Other Will iPhone 17 finally shoot 8k?

[shadowboi]

In 2024 it looks almost pathetic for 48mp camera to still shoot 4k. It is like, is there even point in such a high resolution if it still shoots 8 megapixels?

Look, before you say “but man, it will take tremendous amount of storage”. Yeah, I know. But we gotta progress somehow, right? Or else there wasn’t much need to quadruple sensor resolution at all.

I don’t believe modern processors cannot process this high quality.

When iPhone 4s received new 8mp sensor it started shooting 1080p. Yeah, just 2mp. But back in 2011 it was the main resolution for web video. When 6s got 12mp sensor it started shooting 4k30 right away, whole 8mp. Quite effective, right? And when we saw iPhone 14 Pro with 48MP quad bayer “something” we got… ah we got nothing! Just blah blah blah about “best camera in the world”. If so, it would have been awesome to get ideal details and see actual benefit of the new camera system.

Now we have a third gen of this sensor and all we have is 120fps. No, I mean everyone sometimes shoots sport events but… isn’t it way too incremental?

I had noticed Apple focuses too much on camera image processing instead of real spec bump. Videos have become more smooth and stabilized, less noisy (thanks to dumb NR algorithms that often make night footage look like trash) and more “sharp” (because of sharpening/clarity filter they put on top, hopefully it is not as oversharpened as on Samsung).

I hope 17 Pro will finally get adequate high video resolution. After all, those terabytes of storage need to be put on some work. And even if not 8k, maybe 5.3k at least?

No, no… I don’t really hope. I speculate iPhone 17 WILL get 8k. How else are they supposed to sell new phones?? Drip feeding tactic will continue its way into 2025. Maybe, I mean just maybe we get some sort of TTFL flash one day…

 

[the-bigwig]

imo one thing apple should consider is bumping the slow motion quality and/or fps. 240/1080p in 2024 is pathetic. 4K is still ok I think though.

 

[LionTeeth]

Who out there is just dying for “8K” anything? There’s no standard yet for television resolution. The sensors on an iPhone barely shoot true 4K, and on these small screens you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between 4k and 1080

I can put a well done 1080p bluray on my calibrated tv and it looks better than UHD. What is the purpose of 8K?

 

[shadowboi]

Who out there is just dying for “8K” anything? There’s no standard yet for television resolution. The sensors on an iPhone barely shoot true 4K, and on these small screens you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between 4k and 1080

I can put a well done 1080p bluray on my calibrated tv and it looks better than UHD. What is the purpose of 8K?

That’s another problem: those do not shoot true 4k. And it is not really a problem to get them shooting it with some 3rd party apps, but still I barely understand why it is still not possible in main camera.

Professional 1080 will blow iPhone 4k out of the water for sure. But thats why iPhone is more sort of consumer-oriented product. Codecs and compression matter a lot, too. Shooting in 50mbps 1080 can produce similar sharp videos on iPhone, surely not as good as on TV but still acceptable for viewing.

Meanwhile I learned that Samsung flagships already shoot 8k so Apple will once again play follower, not leader

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

That’s another problem: those do not shoot true 4k. And it is not really a problem to get them shooting it with some 3rd party apps, but still I barely understand why it is still not possible in main camera.

Professional 1080 will blow iPhone 4k out of the water for sure. But thats why iPhone is more sort of consumer-oriented product. Codecs and compression matter a lot, too. Shooting in 50mbps 1080 can produce similar sharp videos on iPhone, surely not as good as on TV but still acceptable for viewing.

Meanwhile I learned that Samsung flagships already shoot 8k so Apple will once again play follower, not leader

So what if Samsung has a phone that shoots 8k? It's just spec sheet wars. I don't care if the numbers are bigger, the numbers are already big enough. I want better lenses, more versatility in the image processing allowing for a wider range of shooting styles, and so forth. I reckon a well sorted 4k iPhone will outperform any number of random phones shooting at 8k.

 

[Trausner]

Shooting 8K has other use cases too. You can shoot A-roll or an interview in 8K and then crop in to get different zoom factors. The final video you can then export in 4k and all of it will look like it is shot in 4k even when doing a 50% zoom. Ive been doing this with 4k shooting and 1080p exporting for years but in order to pull off 4k exporting i need 8K recording. And i also hope iphone 17 pro will finally have 8K recording. If it can pull off 4k 120fps processing and 48mp photos, then it should also be able to pull off 8K 30fps.

 

[FlyingDutch]

That’s another problem: those do not shoot true 4k. And it is not really a problem to get them shooting it with some 3rd party apps, but still I barely understand why it is still not possible in main camera.

Professional 1080 will blow iPhone 4k out of the water for sure. But thats why iPhone is more sort of consumer-oriented product. Codecs and compression matter a lot, too. Shooting in 50mbps 1080 can produce similar sharp videos on iPhone, surely not as good as on TV but still acceptable for viewing.

Meanwhile I learned that Samsung flagships already shoot 8k so Apple will once again play follower, not leader

A LOT of professionals, and I mean A LOT , use an iPhone for shooting while very few , if any, use a Samsung. It doesn’t really matter if they use 8K for marketing purposes

 

[FlyingDutch]

So what if Samsung has a phone that shoots 8k? It's just spec sheet wars. I don't care if the numbers are bigger, the numbers are already big enough. I want better lenses, more versatility in the image processing allowing for a wider range of shooting styles, and so forth. I reckon a well sorted 4k iPhone will outperform any number of random phones shooting at 8k.

