When ‘Good Enough’ Is ‘Good Enough’
From YouTube to cable TV, from iPhone video to RED cameras, there is a common mentality sweeping the industry. I call it the ‘Good Enough’ syndrome. This is the mindset that weighs the benefits of convenience and low-cost, and says, in any given application that image quality and image integrity is ‘Good Enough’. Perhaps this is the way it should be, given the current economic reality. Still, I can’t help giving credence to the ‘Good Enough’ camp in at least one critical way: When it comes to very high resolution cameras – 4K, 5K and higher – in the great majority of cases HD or 2K resolution is, well, good enough.
It’s not that I can’t see the benefit of shooting higher resolutions for digital cinema and other big screen applications. My point is rather we also need the appropriate work flow to support such high resolutions – in post-production, storage and archiving. These are all systems that require serious expansion to accommodate the much heavier data load from 4K and 5K image capture.
And then there is the question of optics. We all know that 4K and 5K cameras do not necessarily produce 4K and 5K images – in fact they rarely do. The fact is that such very high resolution sensors capture not only greater picture detail which presumably we do want, they also capture much greater lens defects, which we almost certainly do not want.
So unless you like seeing ugly fringing in your images with rampant chromatic aberration, be especially mindful of the quality of optics used with your latest and greatest high resolution camera. It’s not just that “good enough” is sometimes actually good enough. It’s more that one must consider the entire picture and not just the native pixel count of a sensor.
I was speaking to the founder of BandPro in December, and asked him where the industry was going. He said “More K, More K, More K”, meaning higher and higher resolution cameras. I was a little disappointed to hear that, because do think that a lot of applications are just fine at 1080 (especially broadcast), and the workflow is so smooth. I also don’t agree…in the doc and reality world, I see some productions shooting on Sony Z1Us and other lower-end cameras, and many production houses still hanging on to 5, 6, 7 year old Avids that barely display an HD picture. I can’t see any of these producers — who are doing a lot of content — clamoring for 4K and 5K.
The one thing I think I’d appreciate about a high-res camera is the ability to shoot an interview in a wider angle, and cut in to close-ups in editorial, rather than reframing the camera. That would be helpful sometimes…
Of course I agree with you and to a large extent the “More K. More K. More K.” comment reflects the declining sophistication of the shooting community in general. The fact is that above HD or 2K most users see little benefit given the concomitant demands of the more data-heavy workflow, storage requirements, and imperative for better FAR more expensive optics. Still whether we like it or nor the RED machine has ushered in an era where indeed the prevailing view that more K is better appears to be the order of the day.