Several new iPhone models have just been announced, including some solid new features for video professionals. As expected, the iPhone 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max follow on from their predecessors, and are now joined by the iPhone Air.
This ultra-thin 5.6mm phone replaces the larger-screened non-Pro Plus phone of last year, but the thinness comes with a compromise: only a single lens without tele or macro. This model will be popular with those who feel phones have gotten too heavy.
However, a phone with one lens and shorter battery life probably isn’t going to be the first choice for video professionals wanting to record images. So, what’s new in the Pro phones? Could one replace a regular camera, and is it worth pre-ordering one this Friday? Let’s focus almost entirely on the camera improvements.
All the iPhones get a new 18MP selfie camera
You don’t need to go for the Pro models to get the new Center Stage front camera; it’s on all of this year’s models. In a genuinely useful development which more camera manufacturers could copy, the selfie camera now has a square sensor. Physical orientation doesn’t matter any more, so there’s no need to rotate your phone to shoot in landscape. If extra people join your photo, the camera can auto-switch from portrait to landscape, Center Stage keeps you in the middle of the shot, and the higher 18MP resolution enables more stable photos and videos too. With all those extra pixels to play with, stabilization is much stronger too.
Rear 48MP sensors all round
All three lenses on the Pro and Pro Max are now 48MP Fusion cameras, meaning they can crop without quality loss and still output high resolution images. The tele zoom is now a 4x that can crop to an effective 8x in 12MP mode, or higher if you want to sacrifice quality for reach.
Dual camera recording (front and back) is present on the Air and Pro, and though this hasn’t been built-in to Apple apps before, third-party camera apps have offered it. While the rumor industry predicted variable aperture lenses, they didn’t arrive this year.
Pro video upgrades
As well as regular ProRes capture, ProRes RAW can now be captured direct on the iPhone, in Final Cut Camera and Blackmagic Camera apps, with APIs available for third-party NLE support. (Consider the new 2TB storage option is available if you want to record a lot of video internally, but [UPDATE] ProRes RAW can only be recorded to an external SSD.)
For productions shooting with multiple iPhones, genlock is now supported when using external hardware, with a new Blackmagic Camera ProDock announced.
Genlock will enable seamless frame-accurate sync between as many iPhones as you can throw at it, and [UPDATED] all the other ports look useful too. Here are the bullet points from the newly added product page (US$299.95) on Apple’s store:
- Adds professional camera connections to your iPhone
- Supports the Blackmagic Camera app on iPhone for high-end work
- Genlock perfectly synchronizes multiple cameras for multicam productionSynchronizes cameras and LED walls for flicker-free virtual production
- External timecode input for syncing multiple iPhone recordings when editing
- Includes USB-C expansion ports for accessories and external flash disks
- Locking 12V-15V DC input powers ProDock, iPhone, and all USB-C accessories
- Includes 3.5 mm stereo input for external camera mics or wireless mics
- Includes 3.5 mm stereo audio output for monitoring using headphones
- Includes 1/4”-20 pin lock mounting points on top and bottom for easy rigging
Apple’s launch video specifically showed Matrix-style bullet time as a potential use case, but genlock is also useful for live broadcasst or streaming productions, for stereoscopic sync, and higher-end shoots.
Some details not highlighted in the launch video:
Apple Log 2 is coming, including a wider color gamut.
Final Cut Pro 11.2 and Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.3 will include controls for iPhone ProRes RAW footage, with direct adjustments for exposure, color temperature, tint, and demosaicing.
Timecode options will expand in Final Cut Camera 2.0, coming later this month, including Time of Day, Record Run, or external timecode.
Open gate recording will also be supported in Final Cut Camera 2.0. This is a huge deal — if you’ve ever worked with massive 4:3 clips, like those from a Lumix GH5/6/7, then you’ll understand how powerful this workflow can be. We don’t know the maximum resolution just yet, only “at resolutions greater than DCI 4K”.
Recording an extra-tall image means you can crop to deliver widescreen or portrait with fewer compromises. Even when delivering entirely in landscape, 4:3 lets you shift a frame vertically, meaning you can reposition an interview subject’s headroom in post, rather than on set. If you need to interview many different people in a short amount of time, it’s very helpful.
Conclusion
It’s great to see higher-end video features being added to the new iPhones, and also to see features like open gate recording and ProRes RAW in Final Cut Camera. If you record on your iPhone, or work with footage from clients who do, you can expect to see better images captured on the front-facing camera, and hopefully taller images captured on the back cameras.
If you’re a fan of shooting ProRes, ProRes RAW is a solid step forward; fingers crossed that the much wider availablity of ProRes RAW clips will push NLEs other than Final Cut Pro to support it better. UPDATE: Resolve 20.2, now released in beta, supports ProRes RAW, and the Pocket Cinema 4K can also record in ProRes RAW.
Every year, the iPhone improves, potentially replacing more traditional cameras. This year provided another solid update, and though we didn’t get 8K recording this time around, the improvements here will make life easier for many video professionals. Look out for a full review once we have this hardware and software in hand.