Just Bought the DJI Mavic PRO Kit - QUESTION about 4K and My First Footage

Love this drone so far! Check out my first flight: https://youtu.be/cS0XIQbiXx0

Can anyone tell me is is better to shoot my 4K (for SS and Pond5) in 3840x2160 OR 4096x2160? What is better for stock sales?

Thanks, in advance - Mike :)

Good question, my mavic is set to 4096x2160 at 24 fps But Iam interested in what to use d-log or standard picture profile for stock footage an pond5? Hm, hm.. what you buyers more prefere?

I think your best using UHD (3840x2160) at 30 fps with a standard picture profile (unless you plan to color grade it before you upload to the sites).

Yes ... also, think twice about using D-Log with that little guy. For flatter profile you can actually use try D-Cinelike, but Sharpen, 1 or -1, Contrast -2 or -3, color -1 or -2.

You will find better sales with natural looking clips, verging on a little hyped, depending on subject, so don't post flat clips. If in doubt, do both, but that's a pain. If you shoot flat, definitely upload the color corrected stuff. If you don't want to color correct, for best results in your style of shooting, look for a smooth highlight rolloff (no fried egg suns, or glaringly hard-edged highlights)

Yes - seem 16:9 aspect (UHD) is more "normal" and very much more acceptable for buyers. Some may not know you can very easily make 17:9 footage into a 16:9 timeline with no loss of spatial resolution.

Better to shoot in a higher frame rate as 24P (23.97) is prone to judder especially in faster pans. It's easier to transcode from a higher frame rate to a lower than it is to have to interpolate frames to make a 24P clip fit into a 30P(or 25P) project, plus ... yeah ... judder. It's a thing. So .. if you shoot 24P because you really like the epic cinematic look, make sure you operate the craft in an epic, cinematic way ... as in smooth, slow, deliberate.

A lot of words to say what Jakerbreaker said.

I would play with the settings and see what is best for you. I highly discourage d-log in a crappy codec like that, because once you go to color correct you might as well have shot it on a gopro form 2001.

Miz has some good tips. Shoot higher frame rate then you can always slow to 24fps, which might help the judder that is created. which isn't a word.

Good luck and have fun!

@ jakerbraker and mizamook
The suggestion to go for 3840x2160 applies just for drone shooting or for all sort of 4k files?

Google responds, therefore it is a word.

Word.

This is judder:

I say it depends on the scene. Generally, in my opinion/limited experience (and no way to really tell from the data, given that I shoot in one or the other, depending, and only sales really mean anything, which are not delineated by tech specs but by content)

I'd say for general work (don't ask me to define that!) do 16:9 3840x2160, 30P

If you CAN shoot 60P with things, that's good .. you can do a 1/2 speed slowmo version, and a realtime 30P version ... that's two clips per shot.

Tip: Look at Artist Resources a lot. What are THOSE top sellers doing?

Tip: Look at the front page of any stock agency. They don't put crappy clips that don't sell on their front page. What are THOSE clips, and what do THOSE artist/contributors do in general?

Also, let your artistic interpretation be your guiding light. It means more than stats. Make art, even with mundane stuff ... if you love it, and love doing it, it will show, and come through, and the people looking for great clips will see that.

If you have a drone shoot 30 fps UHD. If you have a Canon 1DX MK II or 5D MK IV then shoot DCI.

The Mavic does not shoot great video ... just adequate. You will find there is a lot of grain and noise in 4K. You will need to use Neat Video to smooth blue sky and in shadows. Most people process 4K video on a HD monitor. That really is a mistake since the HD monitor will not show the flaws that are very apparent in 4K clips. If it looks good on your HD monitor the end buyers might not like it if shot in 4K. So first thing go buy some big external hard drives to store files. Second go buy a 4K monitor.

On that note just found banding in P4P footage .. (snowy sky, medium grey). Just happened to be using h.265 ... really not happy to see this.

Apparent on HD monitor, and apparent on 5K monitor. Not sure what monitors you have but I seldom use my 5K anymore, as I can see what I need to see on the HD units. Of course I magnify to 400-800% to see what's going on inside stuff. Best not to do that if you want to love your compressed footage from any source, really, but Mavic footage is worse than P4P footage, which is worse than ... well a lot of things. Better than previous stuff though, so I'm not complaining.

One important thing that will be better on a full 4K monitor is whether there is aliasing/moire'. Viewing 4K footage (DCI or UHD) on an HD monitor requires resizing. Aliasing is caused by a higher resolution pattern/line showing or being recorded by a sensor or played on a monitor of lesser resolution. So in this case it's better to see it in full resolution to determine whether problem exists.

Damn I hate that sharpening. So coarse on Mavic and P4P. DjI tech: "Hey! Look! An edge with contrast. Let's apply a grotesque amount of sharpening to it and make neat haloes! Those dumb Americans will love it. Looks great on YouTube! They will even PAY for it!"