How to shoot HD video with your phone

When you pick up the phone, you must first understand what it does, although now the smartphone is automatically set, but also according to their own needs to make some manual parameters adjustments.

One of the most basic requirements for ensuring a clear video is to set the resolution and frame count.

What exactly does resolution mean

When you enlarge a photo, you will find that the picture is composed of many "small squares" with different colors, these small squares are what we often call "pixels", and the horizontal and vertical pixel values in the picture are multiplied by the resolution.

If we look at the following two comparison charts, we can feel the difference in the effect of different resolutions.

As you can see from this analog illustration, within the same size dimensions, each "small square" represents a pixel.

The resolution of the left image is 9*9=81, and the picture is composed of 81 pixels. The resolution of the right image is 17*17=289, and the picture consists of 289 pixels.

Compared with the two hearts, the edges of the hearts in the right image are smoother and more delicate, which is the difference in resolution and the clarity brought by pixels to the picture.

The resolution options for shooting video on Apple phones are 720P, 1080P, and 4K.

If you choose 1080P to shoot video, then there will be 1920 × 1080 pixels on the screen, which is about 2 million pixels; if you choose 4K to shoot video, then there will be 4096 × 2160 pixels on the screen.

Watching two different videos on the same phone, the video shot in 4K is definitely clearer and more detailed, because there are more pixels that make up the picture.

So we remember that the higher the resolution, the sharper the video.

The image below is a screenshot of 3 videos taken in the same scene, with the same phone, 720P, 1080P and 4K. Look closely at the level of detail on the edges of the building, there is still a big difference.

720P

1080P

4K

The picture of 720P is not as clear as the picture of 1080P, and the picture of 1080P is not as clear as the picture of 4K, especially when played on the big screen, the contrast effect will be more obvious.

How to choose a shooting resolution

Our common resolutions generally have 480P (SD), 720P (HD), 1080P (Full HD), 4K (Ultra HD) these four kinds.

With the configuration of mobile phones getting higher and higher, the lowest resolution for shooting video on mobile phones is now 720P.

On some short video apps, the video resolution required to be taken is also higher than 720P.

This is done to ensure that the video can be clearer, play more smoothly, and improve the visual experience of viewing.

However, the resolution is different, the memory occupied by the video is also different, and the network speed requirements are also different when playing in the network. For us, how should we choose the resolution?

How do different phones choose a resolution? Because there are too many brands and models of mobile phones, I have summarized a rule for everyone.

Apple phone selection steps: settings - camera - record video - select resolution.

Steps to select an Android phone: Turn on camera — Settings (top left or top right icon) — Video resolution, or select a resolution directly from the video shoot interface.

apple

Huawei

Nubia

As for which resolution to choose, we first recommend 1080P.

Using this resolution, we can ensure that the video we shoot is clear, the sound effect is good, and the use of the phone's memory is reasonable when played on any platform. Compared to other resolutions, 1080P resolution is universal.

What exactly is the use of frame counts

Looking at the following figure first, the fps in the red box represents the number of frames. I am often asked, what does frame count mean? So let's first look at the concept of frame number.

The film is made up of consecutive pictures, each of which is a frame. The number of frames we usually say, that is, the number of pictures transmitted in 1 second, is usually expressed as Frames Per Second.

Each frame is a still image, and displaying the frames in quick succession creates the illusion of motion. The more frames per second (fps), the smoother the action displayed and the more realistic the action will be.

For example, the 30fps marked in the above figure means that 30 static pictures can be played continuously for 1 second; 60fps means that 60 static pictures can be played continuously for 1 second.

When the human brain sees more than 10 consecutive pictures played in 1 second, it will determine that it is a coherent picture, that is, a video.

How to choose the number of frames to shoot

For mobile phones, because of the impact of the machine's ability to process pictures and storage capabilities, most mobile phones shoot video frames (whether the resolution is 720P or 1080P) will mostly default to 30fps, and some Android phones do not have the option to select the number of frames, and can only use the default frame number.

If you choose a high frame rate, such as choosing 60fps for shooting, then some of the special effects, beautification and other functions of the shooting cannot be used.

Or choose 4K resolution to shoot, you can't choose the number of frames, you can only use the default 30fps.

However, with the continuous update of the hardware of the mobile phone, the increase in user demand, the increase in the brand awareness of the manufacturer, and now there are many mobile phones on the market that can record high-speed video.

When shooting video at normal speed, it is recommended to choose 60fps, so that the adjustable space will be larger in post-editing.

Therefore, in order to ensure the clarity and fluency of the picture, it is recommended to choose the parameters of 1080p resolution + 60fps frame to shoot video.