Exactly. Resolution it is not an indication of quality, if you are not an amateur

 

[naturalguy]

Just no need for 8k at this point

 

[Trausner]

Just no need for 8k at this point

Just 3 comments up i gave a good use case. 8K is necessary to export & publish 4k. And 4k is useful. There are plenty of 4k tvs and devices. So 8K recording would support that in giving multiple zoom factors for 4k export.

 

[tCdemon]

People that want 8k on the iPhone are also the people that want 4k on the iPhone screen...just invest in a nice 8k camera...or just got get a Samsung.

 

[FlyingDutch]

Just 3 comments up i gave a good use case. 8K is necessary to export & publish 4k. And 4k is useful. There are plenty of 4k tvs and devices. So 8K recording would support that in giving multiple zoom factors for 4k export.

8K is coming to iPhone, sooner or later. It just doesn’t have a priority right now.

People that want 8k on the iPhone are also the people that want 4k on the iPhone screen...just invest in a nice 8k camera...or just got get a Samsung.

Even Sony abandoned the idea of a 4K display lately 😅
And Samsung’s shoots at 8K aren’t any better than iPhone’s 4K… they just take much more storage.

 

[RigSatMe]

8k - great resolution for TV where PPI is low compared to iPhones, Tablets and Laptops, however:
1080p - H264
4k - h264/HEVC (aka H265)
8k - no commercial codec which preserves the same quality as HEVC, but a file size is 2x less of HEVC while meeting streaming bandwidth. There are rumors about h266, but it remains to be seen.
So far 8K is only for pro movie cameras like RED, ARRI, Panavision, Blackmagic... to crop the picture while having great quality.

 

[L92]

I don’t see much purpose in this beyond marketing. Considering the sensor size, resolution, and optics quality of an iPhone, these phones don’t even achieve true 4K. If I stop down my full-frame 24MP MILC to produce a similar image to my phone, the camera’s 4K output is far more detailed. Adding an 8K option to the phone might provide a marginal improvement (perhaps around 10%) but would result in insanely large file sizes. Given that most people consume this media on their phones, it feels like massive overkill. That said, even the iPhone’s 4K looks very good on a TV.

What is clear, however, is that LOG encoding can produce vastly better-looking videos than the default settings. The focus should be on creating a less oversharpened and overprocessed default video output, as that is entirely achievable.

 

[Jackbequickly]

What would one play back the 8k on. Nothing available that I know of. Looking at 8k on a phone screen is ridiculous. We are a way off from having or needing 8k.

 

[shadowboi]

A LOT of professionals, and I mean A LOT , use an iPhone for shooting while very few , if any, use a Samsung. It doesn’t really matter if they use 8K for marketing purposes

Rumors tell even GoPro will have 8K next year. I don’t quite understand whats holding Apple at this point: processors are fast, sensors are very large. No matter that I probably won’t use it, the thing is it should be there just for the sake of being there. Right now I happily shoot 4k30 on my 11 Pro, but it would be fun to switch to new iPhone just to shoot the same 4k30 again.

Also 8k is good for another reason: video grabs. I know those are not photos but I still find myself making frame grabs often when shooting vids.

Btw I am still waiting for Apple to embrace “open gate” or 4:3 full sensor 4k videos, it would open up the world of editing and cropping possibilities. I know I can do it in plenty of 3rd party apps but it would be a nice feature to have in Final Cut Camera and stock Camera app

 

[shadowboi]

Exactly. Resolution it is not an indication of quality, if you are not an amateur

Not in smartphones tho. With real professional 1080i camera from 2008 one can shoot more detailed videos than any modern smartphone, no doubt. Lens and sensor matter much more than some image processing.

Smartphones need to shoot as high res as possible to get good image quality comparable to something more or less high-end

 

[FlyingDutch]

Rumors tell even GoPro will have 8K next year. I don’t quite understand whats holding Apple at this point: processors are fast, sensors are very large. No matter that I probably won’t use it, the thing is it should be there just for the sake of being there. Right now I happily shoot 4k30 on my 11 Pro, but it would be fun to switch to new iPhone just to shoot the same 4k30 again.

Also 8k is good for another reason: video grabs. I know those are not photos but I still find myself making frame grabs often when shooting vids.

Btw I am still waiting for Apple to embrace “open gate” or 4:3 full sensor 4k videos, it would open up the world of editing and cropping possibilities. I know I can do it in plenty of 3rd party apps but it would be a nice feature to have in Final Cut Camera and stock Camera app

Smartphones’ sensors are not “very large” at all.

 

[shadowboi]

Smartphones’ sensors are not “very large” at all.

Comparing to the last decade those are humongous🤣 But I am yet to see actual differences, cropping an iPhone photo still looks like mess.

Btw thanks to larger sensor we now have new problems — ugly camera bumps, bigger minimum focus distance etc

 

[Treborray]

Man if that phone end up shooting 8k im going to have to grab a MacBook Pro Max haha