While 4K is becoming commonplace, and even 8K is obtainable, the latest medium format digital cameras from Phase One allow timelapse shooting at 10K resolution
Joe Capra is a photographer and film maker who has produced some amazing timelapse sequences. He has just uploaded some test footage shot with the Phase One IQ180 digital back at 10K resolution in Rio De Janiero. Check this out:
Obviously it's impossible to watch 10K so Joe has helpfully added crops and zooms so you can see the level of detail present in the 10K footage. Each original frame has a resolution of 10328 x 7760 and weighs in at around 80MB per frame. There are some jumps in brightness and a few jump cuts but this is just test footage which has not been fully processed.
The material was shot using the IQ180 digital back from Phase One. You may know them for their Capture One Digital Image Processing software but they also make a range of Medium Format Digital Cameras and backs capable of shooting images at up to 80 Megapixels with up to 14 stops of dynamic range.
These are professional digital cameras, able to use lenses from Hasselblad and Schneider-Kreuznach as well as Phase One's own lenses. The IQ180 digital back has a Full Frame sensor that measures 53.7mm x 40.4mm and can be fitted to Phase One, Hasselblad or Contax bodies.
Obviously these are amazing cameras for still photography, but what is the point of shooting Timelapse at such high resolution? If you look at the video you can see that the HD zoom still gives incredibly sharp detail, allowing you to choose any part of the image as an HD version with maybe 8-10 possible shots, even at 4K there are 5 or 6 different shots available.
One of the standard tools with Timelapse is the motion controlled slider, but with this footage you can make HD pans, tilts and zooms that mean you almost don't need a slider!
Thanks to Joe for uploading these tests, I look forward to seeing the final results.