iPhone 12 as the ultimate indie film camera? NO, but still….

[Tim Wilson]

When I hear “Tehachapi”, I also hear Lowell George and Linda Ronstadt singing “Willin'”. (And I wouldn’t want to live in a world that lacked either of their renditions.)

But I do know that area! We lived in the mountains above the Coachella Valley for a few years. Up Hwy 17 from Palm Desert, or down 17 from Idyllwild, depending on which direction you drive. We weren’t in the part of the mountains with forests, like Idylwild or Big Bear farther up the valley, still very much high desert (4500 ft at our porch), so we had Joshua Trees AND we got snowed in pretty regularly.

Because we were in the desert part of the mountains, our wildlife was mostly just coyotes and snakes, the occassional bobcat, and the very occassional mountain sheep (although those tended to be lower than us, more like 3000-3500 ft). I never got tired of any of those, but I think I’d lose my mind if we saw elk like yours on the regular. Man, those are gorgeous animals!

So I’ll say to you the same thing I would say to a student or someone just beginning their career, not sure if they have answers to contribute — we want to hear from EVERYONE who has their own unique experience to offer. You were of course posting more regularly when you were on the job (your account goes back to 2004! Thanks! And a former Media 100 guy, like me to boot!), but don’t be a stranger, Peter.

Thanks again for that video! Showing it my wife now, and her jaw is dropping too!

[Michael Gissing]

Too often the audio side of a camera is overlooked. We get to see pretty sunset pictures of sultry people and horses. Great as that would work using so many different cameras. In my world of docos a camera needs to have audio options as well. A phone like this is far less useful than a BM pocket 4k which has excellent audio inputs with locking connectors, phantom power and swapable batteries . Pretty pictures with unusable wind swept tinny built in mic is not much use to me, except as a B camera, but then why would I have any camera that is really picture only in my line of work. If you have to go double system, it defeats the purpose of having such quality in a small package.

Where do I fit the ND filters. Can the camera actually cover the dynamic range of HDR or is that a gimmick? Storage of files and speed of getting files off the unit and onto something else? A week wandering the Simpson desert a year ago proved the value of having a 1TB SSD drive connected to my BM4k. Didn’t need to back up anything which is just as well as running hard drives and a laptop on a 6 day trek would have been a big deal. I see limitations in the areas that matter to me. Just like every phone camera. This one is getting really good with the image quality. Lets sort, batteries, audio , storage etc before I reach for this form factor.

[Tony West]

I completely agree about the audio. I usually tell people who want to get started with gear for a living that you need to have these essential items. 1. Boom mic 2. wireless lav 3. Tripod that you can make “on air moves” with. (lost art) 4. lighting 5. client monitor. Once a person has bought those items they are not likely to finish off with a phone. I think it was the iPhone 4 that a producer held up and proclaimed that “this is going to change everything”. Hmmmm not really. So many people folks on a tight budget can’t afford that phone. They still have an outdated 6 or something like that. You would be better off buying a used pro camera.

[Tim Wilson]

@tonywest2 and @michaelgissing2, you both make great point about audio and related gear. You’re certainly right about Apple’s focus on visuals in these demo videos, including the one by Chivo for the 12 launch. Nice pictures, and not just because of the DP — the picture tech is indeed pretty slick, and some of it will likely filter up from the phone into the camera world, rather than the other way ’round….but other than a science experiment, it really doesn’t make much sense to overstate the value of any phone for actual film making.

That said, scenarios like the one @steveconnor describes — intentionally creating a short to take advantage of the phone’s unique features, because he’s going to get one anyway, and really, why not? — seem pretty likely for a whole lot of people. Great! Bring ’em on!

THAT said, there are definitely scenarios where not having a camera is an advantage. News, some kinds of travel and documentary, etc. where having a camera, even a small one, will stop the project in its tracks. “You there! What are you doing?” But it doesn’t make for great demo footage, and those are typically not A-camera scenarios.

But yeah, Tony, the whole “This is going to change everything” hype has been a little overstated, to say the least.

Now then, I don’t want to be primarily negative, because my overwhelming reaction has been one of being intrigued. “Tell me more”, rather than “Shut up already”, which is my usual reaction to anyone’s phone launch. They can all get kind of ridiculous….but still.

My other big questions are about DolbyVision and ProRAW. One, are you folks feeling pressure for Dolby support just yet?

For ProRAW, I know that we’ll know more when we can look at it, but I saw this at Tom’s Guide:

ProRAW, in a nutshell, will capture RAW images but apply some image processing on top. This includes merging frames from several shots captured by the cameras on the iPhone 12 Pro, using Apple’s Deep Fusion and Smart HDR tech, or applying noise reduction. But it will still leave some room for editing things like color, exposure and contrast in the same depth that can be had with the RAW format.

