If ltt uses 12k cameras, why isn't his image sharp?

[DUBER]

i'm just curious UwU

[TylerD321]

Well, for one, YouTube compression.

[DrMacintosh]

YouTube bit rate is  

[Zando_]

Few reasons:

• They only (AFAIK) post up to 4K videos.
• As others noted, YT compression crunches said videos.
• your player says "HD", meaning you are viewing 1080p or 1440p, so it's even more downscaled and crunched than 4K would be.

[matt0725]

along with the reasons everyone else gave, they use all kinds of lenses, and its possible to be out of focus for a moment(or more), which will be blurry/not sharp even if they recorded in 120k

[Electronics Wizardy]

Also I'm pretty sure they stopped suing the ursa 12k cameras and started using the sony fx6 and other fx cameras. I think there generally better to work with cameras.

 

From that Image it looks a lot like compression, not blur.

 

Its also vloggy footage, the studio shots are much better quality. If focus is pulled live or autofocus is using is hard to keep it perfect.

 

Also was it their goal to have the sharpest footage in this shot? its not always best to aim for the sharpest possible image.

[DeltaBruggemann]

Also they moved away from the Black Magic Design URSA 12K's in favour of Sony FX6's and FX3's which use a 4K sensor.

[DUBER]

oh wow, everyone was pretty helpful here. thankyou all for explaining!!

i was just curious coz of what this could mean for myself filming in the future!!

[Kilrah]

That looks like a phone selfie cam vlog shot.

[Needfuldoer]

An image can be out of focus but still high resolution, because the lens acts separately from the image sensor. (My early attempts at full manual DSLR photography can attest to that.) You just get more pixels of blurry.

 

That's why you want a skilled camera operator shooting with manual focus, instead of relying on auto-focus. Auto-focus has a tendency to hunt for a target and make the video twitch, or focus on something besides the subject you want to shoot. 

 

If that shot was recorded on a phone selfie cam, it's more than likely auto-focus. It looks like it locked onto the window frame instead of Jake's face. (The open window behind him isn't helping things either; that underexposes the foreground as the camera irises down to compensate for the bright sunlight.)

[ToboRobot]

Sensors can be high resolution but focus and the optics of the lens can also effect on the sharpness of the image.

[saintlouisbagels]

Image resolution is just the number of pixels. It doesn't mean it's a sharp or a blurry image.

Back in the day cell phones had ~2.0 megapixel cameras and they took potato quality images. Do you know what else is 2.0 megapixels?  A 1080p video.

 

To answer to your question, there are a lot of factors at play.

- The subject is out of focus. When focusing on an object, there's a certain depth/distance OTHER objects have to be within if you want them to be in focus as well. This depth becomes smaller/thinner as you work with larger apertures and larger sensors. It's the same reason why "real" cameras have great bokeh, while most smartphone cameras shoot everything basically everything in focus.

- You took a screenshot of a video. You probably already know this but videos are nowhere near as sharp as photographs. This is compounded by the fact that you grabbed an image from an object that was in motion, so there's motion blur added. Motion blur can be alleviated by shooting in higher refresh rates. Most movies are 24p, most shows are 30p. A lot of YouTube videos are either 30p or 60p. That's still not fast enough if you're hoping to grab a sharp image out of a moving picture. My camera can take a photo at 1/8000th of a second.

- YouTube compression. Full-fat data streams are massive and impractical. So YouTube compresses good video into mediocre quality.

[Zodiark1593]

Even with tons of resolution, editors may choose to conservatively use, or omit, sharpening, during their post-process. High resolution images tend to lend well to heavy sharpening, however, it may not be to everyone's taste, and the editor may prefer a more natural look.

 

Beyond that, while Youtube's compression has improved leaps and bounds, especially if you're using AV1 (official spec for bit rate has it matching, or even exceeding, regular Blu Ray), depending on your setup, it may not be perfect. Even if you're using a lower resolution screen, you will benefit from heightened bit rates, when using the 4K option.

 

Finally, LTT has opted to change over to predominately Sony, I believe they're using mostly FX6s, which shoot 4K. Though unless they've cropped in heavily, you're unlikely to notice a deficit to resolution. Additionally, high resolution comes with certain tradeoffs. Even workflow aside (which was also a reason for LMG to switch), the 4K sensors in the FX6 are quite a lot more flexible, and forgiving in a variety of lighting conditions, which can help greatly when your workflow is pretty breakneck fast, and perfecting the lighting may take far too much time.