stephen

Panasonic S5 II + BRAW vs BMPCC 6K Pro FF - as expected practically no difference in image quality. Downloadable source files are available too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuzKtL8p5M8a

Realistic assessment of iPhone 15 pro with Apple Log vs pro Camera in good lighting conditions. Good review and tips IMHO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SiqKfm-8kA Everybody is trying to push some LUTs but you don't need them There is an official Apple Log to REC 709 transform LUT and CST in latest Davinci Resolve that supports Apple Log and works very well

We are different and have different tastes. I like fall in Colorado video. There is some grain applied, color grading is very good IMHO, skin tones are good for me too, overall good image quality. Compare it to other iPhone 15 video posted here and this one for me ranks at the top 10% as image quality. This is exactly the occasion I would use a smartphone, when you are with friends and/or family and your focus are the people and your journey together. Filming is a side job just for memories and some enjoyment of the hobby or profession. For the purpose this video is well done! As a camera and what it can do iPhone 15 Pro is expensive but for smartphone with ton of features, usability and a camera that is in your pocket IMHO it is worth the money. If I am at the end of my 5 year smartphone upgrade cycle it would be on my list for sure. Would I buy LG V60 instead for Android RAW video? No. If I choose Android for RAW video it would Xiaomi 13 Ultra or at least Pro. After 5 years with the same smartphone I want the latest and greatest that shoots good video too, I want a great smartphone that has all the bell and whistles. It’s another story how many of them I will use. 🙂 Price may seem steep but let make a simple calculation. 1100 Euro for Xiomi 13 Ultra or 1400 For IPhone 15 Pro for 5 years / 12 months is 1100/5/12 = 18.3, 1400/5/12 = 23.3. 18 to 24 euros (or dollars) per month for the most used and also useful device is worth it for me. A smartphone is much more of a tool that I use every day, rather than a gadget. And I can save much more money from other activities and things. For me it would be a consumerism if I upgrade or purchase latest and greatest DJI drones each year for example if drones are not my business or profession.

Using lenses wide open at f1.4 for shallow DOF is a recent trend in photography or even as you say obsession. Fully agree. It was not the case 20-30 years ago. People are lazy. Instead of using some additional lighting or putting the model in front of a nice background they prefer to blur the background. I don't find this always appealing or attractive but it is the current fashion trend. In cinema most used aperture for super35 format is f2.8 which corresponds in DOF to f4 for a full frame format. One of the reasons is the fact that is quite difficult to manually pull focus with smaller apertures. Now that we have LIDAR technology this may change. As you said the other reason is that in cinema they prefer and want to show the environment and surroundings as well. Roger Deakins in an interview shared some technical details (camera and lenses) used to shoot 1917. He basically confirms that for day light he used f4 and even f5.6. He says that he used Alexa LF (FF) for shallow DOF. This is interesting as it shows that different people have different views of what shallow DOF is. 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpCD67BEjiA My problem with m43 are the lenses. Focal length changes if I want to use vintage lenses or some other great optics from Zeiss or Nikon or Canon on m43. Those lenses are designed for FF. I can’t get the character of a russian 50/58mm Helios for example as it completely different focal length on m43. I used m43 in the past but moved to FF when BRAW became available with External recorder to Panasonic S Series. It gives me access to huge number or lenses - new or vintage and just simplifies my lens choice. For video close the aperture to f4 most of the times and that's it. In low light I may open it to f2.8 or simply bump ISO to higher value. FF sensor compensates for lower light and more closed aperture with better ISO performance (low noise in high ISO)

Well you can buy and try iPhone 15 as your main camera. There is no better way but to try it personally. My limited experience with iPhone 14 Pro and more extensive with Android RAW showed me that smartphones as cameras have many limitations. The list is long. At the end it is a simple choice: Can you live with and/or work around all those limitations or not. For me answer is clear: I can't and don't want to. I prefer the inconvenience to lug 1 to 2 kg of equipment more for several kilometers, but have great experience shooting rather than the other way around. Here are some examples: When testing iPhone 14 Pro as a camera I used it as GPS navigation too. Mounted on the front dashboard of my car in sunny spring day with temperature around 25-27 degree Celsius it overheated and shut down. Had to stop my car and swap it with my Android phone. It took more than 30 min for IPhone to cool down and be usable again. If you want to have some decent footage you still need ND filters, this means a special case or cage for iPhone as minimum plus probably a handle. How long will the battery last? So maybe an external battery too ? Or external SSD ? But both can't be used at the same time. 🙂 You see, if you want a semi decent footage and shooting experience, you still have to prepare and take several other items, spend time planning, etc. With time and experience for me the weight of my camera bag up to a certain limit is at the bottom of my inconveniences and concerns. As a camera that is always with me, in my pocket though latest generation of Android phones or iPhone 15 Pro are something that I can't resist. 🙂 Another case to use them would be when I go out for a day or more and am not sure do I want to shoot something or not, will I have the time or not. Having a smartphone as a camera + maybe a case with ND filters for those casual shoots is great.

Cinematic Mode doesn't use Apple log. It has all the deficiencies of previous gen iPhone video like tone mapping and sharpening. They were skillfully hidden in post. Skin tones in the last third of the video where face was lit with warm side light are a little bit off.

Indeed ! I was wondering if ProRes 4444 can be used with the new iPhone 15 Pro and this video gives the response. Good and realistic comparison with bigger sensor cameras, not just oh look it is as good as my Sony FS30. Lots of useful information. iPhone 15 Pro is great for video.

