The easiest way to think about video is that it is basically a bunch of digital photos stacked together in sequence. Let’s think about any video footage one frame at a time, every frame is basically a photo, and it is about the FPS (frame per second). We will talk about Video Resolution and FPS, and explain the differences in this article.
In fact, the video uses the same camera settings as photography aperture shutter speed and ISO. If you would have taken a photo at the exact moment using the same camera settings, it would look pretty much blurry. If you would have taken a couple of dozen photos in sequence and then recorded audio along with them, you would basically have a video.
Video Resolution and FPS
Video resolution is just the number of pixels in the video. In general, the more pixels you have, the sharper your image will be. We will show you an example of video footage at 20 by 20 pixels and at 100 by 100 pixels. It is a lot clear, and this is basically the same idea as resolution and photography, its megapixels, and all that. Video frame rate defines the speed at which those images are played back and recorded.
Video resolutions are generally described in terms of the number of pixels across by the number of pixels. If your bandwidth and display support you will see the image looking pretty sharp according to its quality.
The most common resolutions have developed nicknames for convenience or marketing purposes. You have probably heard of things like SD, HD, 4K, and so on. These are just different resolutions.
The standard definition is 640×480, which is now considered ridiculously low quality. So, nobody really uses it much for video anymore. Even HD, 1280×720 is kind of low quality by today’s standards. The normal video resolution must be at least Full HD or 1920×1080 resolution.
Often just called 1080 or 1080p, if you want something more robust than that, you can move up to Ultra HD, often called 4K, which is 3840×2160. Now some cameras support resolutions between those two, such as 2K 2560×1440, those are great quality and you can see those as well.
Newer or more expensive cameras can also support much higher resolutions like 6K, 8K and even 12K. Those are all awesome of course, but unless you are doing super high-end commercial work, they are almost certainly overkilling. It is like shooting an IMAX movie or something. If you are doing YouTube videos, you just really do not need that much data. Some cameras will overheat if you record 4K for an extended amount. It is going to fill up your hard drives four times faster, it is going to be four times harder than the normal quality.
Let’s take a second talk about color for each one of the pixels in the video resolution. The camera stores a number representing what color it saw when it looked at that part of the image, just as the size of the video footage can affect the quality, so can the color depth, which means there are a limited number of colors that can be displayed for each pixel specifically. Some newer cameras can handle 10-bit or 12-bit color.
Video Frame Rate
As we have mentioned before, a video is basically a series of digital photos stacked together. Video frame rate defines the speed at which those images are played back and recorded.
There is a 24 FPS, which is the most common frame rate for movies, and it provides a nice smooth look. It is not distracting and it is easy to work with for international television.
25 and 30 FPS
2 FPS is pretty common but in North America and several other countries’ TV is generally broadcast at 30 frames per second. If you have ever wondered why TV broadcasts just feel a little different from movies the frame rate actually has a lot to do with it. However, as TV has turned increasingly digital a lot of newer shows have actually switched to the more dramatic. 24 FPS making them feel more like movies.
60 and 120 FPS
In some cases like video games, and live streams, people might shoot at higher frame rates like 60 frames per second. Some people shoot everything as high as 120 frames per second in case they want to use slow motion later.
Higher frame rates are so much smoother that they create a sense of hyperrealism, at 24 frames per second you are in the movie with the characters. At 48 or 60 or much higher frames per second, it is so realistic that you feel like you are standing on a movie set with actors.
Which one is Better?
As we have explained Video Resolution and FPS in detail, what do you think about them? Which one do you think is the better? Which resolution and FPS do you most prefer? We usually recommend playing video games at 2K and 60 FPS. This choice changes according to the screen size that you playing. You can also visit this page to learn which one is better.