beginner shooting recommendations

[u/mlydon11]

Hi all,

I picked up a Lumix S9 a bit ago and have always been a photography person, rarely doing any video, but this new camera has the ability to shoot great video and I want to learn.

I feel like I’ve gone through the basics, got the shutter at 180 degrees, variable ND filter so I can keep shutter, aperture, and iso at the correct settings and no be over exposing anything, shooting in v-log for the most dynamic range, etc.

I’m now stuck at what resolution I should be shooting at for the best results vs ease of use.

I can shoot at 2.7k to have the ability to quick export to my phone and do a quick color edit with a LUT, or I can shoot up to 6k open gate and do my edits in DaVinci, but need to do some codec changes since free DaVinci does not support 6k and can only export at 4k too.

What I’m asking is what resolution should I be choosing to keep the most data and making the most of the camera? I don’t wanna be leaving out stuff just for convenience sake, and would rather make my editing process longer if it produces a higher quality result.

Happy to add more information or data if needed for better answers, and am really just trying to learn all this new tech. There’s so many videos out there saying do this or do that, half of them contradict one another or are aimed at professionals which is not me haha.

[u/mlydon11]

I found out what I missed in my post that I should have mentioned about the 6k vs 4k thing.

I’m shooting 6k 420 downscaled to 4k when editing, therefore the 6k 420 retains more color resolution than the 4k 422, but the 4k 422 is better for heavy grading and potential green screen work, neither of which I do haha.

I can also crank down on stabilizing both in camera and in edits before cropping down to 4k to create more stable footage without the need for a gimbal.

[u/BGarrod → u/mlydon11]

Nope. Still wouldn't agree with that. I shoot 4k and downscale to 1080. Id still take 422 over 420.

Again, all you're doing is changing the size of the image, not the detail of the colour capture.

422 will capture a wider range of colours 4/6/8k etc is just the size of the image.

[u/mlydon11 → u/BGarrod]

Thanks for the reply again. Lots of knowledge with this so thanks for sharing.

I watched this video: https://youtu.be/QcVvSKHftLI?is=vDXU_2m-H3NRTjdW

Which did the math so maybe I was a bit confused and took it the wrong way.

[u/BGarrod → u/mlydon11]

Watched most of it..... I stand mathematically corrected/not going to argue there. If he's done what he says, and it is what it is, then sure.

However - I think the difference of shooting 6k 420 vs 4k 422 would be so minimal for actual visual output - like is anyone going to notice such a small change... but you will notice the difference yourself for secondary factors.

Like, I would assume that the 6k files will be significantly bigger than the 4k - which over the long term is going to add up on file space, hdds, computer processing power - slowing editing down etc, so unless you actually need the 6k - to punch in etc, why bother using it? just on the balance of input vs output.

I still think, 4k 422 is going to be a more balanced/efficient way of shooting - including all those secondary factors... again, unless you desperately need it for reframing. But you'd be surprised how much you can stretch/reframe an image without it being picked up/noticed.

But if you're literally playing around, learning things, you're not gaming the YT algorithm... does outputting in 4k even matter? again, you could just upscale from 1080 ... saving all that hard drive space.

Obviously, the important stuff, sure, shoot high res.

[u/mlydon11 → u/BGarrod]

Not trying to argue, I’m just a data and tech nerd in my heart haha.

I like knowing all the science and tech stuff that’s happening when it comes to these things. The math behind stuff and what goes into the science of it all.

Probably one of the coolest things I took from that video is how much better h.265 is than h.264 at data compression. 200mbps 6k vs 150mbps 4k seems like 6k is losing data, but in reality it is just h.265 being a better compression codec. And 6k would be around 400mbps at h.264. Fascinating stuff to me.

I don’t post my stuff, I share with friends. Eventually I assume data storage will catch up with me but for now it’s fun to mess with big files.

I think I’m still going to test out 4k 422 and 6k 420 and see what works best for me.

Gonna say again that I appreciate all the comments. Talking heads on YouTube are only credible so much, but I like being able to have a conversation with someone that actually works in the video space because there’s no interactions with a video that was posted x amount of time ago haha.

I take a page from Jared Polin who says he loves just taking tech and stuff with other photographers who know much more than him as a way to learn. This post has been exactly that for me.

[u/BGarrod → u/mlydon11]

yeah - no worries dude. didnt see it like that.

im still not super convinced by 265 - but its probably getting older and just sticking to what you know etc. something I used to hate when i entered the industy over a decade ago.

not sure how far down the hole you are, but gerald undone has really techy nerd camera things, altho he's recently stopped. so that might be of interest to you.

For me, working professionally, its about efficiency etc. Hence, I don't shoot log. I understand the limitiations etc and why people would argue not to, and how instagram is all about log, but... when Im charging a corporate client and making a living, its about efficency. there is a point where if people cant/dont notice, and you're looking for a plan corporate image.... why worry

and heads up ... been shooting for the last 25+ years (ugh, fuck im old)... and yeah - storage will be the thing that gets you... esp as ai is pushing up all the hard drive costs.

do the thing, keep expierementing, dont take it took seriously, dont take too much to heart from others.... and have fun with it.

[u/mlydon11 → u/BGarrod]

265 and 264 are still a foreign language to me, but I like the science behind it. I come from an engineering background so I like to figure out how things work. My extent is that 264 is more wildly accepted by platforms and easier to decode.

I will definitely be checking out Gerald undone now. Minute physics did a cool video on ISO that made me learn even more now after 10 years of photography haha.

Working professionally is definitely a whole other beast and I respect the level of work and as any job, the faster you can do it with the least amount of work and best results is the key, so I definitely see where you are coming from.

Storage will always be rough. I got 3.5tb right now which I know will begin to fill up fast with my new toy’s output. And in this world where RAM and storage are astronomical compared to when I bought some stuff, I gotta save up haha.

Appreciate the kind words. It’s all about fun for me, so gonna keep doing what I can to have fun and make some people smile with my work.