In which video codec to convert 4k videos of 5D IV?

[daniela]

Hello Guys!

I did a lot of video filming in the last month, most with 4k on the 5D MK IV. But the Canon codes is very memory consuming. My 3TB HDD is suffering from low memory space, so an reduction of memory size would be welcome.
In which codec format should I convert the 4k movies - and which setting should I use, if the quality of the film should not suffer too much (still 4k with audio, but reduced size)?
Premiere is owned.

Thank you very much
Daniela

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

To make a video smaller, you must increase compression. That usually means throwing information away while trying to maintain decent resolution. A video can technically be 4K but have crappy resolution.

I'd suggest that if you think the videos are worth keeping, buy a large portable hard drive or several of them. They arereasonably inexpensive. 8 TB $150, 10 TB $180.

https://www.amazon.com/10TB-Desktop...wse-bin:5446816011&rnid=562234011&s=pc&sr=1-7

 

[LDS]

Video is a disk space-hungry task - 3TB may be little space. The problem with video is that some formats are better suited for editing (like RAW images) and require a lot of space, while others are better for consumption (like JPEGs) and require far less. So much depend on what you store your video for. Today the most popular formats for "consuming" video are H.264 and the newer H.265. On the web other formats that don't require to pay licenses or royalties are used. You may transcode the original Canon files into something that is still good to edit if needed, you may try ProRes - and see if there are savings compared to the MJPEG used by Canon.

 

[Joules]

To make a video smaller, you must increase compression. That usually means throwing information away while trying to maintain decent resolution. A video can technically be 4K but have crappy resolution.

Technically you do not have to increase compression if you can use a more efficient codec instead. Keep in mind that the 5D IV uses MJPEG for 4K, which is a pretty awful choice.

Converting to H.264 oder H.265 would be more effecient, although of course some quality will be lost, depending on the desired space saving and just from the Re encoding alone.