What Cameras Do They Use For Planet Earth

BBC Iguanas basking in the sun. But is that a 4K sun or an uprezzed one?

RedShark Replay: Eagle-eyed observers of the BBC's latest natural history opus, Planet Earth 2, will take noticed some non-4K kit being used in the 'making of' segments. So, was it shot in 4K or wasn't it?

Have you seen Planet Globe 2 yet? If yous have, unless you were office of the team that produced it, despite all the noise about its higher resolutuion you probably oasis't seen it in 4K. It might have been shot with iv times the number of pixels per frame than its predecessor but, as far as nosotros're enlightened, it's not available for dwelling consumption nevertheless in annihilation above Full HD.

Ironically I watched information technology on my ten year old 40" Sony Bravia Full Hard disk drive TV that still shows a wonderful picture, and which I was persuaded to buy a decade ago by the prospect of watching Planet Earth Series 1! The iconic serial had been shot in Hd and looked (and still does) absolutely wonderful.

A lot has inverse since and so. We have 4K. Cameras are better in low light. We have drones and amazing gimbals that let camera operators walk amongst unsafe animals. They're still likely to get eaten but at least the camera doesn't shake.

What many people don't realise is that their assumption that the first serial from 10 years agone was shot largely on Sony gear is incorrect. It wasn't. It was largely shot with Panasonic cameras and at the time, Panasonic didn't do 1080. 720p was the best that the famous Varicams could manage. But information technology didn't affair, because the footage looked amazing. Arguably 720p/60 has only 10 percent less data than 1080i/xxx. I'm willing to bet that this distinction didn't cantankerous anyone's minds as they were watching the pictures.

And nor would it take occurred to anyone that in the cold light of the Antarctic non all of Planet Globe Two'due south footage was shot in 4K. You absolutely couldn't tell by looking at it. I only know this considering during the "Diaries" segment at the terminate of the show, I saw one of the camera operators carrying an ARRI Amira: an outstanding camera that resolutely does not accept a 4K sensor.

So have we been misled by the BBC?

I don't think so, for several reasons.

Start, as far as I can see, the venerable British broadcaster has never claimed that Planet Earth Two was made in 4K: only that it will exist delivered in the super high resolution.

This isn't merely playing with words. The pictures from ARRI cameras using their now six yr one-time sensor are nonetheless every bit good as they ever were, which is to say that they look amazing. Let's put it this style: one of the best-looking films I've e'er seen is Life of Pi - shot with an ARRI Alexa, the Amira's older sibling.

The Amira tin can up-res its ain footage to 4K. It does this extremely well. A big advantage of using a lower resolution sensor is that you capture more light per pixel and the picture is visibly better in all respects other than ultimate sharpness.

What you see on the screen is but a great picture. Your mind doesn't categorize it as "4K " or annihilation else for that for that thing. That's considering you're besides busy watching the gorgeous images.

None of this ways that I remember 8K is irrelevant or over-the-elevation: far from it. Simply I do think that if y'all pick a photographic camera and and so do your absolute best with information technology, you lot're unlikely to be disappointed past the resolution.

Tags: Production