Future Proof Your Time-lapse Project
Future-proofing is an item’s capacity to be of relevance as far ahead into the future as possible, so that it does not become obsolete quickly. Most long-term time-lapse projects, like a building construction will last for 3 to 5 years from start to completion. 4K UHD is already the next big thing in the world of digital video. It is likely to become mainstream over the next few years. UHD has enabled the sharpest images to be captured yet without compromising quality during edit. The TITAN 3 Time-lapse Camera uses Canon/Nikon DSLR, to shoot high quality still images to produce awesome Ultra HD videos at 4K and above. So getting a 4K video output simply means shooting at 3840 pixels × 2160 lines (8.3 megapixels, aspect ratio 16:9). Whenever possible, we shoot at 6K resolution (6144×3072 pixels at 19 megapixels). We find 6K to be the “goldilocks” resolution. It is the best compromise in terms of data management vs quality.
4K – More Flexibility in Post Production
Since time-lapse cameras are static, fixed to a location for the most part, the lack of camera movement is certainly a disadvantage. Shooting in 4K and beyond lets you zoom into the action, to an area within the framing, to give more focus to where the activities are. If your final video output is HD, shooting at 4K allows for “zoom in” up to 100% without losing quality. We use this “zoom in and out” camera movement almost all the time in our time-lapse production.
For these 2 reasons, shooting any multi-year time-lapse now on a resolution lower than 4K is not advisable.