Future-proofing your work with 4K: three things cinematographers should consider

As ISE 2019 highlights the latest in AV and systems integration technologies, it's clear that the 4K revolution is transforming sector after sector. From creator to consumer, from the point of capture to the point of display, 4K is the new benchmark. In the ongoing quest for better image quality, the cinematography and television industries have embraced 4K recording. But 4K television is still only available to a very small audience, so that recording in 4K is considered a way to future-proof your work for a time when the technology in people's homes catches up.

Many video professionals are asking themselves what capabilities to look for in their next cine camera, and wondering to what extent they need to invest in storage to oversample in the highest possible resolution. Paul Atkinson, a Product Specialist at Canon, lists the three most important things for DOPs and other video professionals to consider.

1. The future is already here

2. Future-proofing isn't just about the number of Ks

"As a DOP or video professional, your first priority should always be image quality. That's true whether you want HD or 4K – you want the best quality possible for your output. If you look at high-end cinematography and high production-value broadcast drama, data is the key. The more data you have to play with, the more you can do with the final output.

3. Your requirements depend on the client

"It's worth considering the pros and cons before shooting 4K or higher, and storage is a real concern. If you shoot RAW with the Canon EOS C700 FF, a 2TB drive will be filled up in around 26 minutes. And even with a workflow captured in 4K for output in Full HD, you will have to keep those files somewhere and back them up, so you'll need double the amount of storage compared to what you actually capture.

"Your requirements depend on what you're outputting to. Some people will never need to worry about outputting in 4K, and for them the Canon EOS C100 Mark II could still be the perfect entry point.

"If you're shooting for cinema or high-end broadcast, you need to have the ability to shoot RAW, although you might not always use it because of the large data streams and files. Even with the non-RAW recording option, you're looking at something like 810MB per second for the Canon EOS C700 FF and 405MB per second for the Canon EOS C300 Mark II, so it's still a lot of data being written. So you need to ask yourself, do you need the full cinematic approach with the maximum resolution, or can you go for something smaller and easier to handle in the form of the Canon EOS C300 Mark II recording in XF-AVC or even the Canon EOS C200 recording in Cinema RAW Light in 4K, which gives you a much smaller file size than Canon's Cinema RAW Light, but still a robust file structure to allow for processing?

"One of the great things about Canon's range of cine cameras is that anything can work together. At a multi-camera shoot you can have a Canon EOS C700 FF as the A-camera, and the B-camera can be a Canon EOS C200 shooting in Cinema RAW Light. Images can be monitored on-set in real-time and/or edited and graded in post-production, all with Canon's class leading 4K reference displays."