The Benefits of 4K Photo

Many traditional photographers hear the words “video” and immediately become disinterested. But when it comes to the latest buzzword in camera technology, 4K, it’s not just videographers who should be excited - there are many practical applications for those who only want to shoot stills too.

How many times have you missed the exact moment you wanted to capture because somebody blinked, turned their head, or moved out of frame?

For those who want to shoot typically fast moving subjects, such as sports and wildlife, modern cameras offer plenty of benefits such as electronic shutters for fast shutter speeds.

4K however, takes it one step further and allows you to capture split-second moments like never before. Thanks to the ultra-high resolution which 4K video offers, it’s possible to grab a still from captured video which is high quality enough to be used as a standalone still image.

The reason you can extract the exact moment you need is thanks to the high frame rate which 4K video shooting offers. Even professional cameras used by sports photographers generally top out at around 12-14 frames per second, while those designed for amateur and enthusiast photographers are generally much lower, and therefore slower.

By contrast, 4K video shooting operates at 30 frames per second - that’s 30 different shots for every single second which may contain that crucial expression, winning shot or moment of celebration that you wanted.

A technique which should be appreciated by professional sports and wildlife photographers, it’s also something that is practical to use every day too. Those with families and children could use it to savour the perfect moment at a birthday party, Christmas or those afternoons spent playing in the garden. Those who enjoy trips to the zoo could use it to get the perfect shot of a lion interacting with its cubs.

The possibilities are pretty endless, and there’s lots of scope for beautifully creative shots in a home studio that you could set up on your dining room table. Why not try setting up 4K video recording to capture an exploding water balloon - the precise moment where the balloon is popped and the water retains its shape is almost impossible to see with the naked eye, but it can be captured using 4K video. You could try dropping a sugar lump into a cup of coffee and choosing one of the interesting shapes that it creates as it splashes.

Several Panasonic cameras now offer 4K video, including the GH4, G7 GX8 and the FZ1000 bridge camera. Both the GX8 and the G7 have dedicated 4K photo modes which make extracting stills from 4K video so easy - you won’t need any specialist software or equipment to do it. 

Amy Davies is a freelance journalist and photographer. She spends a good proportion of her time testing new cameras for the likes of TechRadar, Digital Camera, What Digital Camera, Photography Blog, Stuff and various other publications and has been using the Micro Four Thirds system for several years.