I just started video editing a year ago and came across this video when looking for "should i upload videos in 4k or 1080p". This trick is definitely amazing. Thanks for the easy to understand illustration.
I'd say 1080p as you've effectively downscaled your 4k footage onto a 1080p timeline. If you then export it in 4k, you're stretching it back to 4k or upscaling it to 4k from a 1080 timeline. I've read that the "upscaling" on Premiere can be quite good if you get the export settings right but it still won't be true 4k. Least that's my understanding of it, I'm sure Matt will chime in at some point 👍
Ill edit in 1080p then when Im ready to export I switch the project/timeline to 4k, thats in Davinci Resolve its seems a little faster to edit that way
Was looking for this exact comment. My DaVinci runs slow on a 4k timeline, so I actually discovered this by accident when I was ready for export and figured out my timeline was actually on 1080. Switched to 4k on the timeline before the export and then exported 4k. Not sure if it induces any quality loss by doing that but it still looks good.
Yea no prob, also noticed that rendering in h.265 also speeds up rendering time in Davinci, it uses more GPU over h.264, so both CPU and GPU are cranking out frames, I shoot at 24frames and color corrected and edited footage shoots out of Davinci at 60frames while it renders so it comes out at about 3X faster than real time
You helpt me a lot. I Tief to do it the other way on a 4K timeline. This gave me a number of problems. Now, thanks to your video you gave me the best solution, Thanks!
@@mattjohnsonphoto Hey, this video was super helpful. I accidently shot a video in in 4k - looks so great. It's an interview. I followed your steps, the only issue is in the timeline, the audio is still flickering and the video as well. so I am so confused what I'm doing wrong. I can't for the life of me edit this clip properly because it keeps flickering - when i exported it , it worked and it looks great on it's own but Editing it is impossible. I know you're busy but I can't find a fix anywhere :(
One question sir , but if you export it in 4k , Will it still remain the same movement ( dolly zoom + panning ) and also better resolution , or it will change ? does it work like a proxy ?
THIS! This is exactly what I needed to do. I am shooting aviation footage in 4K, but final rendering in 1080p for web use. I thought I would be able to zoom in, but did not know how to do it (don't need the dolly-zoom effect, but all the rest). Many thanks. You were clear and to the point. New subscriber.
You could edit in a 4K Sequence (with 4K footage) and zoom in anywhere and provided you will render in 1080p then as long as you don't Scale in past 200% then you should be okay... right? You should not loose any resolution below 1080p and you avoid setting all of this stuff which takes extra time... leaving it on automatic by selecting the 4K or highest resolution clip. As long as you know the resolution of the clip you are Scaling and know your limits then there shouldn't be any problem unless you have a project which would require constant mixing of cameras...
This is an interesting idea. I'd have to test it out and see if there is a quality difference. The only issue I see is that anytime you upscale your video, you lose quality, even if you export it in a lower resolution. By doing it the way I suggest you never upscale any video. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying I don't know if there would be a difference in the final quality between the 2 methods.
@@mattjohnsonphoto Lets say I have a 4K video in a 4K sequence... But I need to zoom in to about 170%. Obviously that part of the video will be less than 4K or a little better than 1080p (as long as you don't zoom beyond 200%). Whether you work in a 1080p or a 4K sequence it should be the same loss in that part of the video (correct?). When rendering that's where you would see a difference. If you render in 1080p there should be almost no difference, but if you render in 4K then yes. At least I tried playing it in the timeline with both methods and the resolution seems the same in PP preview monitor (which it usually defaults to 1080p viewing). I'll try to reder it with both methods and let you know.
If I play with it in a Multicam nest sequence I believe I should be able to change the scaling up or down without it being permanent and having a loss. Will check it out.
After exporting this video is it still 4K quality or does it demote to standard high def? I was told by a professional editor that if you edit 4k video in a 2k sequence, it's no longer 4k quality.
Are you telling me that if I edit 4k footage on a 4k sequence and scale the image up that I would lose quality? whereas on a 1080p you don't lose quality even though it is technically zoomed in?
I just started video editing a year ago and came across this video when looking for "should i upload videos in 4k or 1080p". This trick is definitely amazing. Thanks for the easy to understand illustration.
I'm glad it helped!
I'd say 1080p as you've effectively downscaled your 4k footage onto a 1080p timeline. If you then export it in 4k, you're stretching it back to 4k or upscaling it to 4k from a 1080 timeline. I've read that the "upscaling" on Premiere can be quite good if you get the export settings right but it still won't be true 4k. Least that's my understanding of it, I'm sure Matt will chime in at some point 👍
Joe you are on point with this answer. Couldn't have said it better myself.
But how can it be upscaling when in essence it was shot in true 4k?(uhd) the timeline is just the wrapper sorta speak to house it
@@YoungBlaze I think because you're upscaling the 1080comp itself to 4k so it's stretching up
Late to the party but is this better than making proxies in a 4k timeline?
how would you usually export this ? 4k or still 1080?
You could do either, but it's native state is 1080p.
@@mattjohnsonphoto sweet thanks !
Ill edit in 1080p then when Im ready to export I switch the project/timeline to 4k, thats in Davinci Resolve its seems a little faster to edit that way
Was looking for this exact comment. My DaVinci runs slow on a 4k timeline, so I actually discovered this by accident when I was ready for export and figured out my timeline was actually on 1080. Switched to 4k on the timeline before the export and then exported 4k. Not sure if it induces any quality loss by doing that but it still looks good.
this might have just saved my life on my next video project thank you
Yea no prob, also noticed that rendering in h.265 also speeds up rendering time in Davinci, it uses more GPU over h.264, so both CPU and GPU are cranking out frames, I shoot at 24frames and color corrected and edited footage shoots out of Davinci at 60frames while it renders so it comes out at about 3X faster than real time
What if i did This same process in after effects?...will the exported video will loose it's quality?
