The maiden flight of the $110,000 4K camera, the Phantom Flex4K, captured 4096 x 2160 pixels of raw footage at 1,000 frames per second. The end product will make anyone's jaw drop and add a thought cloud that screams, "Amazing!"
In addition to the 15 pounds of weight of the Phantom Flex4K itself, the riggers and hackers of the daring project added another 15 pounds of rigging equipment to stabilize the camera.
An Aerigon drone, which costs about $50,000, carried on the undercarriage of the high-dollar camera and its modified rig above the ground to capture the dramatic footage.
All told, the production company behind the feat, Brain Farm, launched a quarter of a million dollars into the wind to capture what it called "the most technically advanced drone footage" ever.
The reasoning behind launching the $250,000 rig into the air follows the same logic of any holder of a Guinness world record: no one else has done it yet.
"Early on, in starting Brain Farm, we had access to these proprietary tools - and now, everyone has them," stated Brain Farm. "Today really is the dawn of a new day."
Most viewers aren't able to fully enjoy 4K videos because widespread 4K adoption is still worlds away. While David Tett of Futuresource Consulting predicted 4K will grow rapidly this year, the ultra resolution will only make up about 38 percent of the market by 2018, with about 100 million shipments of ultra HD TV sets in that year.
The adoption of 4K could be held back by its inability to wow consumers migrating from 1080p as much as the move from standard definition did, according to Tett.
"There is some concern amongst the content community that owners of such sets will be disappointed when they do eventually receive a regular native 4K source, perhaps unable to perceive the improvement that they had hoped for versus 1080p," said Tett.
On a related note, the 4K standard will continue to help drive the sales of larger TV sets.
Now, the perfect subject to capture at 1,000 fps in 4K is a matter of opinion.
It's hard to argue, however, that a "mudding" pickup truck doesn't at least make for a great scene. It seems to sell a lot of Fords and Chevys. Watch this pickup truck create a mud storm:
