OnePlus One is the first smartphone to record in DCI 4K, check it out in action

4K video recording has started to become a staple feature of all the flagship Android smartphone these days. But the version of 4K that these phones record in is the UHD resolution, or the ones used by 4K televisions, and is exactly four times the resolution of full HD.

But there is another version of 4K and that is DCI 4K, which is what the professional cinema cameras use while recording in 4K. The difference here is the added width; whereas UHD is 3840×2160, DCI 4K is 4096×2160. But while several smartphones record in UHD, the OnePlus One is the first to record in DCI 4K.

What we have below is a sample video shot by Danny Winget. The video is stabilized using a tripod so you don’t get any of the usual shakiness that we see in smartphone videos, allowing you to concentrate on the quality of the video. And from what I can tell, the video looks gorgeous.

Not only is it extremely high resolution, more than any other smartphone camera, but things like dynamic range and the colors are also superb. The dynamic range in this video is particularly impressive, as that is something a lot of smartphone cameras struggle with but the OnePlus One handles it superbly. Honestly, if you weren’t told this video was shot from a smartphone, you’d have never known.

It’s amusing what OnePlus has managed to do using a Sony sensor, when Sony itself managed to get significantly worse results on its own phones with its own sensor.

The important thing to note here is that the video is in 24fps, which is the cinematic framerate and what all movie cameras shoot at. For 30fps you’ll have to dial down at UHD resolution on the phone.

You can check out the video below and see the results for yourself. Even if you don’t have a 4K display, if you have a reasonably high resolution monitor and sufficient bandwidth, you should be able to see the difference in quality compared to other smartphones.