Cropping a 4K video to 1080p

[David Moor]

I took some videos of President Obama’s visit to Yosemite last weekend with with a Sony RX10M3. Many of the shots were at the maximum 600 mm zoom range. Since I have more pixel data available than needed for 1080p on Apple TV, I sort of assumed that I could crop the video in Premiere Pro CC to show, say, just the section in the frame that has Obama.

So I applied the crop tool, but I’m not sure how to set the parameters so that I get full frame 1080p. Depending on the clip there are various black bars at the edges of the frame or the frame is distorted with waves.

Any suggestions as to best practices would be appreciated.

[Dave Morgan]

just take the whole 4K clip and drag it into a 1080p timeline, and then move the clip around. unless it needs to be stabilized.

[David Roth Weiss]

David,

You’re thinking is “bassackwards.” You asked about cropping to accomplish your goal, but you should be thinking scaling the frame down to the appropriate size, then repositioning as the other poster mentioned.

Does this make sense? If not, ask away…

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist & Workflow Consultant
David Weiss Productions
Los Angeles

David is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.