4k Recording on the iPhone 6?

[roxics]

Yay or nay?

Something I wish they will include but I doubt they will until the S model or even the iPhone 7.

More and more Android phones being released this year are coming with 4K recording. Pretty much all the flagship Samsung phones and the new Moto X.

If Apple sticks with their 8MP sensor we won't see 4K. But if they go slightly higher at 10 or 12MP it's possible they could include it. Possibly even turn it on with an iOS update in the future.

Before anyone says "but most people don't even have 4K TVs." Remember that downsampled 4K makes for better HD footage. Plus all of Apple's Retina laptops and iPads are more than HD.

 

[12vElectronics]

Nay.. we'll probably see that in future iPhone models

 

[Morgan Freeman]

No. iPhone 7 maybe, when Apple makes a camera with 4k, it should be with a fairly high framerate and bitrate, not sooner than that to compromise on specs.

 

[617aircav]

Why not wait 24hrs.

 

[Izauze]

Nope. too much data. too expensive. not useful to anyone except videophiles and people with currently incredibly rare monitors. It will also not be on 6S and I doubt 7 either.

 

[nickchallis92]

The 4K video quality on my Note 3 is outstanding tbf. Like someone else said, take a 4K video and downsample it and it looks better than a video shot in 1080p.

 

[t0mat0]

Apple's been slower than other manufacturers video wise. We'll see how they do with HEVC down the road too. The tech specs page tomorrow should indicate?

 

[jlake02]

I don't think 4K is used widely enough (yet) to be a consideration for this generation of iPhone.

 

[nostresshere]

I don't think 4K is used widely enough (yet) to be a consideration for this generation of iPhone.

BINGO!

I can not see a TELEPHONE offering better video than what the networks offer, or even DVD.

 

[Itskorbitch!]

Yay or nay?

Something I wish they will include but I doubt they will until the S model or even the iPhone 7.

More and more Android phones being released this year are coming with 4K recording. Pretty much all the flagship Samsung phones and the new Moto X.

If Apple sticks with their 8MP sensor we won't see 4K. But if they go slightly higher at 10 or 12MP it's possible they could include it. Possibly even turn it on with an iOS update in the future.

Before anyone says "but most people don't even have 4K TVs." Remember that downsampled 4K makes for better HD footage. Plus all of Apple's Retina laptops and iPads are more than HD.

What I don't get is that even at Apples 8MP sensor, the camera seems miles better than samsungs higher MP sensor??

 

[saving107]

4K video recording on a 16GB device, thats like 30 seconds worth of video.

 

[t0mat0]

BINGO!

I can not see a TELEPHONE offering better video than what the networks offer, or even DVD.

Some top selling Android devices for 2014:

Galaxy Note 4 - 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps
LG G3 - 4k and OIS, 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps - 16/32GB internal, microSD up to 128GB
Galaxy S5 - 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@120fps - 16/32GB internal, microSD up to 128GB
Sony Experia Z2 - 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@120fps - 16GB internal, MicroSD up to 128GB
Moto X - 2160p@30fps - Internal memory 16/32GB internal, no card slot
LG Nexus 5 - 1080p@30fps - 16/32GB internal, no card slot

HTC One M8 - 1080p - 16/32GB internal, microSD up to 128GB

 

[Nyy8]

I think we are forgetting something... All of those devices you can put a 64GB Micro SD card in.

The iPhone you can't. I mean I would love 4k recording, when Apple bumps the space from 16GB to 32GB Standard.

 

[Xeyad]

While I would LOVE recording 4K from an iPhone, I don't think it's ready for primetime yet. As a film maker and a tech geek, I've tried 4K recording on the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S5. With these Samsung devices, the image stabilization is turned off when shooting 4K because the device can't handle all the processing power. So while you end up with high resolution, unless you got incredibly steady hands or a stabilizer, the video will be very shaky. Plus, these devices get HOT when recording in 4K, something I'm sure Apple is considering.

I think Apple goes with the notion of introducing technology to people when it's complete. 4K on phones is still a stretch. The iPhone 5s certainly wasn't the first phone with slow motion, but it perfected it. For 4K to become usable on phones, I think Apple needs to work on the processing power to record full 4K with image stabilization, and figure out some sort of compressing to take less storage. The iPhone is meant for the absolute average consumer, and you need to give them the best experience possible with the least hassles.

While it'll probably won't be built in, I think there is a huge chance for 4K video to happen with the iPhone 6 with third-party apps! SloMo was the first app on iPhone to have real 1080p @ 60fps for the iPhone 4S and above; way before the 5s. Ultrakam Pro has already introduced real 2K (2240 x 1672) and 3K (2592 x 1936) video @ 24fps and @30fps to the iPhone 5s, but those currently take a massive chunk of storage as the bitrate is 32MB/s.

iOS 8 also allowed developers full access to the camera hardware and software, meaning with iOS 8 to come, we'll see even more impressive camera apps. 4K is very possible.

So in short, the iPhone 6 probably won't have 4K video built in, the magic of the app store and the developers will probably add it in.

 

[t0mat0]

Wonder if the A8 could have the processing power - or just do the OIS, then more image stabilising in iPhoto (if it's syncing to the cloud now iPhoto's going, maybe Apple's servers could do the stabilisation?)
What's the MB/minute (curently what, 200MB/min on an iPhone 5s?) for 4k on the handsets you tried?

