Working with 1080p vs 4K

Might be a stupid question for some but after some searching I have not been able to find the answer

Camera records in 4K ... My final video will be 1080p. I want to utilize the quality in 4k to be able to zoom in on the 4k footage "lossless"

Will FCP utilize the 4K quality if project is set to 1080p ??

To be able to zoom in on your 4K footage, create your 1080p project and then when you drop a 4K clip onto the timeline select the clip and set the spatial conform (in the video inspector) to NONE. Your image will immediately show scaled up and you can resize it and reposition it as needed to fill the 1080 frame.

NOW it looks right ... Thank you !!

dgwvideo wrote: To be able to zoom in on your 4K footage, create your 1080p project and then when you drop a 4K clip onto the timeline select the clip and set the spatial conform (in the video inspector) to NONE. Your image will immediately show scaled up and you can resize it and reposition it as needed to fill the 1080 frame.

In some other NLEs this may be required, but in FCPX you can leave spatial conform at FIT or FILL, and a 4k clip in a 1080p timeline will show the underlying 4k detail when transformed (zoomed) to 200% and repositioned. The extra detail is visible both in the FCPX viewer and if exported to 1080p.

There are some possible performance advantages to using 4k in a 1080p timeline, because render file size (hence generation time) is based on timeline resolution, not original media resolution.

@joema.....has this always been the case with FCPX?

I don't remember. I has been that way at least back to around 10.1.4; I don't know about earlier. When I formerly used Premiere Pro CS6 I had to use the procedure you described. I was surprised that FCPX did not require that.

Joema is correct.

However I have had some instances where I needed to set it to NONE to get all the detail. Usually working with 3rd party plugins that use perspective like XEffects Toolkit. I apply the 3D Perspective to a compound clip with a very large still image inside and when you get close it's really blurry unless everything is set to NONE. I can't apply the effect directly to the image itself otherwise the borders get clipped.

Oddly I see a BIG difference in quality after having done as dwgvideo suggests. Only plug-in applied in both cases is Colourfinale Pro - and it is the same LUT that I have applied in both cases. Will do some further testing

"Fit " or Fill (the same with 16/9° UHD) and possibly zooming up to 200 %

or

"None", go to 50% for each clip to be full frame, and possiblly zoom up back to 100%

both give similar results, except that the first one (Fit/Fill) is much more convenient and time saving

now I have read on this very forum that it will give mushy exports ... ? (never tried)

who compared ?

Xavier Novembre wrote: ...both give similar results, except that the first one (Fit/Fill) is much more convenient and time saving...now I have read on this very forum that it will give mushy exports ... ? (never tried)...

Using 4k in a 1080 timeline, you can use Spatial Conform=fit and scale to 200% or set Spatial Conform=none and don't scale. In both cases if exporting at 1080p the resolution is the same. You can easily test this yourself.

There are other more complex situations involving 1080p content in a 4k timeline vs 1080p timeline, both exported as 1080p which may in some cases significantly degrade the resolution depending on the source codec and export codec. Reported cases include screen capture 1080p video from OBS and exported 1080p H264 video from Microsoft PowerPoint. This apparently does not happen if exporting from FCPX as ProRes 422 or exporting from Premiere or Resolve as H264. I am investigating these.

joema wrote:

Xavier Novembre wrote: "Fit " or Fill (the same with 16/9° UHD) and possibly zooming up to 200 %

or

"None", go to 50% for each clip to be full frame, and possiblly zoom up back to 100%...both give similar results, except that the first one (Fit/Fill) is much more convenient and time saving...now I have read on this very forum that it will give mushy exports ... ? (never tried)...

Using 4k in a 1080 timeline, you can use Spatial Conform=fit and scale to 200% or set Spatial Conform=none and don't scale. In both cases if exporting at 1080p the resolution is the same. You can easily test this yourself.

heu... thank to repeat what I wrote,

Fit /Fill and zoom if needed up to 200% or None and apply 50% for full frame and return up to 100% if nedeed I know it's same resolution.

but my question remains unanswered : does Fit/Fill and zooming give worst result at export as somebody wrote on this forum on an other thread? Because it's way more convenient to do if we can: just leave it Fit/Fill..

"does Fit/Fill and zooming give worst result at export as somebody wrote on this forum on an other thread?"

A few versions back it did, but not now. So no, it doesn't make a difference.

Personally I prefer None so I can see the outlines with I do faux-zooms, pan-scans, etc, in the Viewer. But it really doesn't matter, use as you see fit.