Huge quality difference between Advanced and Professional even when scaled down ?

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The side by side comparison scared me. I thought that since my macbook's screen is not 4K and I'm watching the video scaled down to 1080p in Youtube, there would be no visible quality difference between the P3 Pro and P3 Advanced.

But to my surprise, it's like a day / night difference !

Could somebody care to explain ? I'm almost canceling my Advanced order that should be shipping tomorrow.

(I plan to view and upload my video only in 1080p quality, so I thought I didn't have to spend extra for 4K!)
 
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It's well known that scaling down 4k to 1080 results in better image sharpness and detail than shooting straight 1080. 4k also gives you ample room for cropping and stabilizing without any loss in detail when scaling down to 1080.

Some high end video cameras actually shoot 4k natively and scale down to 1080 internally as well.

Keep in mind though, that even though you plan to scale down for 1080, you will still have to deal with 4k storage and processing power on your computer, not to mention the added step of scaling things down.
 
Makes sense that a camera with a bigger better sensor would take better quality footage. Is the lens also better on the pro version?
 
Well, I wouldn't base my purchase on one video comparison. This might be accurate, but it also might not.
Plastic let on the P3A lens. Edited wrong, who knows.
I would get a few more examples side by side, so you can average them out.
 
I don't have my Advance yet so I am not familiar with the options. Are all options setup same on both other than 1080 versus 4k? Thanks for posting. I am interested in the feedback also.
 
Makes sense that a camera with a bigger better sensor would take better quality footage. Is the lens also better on the pro version?

To my knowledge, the lens and sensor are the same in both. 4k just has a lot more captured detail than 1080, that even when scaling down the difference is visible.
 
Keep in mind though, that even though you plan to scale down for 1080, you will still have to deal with 4k storage and processing power on your computer, not to mention the added step of scaling things down.

PishPosh, you kind of have a point there ... but if I bought a Pro model, I would always shoot in 1080p, so I antecipate the file size will be the same as the one coming out of the Advanced model (same resolution). Also, no scaling down workflow needed (shot in 1080p already).

That's the important question for me.. if I shoot 1080p with the Professional model, will I get roughly the same quality as I would if shot with the Advanced ?

I asked this question before on the forums, and I was told YES, that the difference would be something negligible.
 
Video taken with a P3A for another perspective. I personally find it pretty stunning.

Be sure to change the quality setting prior to watching

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That's the important question for me.. if I shoot 1080p with the Professional model, will I get roughly the same quality as I would if shot with the Advanced ?

I asked this question before on the forums, and I was told YES, that the difference would be something negligible.

Ahh yes, shooting at 1080 should result in similar, if not the same, image quality on either the advanced or pro model.
 
That's the important question for me.. if I shoot 1080p with the Professional model, will I get roughly the same quality as I would if shot with the Advanced ?.
The difference should be zero or so close to zero that you couldn't discern it.
If you don't intend shooting 4K, you're better off spending the extra $$ on batteries.

Look again at the comparisons .. it's not scary.
Both produce very good quality video but the 4K is able to be blown up further with less loss of detail.
No surprise since it's recording a lot more detail.
Just check videos from the Advanced on it's own - there's nothing wrong with the quality.
That SF example above is a good one.
 
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Take a look at this video:

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The stability in the wind is incredible.

if they aren't side by side you won't notice.
 
1080p with 4:2:0 codec is much more compressed than downscaled 4K, and it starts right after the picture is captured off the sensor.
Basically, when reading the sensor, the camera uses an algorithm to compress the information from 4 adjacent pixels as one piece of information, and later reverse the same algorithm when recording it on the card. The whole process causes some loss of information and degrade in image quality.
same compressing process happens to the 4k video as well, but it already start with 4 times more pixels. When a 4k video is downscaled, it doesn't merge every 4 pixels together, it just pushes them together, and it's done with a powerful software on a powerful computer.
The bottom line is the 1080p right out of the camera is compressed. That's why a downscaled 4K looks much better.
All being said, 1080p out of the camera won't be any different between Professional and Advanced. However, 4K downscaled will look better than 1080p.
 
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Well, I wouldn't base my purchase on one video comparison. This might be accurate, but it also might not.
Plastic let on the P3A lens. Edited wrong, who knows.
I would get a few more examples side by side, so you can average them out.
This guy makes loads of high quality videos - I doubt he's made any fundamental mistakes.
 
1080p with 4:2:0 codec is much more compressed than downscaled 4K, and it starts right after the picture is captured off the sensor.
Basically, when reading the sensor, the camera uses an algorithm to compress the information from 4 adjacent pixels as one piece of information, and later reverse the same algorithm when recording it on the card. The whole process causes some loss of information and degrade in image quality.
same compressing process happens to the 4k video as well, but it already start with 4 times more pixels. When a 4k video is downscaled, it doesn't merge every 4 pixels together, it just pushes them together, and it's done with a powerful software on a powerful computer.
The bottom line is the 1080p right out of the camera is compressed. That's why a downscaled 4K looks much better.
All being said, 1080p out of the camera won't be any different between Professional and Advanced. However, 4K downscaled will look better than 1080p.
This is the exact reason why I bought the professional. Also, you need that powerful of a computer - the processing just takes longer. Really you just need a couple fast cores and some RAM and you're fine.
 
1080p with 4:2:0 codec is much more compressed than downscaled 4K, and it starts right after the picture is captured off the sensor.
Basically, when reading the sensor, the camera uses an algorithm to compress the information from 4 adjacent pixels as one piece of information, and later reverse the same algorithm when recording it on the card. The whole process causes some loss of information and degrade in image quality.
same compressing process happens to the 4k video as well, but it already start with 4 times more pixels. When a 4k video is downscaled, it doesn't merge every 4 pixels together, it just pushes them together, and it's done with a powerful software on a powerful computer.
The bottom line is the 1080p right out of the camera is compressed. That's why a downscaled 4K looks much better.
All being said, 1080p out of the camera won't be any different between Professional and Advanced. However, 4K downscaled will look better than 1080p.

Good explanation.

Since I don't have the patience for doing this downscalling in post and I don't want to deal with the extra storage needed (my macbook's SSD is already full enough), I think I'm sticking with the Advanced !
 
Video taken with a P3A for another perspective. I personally find it pretty stunning.

Be sure to change the quality setting prior to watching

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

How do you know that was the advanced, did i miss something were he stated it was.
 
I have just watched the max height video on the other thread, that's an advanced and i was really shocked how good i thought it was. Seems nothing wrong with the 1080p camera to me.
 

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