 

[loybond]

Almost every single phone on the market today, and for generations before (including the 4S), offer higher resolution video than "the networks" and obviously better than DVD (I should hope so, I had a Nokia N93 in 2006 that shot DVD resolution video). HDTV goes up to 720p/1080i in most places, and DVD is standard definition.

That said, video is not only about the resolution, the bitrate is super important, which is one of the reasons broadcast TV looks better.

BINGO!

I can not see a TELEPHONE offering better video than what the networks offer, or even DVD.

----------

OIS would be the best solution for stabilizing video, and it's something I hope to see improved in phones going forward. I don't personally care for electronic stabilization much because:

1) processing power and therefore battery

2) Electronic stabilization crops the image and degrades IQ

3) the electronic stabilization we see is pretty pathetic on phones compared to what editing apps do and...

4) Apple sucks at it even on the desktop (Apple's apps vs. Adobe Premiere).

Wonder if the A8 could have the processing power - or just do the OIS, then more image stabilising in iPhoto (if it's syncing to the cloud now iPhoto's going, maybe Apple's servers could do the stabilisation?)
What's the MB/minute (curently what, 200MB/min on an iPhone 5s?) for 4k on the handsets you tried?

 

[InternetDude08]

I kinda think we won't see 4K with tomorrow's announcement. Save that for the incremental upgrade 6S in 2015.

 

[Jimmy James]

Don't care either way.

 

[fs454]

Literally no point in 4K recording. There's a reason multimillion dollar film productions and organizations (like the NFL) still shoot on the Arri Alexa - which only shoots in 2K, a mere ~200 pixels longer and wider than 1080p. The real desire is dynamic range. Imagine pointing your phone straight at a person standing in front of a window and getting a beautiful image where you can see the subject of your shot as well as what's outside. Currently you'd get an awful washed out white mess.


What they may do is record in 4K and downsample to 1080p in order to create sharper footage, but there's literally no reason to let the phone record an ugly, bloated 4K file right now. Others are doing to boast specs, not to actually create a useful feature.

 

[juanrp]

Doubt it.

 

[Michael CM1]

Nay. I can't see the point for the masses. I would settle for the slow-mo video to go to 1080p and maybe 240 fps. The only way I would be OK with it is if there's a way to turn that off. I already have enough storage issues with 32GB devices.

 

[roxics]

Literally no point in 4K recording. There's a reason multimillion dollar film productions and organizations (like the NFL) still shoot on the Arri Alexa - which only shoots in 2K, a mere ~200 pixels longer and wider than 1080p. The real desire is dynamic range. Imagine pointing your phone straight at a person standing in front of a window and getting a beautiful image where you can see the subject of your shot as well as what's outside. Currently you'd get an awful washed out white mess.


What they may do is record in 4K and downsample to 1080p in order to create sharper footage, but there's literally no reason to let the phone record an ugly, bloated 4K file right now. Others are doing to boast specs, not to actually create a useful feature.

Actually the Alexa records up to 3.2K resolution. Basically 6 megapixels compared to 2 megapixels for 1080p. Depends on the mode you're shooting in. But all those big budget Marvel movies (for example) are being shot at the higher resolution.

4K is here and it's going to stay. It was just announced on the 5th that 4K blu-ray is coming for the 2015 holiday season. We're going to have a new physical discs and players. Which is awesome since I love physical media.

There is no reason not to have 4K recording on the iPhone today. I think it's funny when people say we don't need 4K recording today. Of course we do. We need to record our memories in the highest quality we can get. Even if we didn't get displays for them for the next ten years, we would still have 10 years of 4K content ready for those displays when they come. But we do have those displays today. Both TVs and monitors and they will drop in price and increase in quanity. So let's be ready for them with as much 4K content as we can get.

I mean seriously, if you had a new baby tomorrow, would you want to shoot video of it in HD or 4K? All else being equal, you would pick 4K.

A lot of people want Apple to up the resolution of the still camera but then say nothing about video. ??? When it comes to stills, anything above 8-10 megapixels is kind of pointless because of diffraction on that small of a sensor. But 4K video is 8 megapixels and is a very natural camera upgrade.

That said, I agree that resolution isn't everything. Increased dynamic range is more important to a certain point. But I don't think we are going to get that. Maybe a little bit of an increase there. But we can have that and higher resolution. It's not one or the other. Apple is not going to lower the resolution of the sensor, they need it around 8+ megapixel for stills use.

Higher framerates are useless for anything other than slow motion which Apple already provides. Slow motion is just a novelty. It's nice, but it's not as big of a feature as 4K.

 

[Justin33]

Lol. Nope.

 

[roxics]

I'm just going to say that it would be bad*** to have 4K recording and the ability to attach magnetic lenses to the protruding lens ring. That would show some Apple innovation.

 

[wilky76]

You not see 4K on the 6 because the market for 4K TV market is still young and expensive.

I have a 4K 28" monitor on my PC that cost £500 and is superb, when TV's get to around this price point in next couple of year or so then we may see it on the iPhone 7 as by that time compression methods will be better aswell, so not eating up nearly as much space as it currently does now.

I think 1080p at 60fps will be the much better option for both the 6 & 6S.