Resolution 101

In the very near future we will see 4K delivery. No doubt about it. But who gets to play?

It seems obvious that Standard Definition is not High Definition. But is High Definition (720P and 1080P) able to scale to 4K? Not from where I sit. Pushing less than 2K up over 400% to “fit” a 4K delivery is exactly the same as pretending that SD is HD. It just isn’t.


We will attempt to demonstrate exactly what we mean. I will add other cameras performance as we do the testing. But to begin with… let’s start with the Canon 5D, which promises a 1080P output. While the file size is 1080P, the actual measured resolution is quite a bit less. So too is Bayer pattern resolution lower than the file size. RED 4K actually measures about 3.2K and 4.5K actually measures about 3.7K. The new EPIC 5K will measure a full 4K. For comparison, 35mm Film measures about 2.8K for ASA 500 stock and about 3.2K for ASA 100 stock… both from a 4K scan. Film resolves much less from a 2K scan… less than 2K.


Graeme has shot Zone Plates of the 5D, along with the new M-X sensor upgraded RED ONE.


Here are the results.

M-X sensor (in red) and the Canon 5D (in black). The grey area is where the 5D2 provides either NO detail or corruption caused by aliasing. It really measures a “ragged” 1.4K horizontal resolution vs. about 3.7 for the Mysterium-X at 4.5K.


BTW… that is over 4 times more measured resolution.


3800×11630 = 6,194,000 measured resolution from 4.5K Mysterium-X sensor
1400×1080 = 1,512,000 measured resolution from the 5D

6,194,000 / 1,512,000 = 4.09 times more resolution


So… what measured resolution actually qualifies to be 4K delivery worthy? Same answer as what qualifies for HD. We know of no 1080P output camera that actually measures a full 1080P. There are varying degrees of uprezzing in every HD delivery. Some not much, some more. Same will apply to 4K delivery. The industry will decide.


We beg our customers to debayer RED footage at full resolution for final output. If you do your debayer at half-res, you throw away one of the primary advantages of RED… resolution. It will matter in the future.

The wonderful thing about REDCODE RAW is that when color science improves… you can go back and old footage becomes NEW. This is an example. This was shot two years ago.

The 1st one is Camera RGB and REC 709.

The 2nd one is REDcolor and REDgamma. No other changes…

DCFCPUG welcomes PureBlend Software Design Group who makes iPhone apps such as the Movie*Slate (Digital Slate, Clapperboard, and Shot Log). They are working on an iPad version as we speak. Sponsor graphic will be up on the site soon since Cliff is on the road traveling. Check out their other apps at their site! We appreciate the support Cliff !

DCFCPUG welcomes RED GIANT SOFTWARE to our SPONSOR ranks.

Red Giant Software was founded in 2002 by industry veterans to develop and distribute special effects tools for digital video & film professionals. We develop our own applications and also publish other people’s technology. Our products are available as plug-ins for popular video editing and effects applications, including Adobe After Effects^®, Adobe Photoshop^®, Adobe Premiere Pro^®, AVID^®, Sony Vegas^® and Apple Final Cut Pro^® Motion^®.

Many of our products use production-proven technology developed by visual effects industry veterans such as John Knoll, Photoshop creator & Visual Effects Supervisor at Industrial Light + Magic (Knoll Light Factory); and Stu Maschwitz, CTO and Co-Founder at The Orphanage (Magic Bullet) and are designed to increase your production value. They have been used in thousands of feature films, music videos, national TV commercials & broadcast shows. These include Grindhouse, The Aviator, Day After Tomorrow, Vanilla Sky, Hellboy, Spy Kids 3D, Double Dare, Nike commercials, Good Eats, ESPN, Disney, CNN, Good Morning America, Cher videos, FooFighter videos, and MTV programs. With a growing base of 100,000+ customers, we will continue to deliver more innovative and exciting solutions. Stay tuned!

DCFCPUG welcomes Moviola Digital as a new sponsor!

This is hot off the press so look for their sponsor graphic once received for more information on their creative resources for the iPhone/iPodTouch/iPad (future).

We appreciate the support from Johnathon Amayo, Director of Education|Production, Moviola Digital in Hollywood, CA!

See our previous post for more info as well.

Look forward to seeing their apps in our future DC Winner’s Circle raffle!

San Francisco Supermeet

While in San Francisco, I stopped by the Artbeats booth to meet our sponsor and was invited to take my chance spinning the “Wheel of Fortune” game wheel for a chance at the Grand Prize Jackpot…

So I told Julie, what the heck, why not spin since maybe it will be a good sign of things to come for DCFCPUG!  Well, the picture speaks volumes…. I took home the GOLD prize – JACKPOT FOR DCFCPUG!!! $1,599 worth of HD footage of my choice from ARTBEATS plus a nice umbrella and SWAG T-shirt!!!

Event specifics – Ninth Annual San Francisco SuperMeet to take place on Friday, February 5, 2010 at the University of California San Francisco, Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, CA. Doors open at 3:30PM with a Digital Showcase and presentations begin at 7PM and continue until 11:00PM. This SuperMeet promises to be the single largest gathering of Final Cut Studio, Adobe and Avid editors, gurus and digital filmmakers in the Bay Area for all of 2010.

I also got to tell around 700 attendees on the SuperMeet stage about DCFCPUG and there are a lot other FCP community members interested in US.  Let’s show them we are building our FCP contributors to participate and give back to this awesome gathering of professionals.  You might be on stage with me next time around!
Next SUPERMEET is in April at the NAB show… see separate post on this event for more info.

Final Cut Pro – How to Remove A Button

Removing a button from a menu or window is easy.

Just grab the button and drag it out of the button bar.

POOF!!! Its gone.