So ProRAW will take care of the difficult parts of getting an image into shape for more refined editing, and leave finer and artistic tweaks to manual editing. Calling it ProRAW might be a bit of a misnomer as this is more of a tool for people unused or manipulating RAW images.

I guess that sounds good? No question that editing RAW is harder than it sounds, and there’s a lot of ungraded, unfinished images out there that people are calling “cinematic” just because they know they paid a lot of money for the cameras and don’t know what to do with the output. Anything that will help is probably good…. right?

So once we filter out the hype and get back into the tech, I’d love to know what you folks are thinking about that too.

[Rick Lang]

When you look at the Tech Specs page for the iPhone 12 Pro Max, it would seem ProRAW applies only to still images, it’s not listed as a video feature. Perhaps it will be in a future ‘A15V’ image processor. Yet elsewhere there is mention of FCP X support that implies video, no? All will be clear once people are using this camera for video in a few months.

The I watched the cinematic sample video on my Mac Pro’s XDR display set to the ‘reference’ mode HDR Video (P3-ST 2084) and noticed that light on the talent’s cheek was likely going to clip for most viewers not using a suitable monitor. Certainly Apple is throwing around the XDR term in describing their screen on the iPhone Pro phones but I wonder how comparable it is to what I’m using.

I do think LIDAR is a very important feature and right now it’s very under utilized by Apple, but this may change with firmware updates or the 2021 model that I will likely buy. I’m shooting on the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K (BRAW Q0) which I love in all it’s manual goodness (and also have the URSA Mini 4.6K) but the Pro Max camera has so many features that can possibly make it perfect as a B or C camera for certain short takes. Always afraid of the in-camera image processing that other manufactures use with a heavy hand, but maybe this one will use better judgment. Supporting Dolby Vision would imply that they are seriously considering it’s application beyond the point-and-shoot user.

—

Long time since I’ve posted here. The pic in my profile was taken exactly four weeks prior to her death this summer. A moment’s silence to honour that bitch.

[Tim Wilson]

When you look at the Tech Specs page for the iPhone 12 Pro Max, it would seem ProRAW applies only to still images, it’s not listed as a video feature.

Ah yes, I was crossing the streams there. I understood this to be a still photography feature, but I think RAW in general is worth discussing. It’s not like uncompressed video, in the sense that uncompressed was considered something of a holy grail…until we got there, and moved very quickly in every possible other direction.

I do know that many here are taking advantage of a variety of RAW codecs, and part of me cringes whenever I hear about new codecs, but most of ’em have worked out okay I guess. LOL

Supporting Dolby Vision would imply that they are seriously considering it’s application beyond the point-and-shoot user.

This is one of the things that most jumped out at me. Is Dolby going to be something that every consumer is going to insist on from their phone manufacturer, or that manufacturers will use to show that they’re all the way state of the art? And now that I think about it, Apple is also pitching their phone screen for watching Dolby-certified content (think Netflix).

I’m sure that Dolby will be happy to take licensing money wherever they can get it, but it makes me wonder what their endgame is in this too. Surely as interested in certifying displays as cameras, no?

[Rick Lang]

The iPhone 12 cameras all share a DCI-P3 gamut that has been around for several years. So we are a long way from phones and monitors capable of displaying Dolby Vision in its full potential. But the phone is unique in producing a file with Dolby Vision metadata so any program that edits or uses the file can work in that space. Apple TV 4K would also be capable of working with that data, but it is limited by the (HDR or SDR) television that it is paired with.

[Michael Gissing]

Providing Dolby Vision metadata and actually having the usable dynamic range in the sensor are two different things. The sensor no doubt will get tested in due course and we will find out. As for demand Tim, in the conventional broadcast, cinema festival doco world I live in, zero demand. I can handle it with with Resolve and monitoring on my LG OLED. No-one is asking for it. I did expect some interest in HDR, but only other tech types talk about it. No demand from producers or distributors.

[Michael Gissing]

I also think it is a bit of overkill to build Dolby Vision capability into a small display. The only advantage I see is using the phone as an ultra bright display for a gimbal camera. A few gimbals are including wireless feeds that turn the camera into a display and control unit for remote pan etc.

[Rick Lang]

It’s not the 1.7 micron sensor pitch on the iPhone Pro Max that will provide much support of their HDR claims, but the image processing combining multiple exposures that will help. I agree few clients are asking for these improvements but the streaming services such as Netflix, Apple TV+, HBO Max, etc. will use anything they perceive as boosting their brand.