How to record 4K videos on the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6s Plus

BY Osas Obaizamomwan

Published 10 Oct 2015

Whether you are looking to make your directorial debut or simply would like the highest quality videos for your hike through Yosemite, 4K video resolution could be your new best friend. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have the ability to shoot at a 4K resolution, upgrading those videos from an HD 1920 x 1080 pixels to “super HD” 3840 x 2160 pixels. Let’s check out how to enable this option. 

How to record high-res 4K videos on the iPhone 6S & 6S Plus

To enable 4K videos, head over to Photos & Camera inside of the Settings app. Inside Photos & Camera, select Record Video. Again that’s, Settings -> Photos & Camera -> Record Video. 

Record Video - Image

In the Record Video section, you’ll see numerous options. Not only can you record 4K at 30 fps (frames per second), you can also select 1080p at 30 fps (default), 1080p at 60 fps or 720p at 30 fps. Once you select 4K at 30 fps,  your Camera will now shoot at the 4K resolution.

Camera Selection

Before you get too happy with your selection, make sure to pay attention to the file size for each level of video quality. One minute of 4K video is about 375 MB. That’s almost three times the size for the default 1080p video at 130MB. So, when shooting these videos make sure to keep track of the time because a 5-minute video is going to take up a lot of space on your iPhone 6s or 6s Plus. This is especially important for folks with the 16GB iPhones.

Video Size

Whenever you are shooting in 4K you’ll see a small indicator in the video menu bar.

4k - icon

Let’s take a look at the difference between a 4k video and a 1080p video.

4K Video

Make sure to increase the video quality to 4K.

https://youtu.be/EFqsQmr_o0o

1080p Video

Make sure to increase the video quality to 1080p.

https://youtu.be/A9ooeowkHKQ

You can definitely tell the difference between the two videos. But is it worth it for you? Let us know if 4K videos are worth the storage issues in the comment section.