4K 'is an absolute necessity or Canon failed.' :rolleyes:
The poll is open for a few more days, but the trend has been the same since the first day.

A quick summary, as of right now 45 people voted. 41 voted in the "consumer" portion and 18 voted in the "professional" portion. For my thoughts, I combined the "never and rarely" categories as I would assume 4K is not an important to these people and the "sometimes and often" categories as these people would likely value 4K capabilities in their camera.

On the consumer side:
  • Never ( 27 votes) + rarely (6 votes) = 33 people of 41 (80.5%) where 4K is likely not important to them
  • Sometimes (3) + often (5) = 8 people (19.5%) where 4K is likely important to them
Professional side:
  • Never (12 votes) + rarely (1) = 13 of 18 (72.2%) do not use or minimally use 4K in their professional lives. What is interesting, is if we assumed the people that did not vote fall into this category, it would actually be 40/45, or 88.9%, do not use 4K in their professional lives (which would include non-professional photographers/videographers).
  • Sometimes (2) + Often (3) = 5 people of 18 (27.8%) who voted in this category where 4K is likely important to them in their professional lives. Again, if we assume the people that did not vote in the professional category did so because they do not use 4K in their professional lives, this would be 5/45 or 11.1%.
Next, I will point out that 5 people sometimes/often use 4K professionally, and 8 as a consumer, these likely overlap. Maybe not all people using 4K professionally also use it as a consumer, but I am thinking most do, so maybe 4 of the 8 people who use 4K as consumers were pros also using it (again, skewing the data a bit considering forum members). Which, if you remove them, drives the consumers using 4K numbers down to less than 10%

I did leave 4K a bit vague and this was intentional (sorry for any confusion), but really, I wanted to see if people were using it at all vs just in their photography lives. For example, there are certain photography youtubers that make a huge deal that 4K is needed for their broadcasts. Based on this, maybe it isn't so critical.

So, a few conclusions, at least my thoughts:
  • 4K is a niche market. If you go with these numbers, 10-20%. But, this is likely high compared to general populations or even general photographers as this forum likely skews toward people passionate about photography/video/technical gear, are technically oriented themselves, and that have enough resources to invest in technical gear. I am actually a bit surprised here, I really wonder how small the actual 4K market is.
  • Professionally, 4K is a bit more important. People are using 4K, but it is still around 1/3rd. I am sure a few non-professional photographers voted here (which was fine), then this would be a bit higher (separate "pro only" poll would be needed for this). And, of course, there will be professional markets where 4K is likely critically important.
All that, and it becomes really easy to see why Canon is not emphasizing 4K to the extent some would say is needed. It is simply not a feature being used by a majority of their customers or (likely) professionals. Even years after we started talking about 4K, it still hasn't arrived. This might be why we have not seen a follow up to the 1DC.
 
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