This is exactly my experience too. Still have S1 and it still drains the battery to 0 for 4 to 7 days without using it. S5IIX doesn't.

DNG files from Android RAM footage can be imported directly in Resolve. They also can be labeled in a way that Resolve see them as DNG files coming from a blackmagic camera. You have access to all the settings, like change ISO in post and even Highlight Recovery ! I'll share my workflow with some sample clips in a few days. It is easy if you have the knowledge. Funny enough but to shoot in 4K ProRes 60p on new iPhone 15 pro Apple forces you to use external storage, while with Android RAW you can get 4K at 60p internally on the latest generation flagships without any problem. External recording to SSD is available to Android RAW too. With Xioami 13 Ultra or Vivo x90 Pro Plus 1Tb internal storage at 1000-1100 E, you may never need external one. Going back to IPhone 15 Pro, here is one good example that shows that aggressive noise reduction in high ISOs is also gone with new iPhone 15. Flares are still present but much less than in 14 Pro where they are simply ruining the image. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHT2TEwJJz4 This guy claims that with Blackmagic application you can have Apple Log with HEVC (265) codec. Check the Apple Log part. Hm interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOZUfWcGCxk

@SRV1981 - I said PROBABLY I would still prefer Android RAW 🙂 Until somebody shares some Apple Log footage that can grade myself or even better, test iPhone 15 with Apple log myself, will hold any judgement. I am skeptical about those comparisons with Sony S Log and FF cameras. We've seen plenty of those over the years with similar claims. I suspect their main purpose is to generate more youtube views. 🙂 Smartphones had never been so good for video, yet nobody throws away their FF, Super35 or m43 cameras and lenses. 🙂 For myself smartphone video will not replace my FF camera and lenses it will just complement them for personal projects and family video. Workflow Android RAW vs iPhone 14 Pro Can only compare with older iPhone model as this is the one I had experience with. Yes Android RAW workflow is more time consuming and space consuming at the beginning You have two extra steps before starting editing: - unpack DNG files from the file container that comes from MotionCam - run exiftool to label them in a specific way so Resolve recognize them as DGN files from a Blackmagic camera However it compensates with easy color correction and grading. With iPhone 14 Pro initial steps are easy and fast, just drag your footage in Resolve. Color correction is time consuming and no so easy, often with extra steps like applying film look with Dehancer in an attempt to hide sharpening and tone mapping. I can do something else while DNGs are unpacked and labeled, those operations can run on the background and do not requite my attention. IPhone grading on the other hand does require all of my attention and skills. I prefer the Android RAW workflow as am able to get the picture quality I like faster and easier. Again this may change with iPhone 15 and Apple Log but need to test it first. One big advantage of iPhone is that it has excellent stabilization combining Optical IS with software one. Raw video on Android often can't use Optical IS or results are not good. At least for some smartphone models. It begs for a gimbal. In general shooting with iPhone is easier and better experience. For me the whole idea to shoot on a smartphone is about having a good camera with you all the time and shoot quality video if you suddenly get an inspiration. You just don't think about it, don't have to take a bag, choose lenses, etc. It is always with you. For the moment Android RAW video is my personal preference but it doesn't have to be yours. 🙂

I don't have iPhone 15 and can't share any examples or direct comparison with Android RAW. Few months ago tested iPhone 14 Pro then two months ago Xiaomi 13 Ultra + MotionCam (Android RAW). I like raw video from Android more as picture quality is obviously better. I expect iPhone 15 with Apple Log to be better than iPhone 14 Pro but not by much. I don't see dramatic difference so far between iPhone 14 Pro and 15 Pro with Apple log. Not in the examples published on youtube. Maybe log footage was not well graded. Yes can share some of the clips made by Xiaomi 13 Ultra + MotionCam and iPhone 14 Pro on the thread dedicated to RAW video on smartphones. Here is a frame grab from one of the clips made using Android RAW video. Background blur is natural from the lens, not computational

Biggest problem with previous generations of iPhone was the extra processing of the video. It was impossible to switch off - tone mapping they use to increase DR - sharpening - noise reduction at higher ISOs Even when using third parties applications Now with Apple log, tone mapping and sharpening can be switched off apparently according to some initial tests https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSqgzddHooM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VojSIi4SgMk Another big problem were flares at night, Apple claims that nano coating of the lenses solves this problem. We'll see Adding the ability to record to external SSD and even SD card is another useful feature. I still would prefer probably Android RAW video but IPhone 15 + Blackmagic application + Apple Log shapes to be a great pocket camera that is always with you.

Blackmagic application for iPhone is a good one. However Filmic Pro already has an affordable alternative. CinemaP3 application has all the functionality and is not that expensive at 16 or 17 $/E if remember well. Latest generation Android phones like Xiaomi 13 Ultra + Motioncam give 4K RAW video 24/25/30/60p and really good image quality that IPhone cannot compete with. Those smartphones + Motioncam are the TRUE pocket cinema cameras of 2023. They really do fit in a pocket 🙂

Most of my speculations in another theme turned out to be true. 🙂 Blackmagic joins L Mount and produces it's first FF cinema camera. Price is good but form factor is disappointing. Still prefer Panasonic S1/S5/S5II + BM Video Assist 5 12G for BRAW video. Much more versatile combo.

Good news for people shooting with L Mount cameras ! Samyang has some good to great lenses which are typically cheaper than Sigma or lenses produced by camera manufactures.