You helpt me a lot. I Tief to do it the other way on a 4K timeline. This gave me a number of problems. Now, thanks to your video you gave me the best solution, Thanks!
Glad it helped!
This is best usage of 4k on 1080p timeline. Slight dolly & pans without actual dolly or pan. :)
Great video. However if I do this , use 4k on 1080p timeline, should I export in 4k(1080p upsxaled) or in 1080p regular ?
I would export in 1080p in this situation. You could upscale to 4k if you wanted to but you'll get the cleanest video by exporting to 1080p.
So what if you used a 720 timeline but exported it out in 4k
I don't think it would look very good. That's a lot of upsampling to go from 720 to 4k. But try it out and see how it goes.
@@mattjohnsonphoto Hey, this video was super helpful. I accidently shot a video in in 4k - looks so great. It's an interview. I followed your steps, the only issue is in the timeline, the audio is still flickering and the video as well. so I am so confused what I'm doing wrong. I can't for the life of me edit this clip properly because it keeps flickering - when i exported it , it worked and it looks great on it's own but Editing it is impossible. I know you're busy but I can't find a fix anywhere :(
One question sir , but if you export it in 4k , Will it still remain the same movement ( dolly zoom + panning ) and also better resolution , or it will change ?
does it work like a proxy ?
Yes, if you export in 4k you will still get the same movement. The resolution might be better, but premiere will be upscaling the video during export.
@@mattjohnsonphoto thanks for your response sir
THIS! This is exactly what I needed to do. I am shooting aviation footage in 4K, but final rendering in 1080p for web use. I thought I would be able to zoom in, but did not know how to do it (don't need the dolly-zoom effect, but all the rest). Many thanks. You were clear and to the point. New subscriber.
I'm glad it helped
if you import 4k footage on a 1080P timeline but then export as 4k, will it still be real 4k or is it still upscaling?
It will be upscaling.
This is what I’m talking about. Perfect! Champ!!!!
Thanks! Happy to help.
2688 x 1512 is a resolution I often use...how much of that can i crop into a 1080p timeline without losing quality with that resolution?
about 50%
You could edit in a 4K Sequence (with 4K footage) and zoom in anywhere and provided you will render in 1080p then as long as you don't Scale in past 200% then you should be okay... right? You should not loose any resolution below 1080p and you avoid setting all of this stuff which takes extra time... leaving it on automatic by selecting the 4K or highest resolution clip. As long as you know the resolution of the clip you are Scaling and know your limits then there shouldn't be any problem unless you have a project which would require constant mixing of cameras...
This is an interesting idea. I'd have to test it out and see if there is a quality difference.
The only issue I see is that anytime you upscale your video, you lose quality, even if you export it in a lower resolution.
By doing it the way I suggest you never upscale any video.
I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying I don't know if there would be a difference in the final quality between the 2 methods.
@@mattjohnsonphoto Lets say I have a 4K video in a 4K sequence... But I need to zoom in to about 170%. Obviously that part of the video will be less than 4K or a little better than 1080p (as long as you don't zoom beyond 200%). Whether you work in a 1080p or a 4K sequence it should be the same loss in that part of the video (correct?). When rendering that's where you would see a difference. If you render in 1080p there should be almost no difference, but if you render in 4K then yes.
At least I tried playing it in the timeline with both methods and the resolution seems the same in PP preview monitor (which it usually defaults to 1080p viewing).
I'll try to reder it with both methods and let you know.
If I play with it in a Multicam nest sequence I believe I should be able to change the scaling up or down without it being permanent and having a loss. Will check it out.
I just tested this out. exporting from a 1080p timeline does look better! The image will be a bit more crisp, especially anything that was zoomed in.
After exporting this video is it still 4K quality or does it demote to standard high def? I was told by a professional editor that if you edit 4k video in a 2k sequence, it's no longer 4k quality.
Yes, your finished product will be in 1080p. Although you could export it in 4k, but then it is upsampled 1080p.
Nice Vid, I’m a Fcpx convert & Pr is fascinating.
It really is!
Great video, the picture of Palouse falls made me click!
Thanks! Palouse falls is one of the gems of south east washington!
Hi,
When downscaling a 4k video to 1080p, can i do slow motion also from 4k to 1080p 30fps or do i have to shoot on a 60fps 1080p?
To get the best slow motion you need to shoot at a higher frame rate like 60 fps.
@@mattjohnsonphoto Thank you Mr. Matt Johnson. appreciate your reply. :) will try it on my mobile phone :)
thank you for your help man
Happy to help
Very clear and concise. Thanks!
You're very welcome
This doesn't seem to be a why but a how
Cool!
Has anyone ever told you your voice sounds kinda like Seth Rogan?
Yes actually. I'm a high school teacher and my students have mentioned that several times.
how about the quality? is it will reduce the 4k quality?
Yes, you are basically turning your 4k content into 1080p content
if we edit 4k in 720p ?
You have even more pixels to work with from your 4k footage.
Confusing tutorial
Watch it again!
Are you telling me that if I edit 4k footage on a 4k sequence and scale the image up that I would lose quality? whereas on a 1080p you don't lose quality even though it is technically zoomed in?
Yes, that is correct.