Mixed 4k and 2k workflow

[Steve Phillipps]

I'm a wildlife cameraman and so I need long lenses and high fps a lot, so the 2k mode will probably do me a lot of favours. But for times when I don't need extra lens magnification or fps above 30 (so landscapes, flowers, sync sound pieces etc.), I'm thinking that shooting 4k makes sense for a couple of reason; firstly of course 'cos it's better, higher res, secondly if you've got it 4k in your archive you've potentially got more future clients for it, and thirdly that you can get a wider angle of view from your lenses (ie a 17mm lens will be pretty wide on 4k, but windowed 2k it'll be about standard lens fov). Does this mixed shooting make sense, and presumably in post mixing the two won't be a problem?
Steve

[Jim McKinney]

Actually, I've done it several times and have been fine. It all depends on the end use. I wouldn't suggest it for a filmout. But say you're doing a project that's just going through the QT 2K proxies, you should be safe. I haven't tested this a great deal though, and would be interested in what others may think or might have learned.

My experience has been on those low budget indie jobs where we rent half the primes and just go to 2K when we want a "longer" lens. The biggest hassle is switching out the CF cards. But then it's nice when you're in the 2K environment and have a lot more minutes before you have to change out cards.