Used to think 4K was a gimmick, now I can't go back

Back in 2016 I reviewed a bunch of cameras for a local blog in Austin, and I swore 4K was just a sales pitch. My old 1080p footage looked fine on my laptop, so why bother with huge files and extra storage costs? Then last year I shot a wedding for a friend and had to crop in on the dance floor, and the 4K footage held up way better than I expected. That one zoom saved a shot of the first dance that would've been useless otherwise. Now I shoot everything in 4K even if I deliver in 1080p, just for that flexibility. The file sizes still annoy me, but I've gotten used to juggling two drives on set. Has anyone else flip-flopped on a spec after a real project forced your hand?

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the_john2mo ago

Back in 2017 I helped shoot a local band's music video in a crowded bar, and we shot everything in 1080p because that's what the director wanted. We had one good take of the drummer's solo, but the singer kept stepping into frame, so we had to crop way in and it looked like mush on the final edit. That was the moment I realized cropping is the whole game, not the resolution itself. Now I shoot 4K whenever I can, not because I need the detail on screen, but because it gives me room to fix mistakes later. The storage pain is real, but it beats telling a client you lost the shot.

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