Dragonfly - from 24 to 1,200 mm in full HD

This is a simple footage of a perched dragonfly, filmed at 24 mm to 600 mm (equivalent), then zoomed to 1,200 mm (equivalent) by cropping the 3840 x 2160 footage to 1920 x 1080 during post process.

The camera was fully zoomed to 600 mm, manually focused, then zoomed back to 24 mm before recording. The subject was just past the minimum focus distance of 0.72 m.

IMHO, shooting in 4K and doing the digital zoom in post process is more advantageous than just shooting FHD and using the in-camera digital zoom. Aside from superior FHD quality, cropping during PP allows flexibility in composition, framing and simulated panning. If the output is HD (720p) only, the total reach becomes 1,800 mm equivalent!

Shooting info – filmed in habitat at Bued River, La Union, Philippines, January 8, 2018, Sony RX10 Mark IV + Uniqball UBH45 + Manfrotto 455B tripod, 24 – 600 mm (equiv.), f/8, ISO 100, 1/60 sec, manual exposure in available light, MF, Steadyshot off, 4K/29.97p capture processed to 1080/23.976p.

Music – “Aretes” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com (royalty-free).