Galaxy S9 Plus + DJI Osmo Mobile Gimbal = 4K 60fps AWESOMENESS!

Here’s how to make great 4K 60fps videos w/ Galaxy S9 Plus and DJI Osmo Mobile gimbal.  YouTube adds a lot of artifacts(due to rendering) when viewed with anything less than 4K, so please try to watch the video in at least 1440P or 4K.  If you are using Samsung Galaxy device such as S9 or S9 Plus, make sure your display setting is set to 1440P first otherwise you will be limited to 1080P only.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 & S9 Plus duo are the first Samsung smartphones to come out with 4K 60fps video recording.  While handheld shots are not bad in 4K 60fps, to get the most out of the 4K 60fps, you may want to consider using a gimbal(such as the DJI Osmo Gimbal I used in this video), especially for any action shots.

Results?

I find it quite good actually, perhaps even better results than using latest GoPro Hero 6(which also does 4K 60fps).  In the ice skating example above, there were many moving parts, people, and fast moving action resulting in some artifacts but still looked good.  Would I recommend it over GoPro Hero6?  Oh certainly, coupled with a gimbal you can get much better results than a GoPro Hero 6.

Slow motion 4K 60fps  w/ Galaxy S9/S9 Plus?

4K 60fps can also be used for slow motion when used with 4K 30fps or 24fps.   While not super slow mo, 60fps can offer very good 2x slow motion and this is probably something that will help a lot of smartphone videographers to add additional cinematic footage to their final video.

Tips for Recording in 4K 60fps w/ Galaxy S9/S9 Plus

In 4K 60fps, software stabilization is turned off on the Galaxy S9 or S9 Plus.  If doing hand-held shots, you will want to limit your movement and avoid any jerky movements.  Try to keep the phone stable as possible with both of your hands and also if recording in different lighting situations, try to take different shots with different lighting.  E.g. Take a steady shots in darkroom then take another shot in the bright room.    Try some very slow panning movements(and you can slow it down 2X in post).

4K 60fps is boring without fast moving objects or subjects, try to keep the phone still but shoot things that are moving fast.  For action shots, I do highly recommend using a smartphone gimbal otherwise your footage may end up too shaky.

Tips for using gimbal with 4K 60fps w/ Galaxy S9/S9 Plus

When using gimbal, try to get some shots from different angles so you will have a lot of footage to edit with during post processing.   Just like handheld shots, try to keep the gimbal steady as possible as gimbal does help greatly in stabilizing the shot but you will still want to keep it steady.  Try using the gimbal in inverted angles and try some macro, close-up shots which can give you some great bokeh and cinematic looks.

For now, I am very satisfied with 4K 60fps option with the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus.  While the quality is not as good as professional-grade cameras like the Panasonic GH5, it can be used in many situations where 4K 60fps is useful.  One thing to note though, 4K 60fps will not perform too well in low-light environments(due to the fact that 4K 60fps will use double the shutter speed and does not perform as well in low-light) so I recommend using it in most bright-lit environments as possible otherwise footage will have a lot of noise and artifacts.   This is case for any camera using 4K 60fps but don’t get me wrong, Galaxy S9/S9 Plus will get you the best 4K 60fps since it has the best low-light performance.

When 1080P 240fps?

While 4K 60fps is indeed very impressive on Samsung Galaxy S9/S9 Plus, I would really like to see something like 1080P 240fps slow motion, which can result in ridiculously awesome slow motion videos.   While 960fps in 720P is great to have, having a higher-resolution in 1080P would be something to be left desired.

 

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Max Lee

Max Lee is the founder of HighOnAndroid.com. Max makes Android tutorials and review videos for people who want to get high on Android over at his YouTube channel and Korean YouTube channel.