At 6K resolution you have much more freedom to crop and downsample your footage. In this guide we round up which cameras shoot 6K video and explain why that's important
Which cameras shoot 6K video? Ever since Canon launched the Full HD-capable EOS 5D Mark II in 2008, the video mode has become just as important a specification on a camera as its stills capabilities. In recent years 4K video has come to replace Full HD as the industry standard, but now we are seeing new cameras that can record 6K video – even 8K, in the case of the Canon EOS R5.
6K resolution equates to 6144 x 3160 pixels. In contrast, 4K resolution is 3840 x 2160 pixels. This means that on cameras that shoot 6K video you are getting more than a third more resolution.
In this buyer’s guide we’ll list which cameras shoot 6K video and explain why you might want to shoot 6K video rather than 4K.
Why shoot 6K video?
You may be asking yourself, why would I shoot 6K video when there are no 6K TVs yet and I’ll only be able to watch my footage in 4K? The answer is flexibility. Filming in 6K gives you more pixels and more options to crop and downsample your footage.
If you film in 4K and then crop into that footage, you’re left with lower resolution video. But if you start with 6K video you can be more aggressive in your editing. The extra resolution gives you more space with which to work if you’re planning to output to 4K.
Putting this into a real life scenario, imagine you are filming an advert for a brand that wants to use your video across multiple media. Shooting 6K video gives you that flexibility to crop without losing quality. .
Likewise, if you want to pull stills from your footage, filming 6K video again gives you more options. Image quality will be higher, and you’ll be able to crop heavily into the frame without sacrificing too much of that quality.
There are some downsides of filming in 6K, of course. File sizes are much larger, demanding more storage capacity. You’ll need more expensive memory with faster read and write speeds. But the flexibility it affords in post-production is worth it.
Read on to find out which cameras shoot 6K video. For a deeper dive into the many different camera types and features available, check out our range of camera buying guides.
