a 37 minutes video about the sensor of an iPhone while other youtubers rush through entire cameras in 7 minutes. I had almost forgotten that there are people who actually want to impart knowledge. thank you.
ISO on this phone has to do with highlight dynamic range AND separating shadow detail within the 100-1250ISO ranges, making it a requirement to get the ISO setting correct. Completely different from standard cameras, lots to learn. If you lock your shutter for motion blur purposes and use a VND (I have a ND2-ND32 with a CPL Filter as well)…. ISO has to do with the HDR brightness/luminance of the highlights, VERY different way of thinking compared to traditional ISO. Seriously it’s weird. I found 400-800 to be a really nice ISO for dark daytime/indoor. So essentially, stare at the brightest part, reference IRL brightness/luminance and match it to the camera. This is a 5 stop camera. I only use ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1250. I tested the ISO in between and noticed some issues that my ND filter could simply fix. For daytime or bright scenes: ISO as low as possible. If your subject is too dark in the bright scene, I really like 200ISO with my VND… raising the ISO will lift the shadows (separates them, adding a little bit of noise as you go up. I don’t go higher than 400 in this instance). Try to aim for 100ISO… do not EVER use 55ISO bc highlight will be unnaturally dark, luminance will be absent. Put that ND filter to work, but choose the right ISO for LUMINANCE and don’t ever overexpose the highlights. 800-1250 introduces noise for dark shots. 1250 is the absolute MAX you can go considering noise. 1250ISO for dark/night shots with no filters at all (need as much light entering the sensor). There will be noise, but it’s ok bc it’s manageable in post. I also noticed 1250ISO exclusively has aspects of HDR luminance for highlights if you’re trying to blow them out into orange-red. I have been testing so much these past weeks my brain is sludge.
I like my iPhone 15 Pro. It will never replace a proper camera but it's nice to have another tool in the tool box to work with. As backup camera its nice that its now acceptable in the right conditions. A iPhone 15 Pro as a backup is better than having no backup at all if your main camera fails, breaks or is stolen. It's also important to play to the strengths of the iPhone. As a drone, gimbal or wide locked down camera its actually really good. The 24mm main camera is pretty wide but it's great for gimbal use. Gimbals for the iPhone are also much smaller, lighter and affordable making it a logical option for gimbal work. Light well and stick to the wide nature of the phone and its not a bad solution at all as a B or C camera. In terms of DOF while it's not very impressive I have found it to be equal to 24mm on FF at around f5.6. I do tend to shoot a lot of FF around f5.6 since thats the sweet spot for many lenses so realistically the iPhone works well as a 24mm camera in terms of DOF. The problem is 24mm on FF isn't going to have a lot of DOF either due to how wide it is. The problem with the 77mm or 120mm cameras on the phones is they use much smaller sensors. The main sensor is a bit under a 1" sensor size. The other cameras are closer to 1/4" sensors. Now the DOF with the 77mm is closer to f 17 on FF making it pretty bad. Even m43 and a budget kit zoom lens is more capable. Thats why the iPhone works great as a very wide gimbal camera where we kind of want more in focus anyway or as a locked down wide camera in a multiple camera shoot type setup. At the end of the day like I said it's another tool. Just like an action camera or dedicated drone camera is a special use camera to get very special kinds of shots. The iPhone 15 Pro is better than most of those type of cameras and can do much more.
I totally agree, and I think that is what their tests show. Ideally, in a pinch, you can get a great image. You may not be able to get a great image on any set anywhere, and do it reliably. I actually have started thinking that built in redundancy and reliability is the selling point of the expensive cameras, as well as quality of life features. I do see a shift, somewhat, around usb-c where now you can use regular batteries, monitors, and regular ssd's, etc with many mirrorless cameras. So, as the dedicated interchangeable lens cameras embrace a universal connector, this opens up those same accessories to iPhone use now.
Two years ago, Honor introduced the LOG profile on its Magic 3 Pro+. It was the first smartphone to get an IMAX Enhanced certification. I was blown away by the difference between the standard and the LOG image quality.
As a former IMAX employee, I remember being told no way in h#ll would we start labelling and licensing our name, then all of a sudden it was everywhere, like Kodak.
12 bit raw video is now possible on the android side (motioncam app). I'd love to see you check that out on a flagship like the s24 ultra. The results impressed me.
I love the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and I personally don't see a need to upgrade until you get to full frame in the consumer world (a ZV-E1 or A7SIII). I think, in combination with the black magic camera app, the iPhone is the perfect beginner camera. You can learn so much by using the tiny device, and you have so much opportunity to practice since you carry it around with you. Apple Log is really an amazing contribution by Apple. I like that it is actually published in a white paper (i can even make my own DCTL to do the conversion, implementing the transfer function!) I think it is genuinely useful, and as you guys mentioned, their white paper says it is meant to bypass processing and leave that to post. While I think Honor had an Honor Magic Log or something like that, it never got built into resolve, and I am not sure it had compatibility with ACES, etc. It's still pretty cool, and I hope that the other phones start including a real, published log profile as well.
Pretty unfortunate you can't turn off NR. It's so obvious in those blotchy shadows that color NR is extremely high. I would think it might be worthwhile to also test for temporal NR artifacts since in my experience some phone CMOS sensors seem to do temporal NR at the hardware level to minimize noise from the very small sensors. If the chart in the latitude test is any indication, it looks like you also have to underexpose by about 2 stops just to get similar highlight range to most real cameras... Also this really exposes how susceptible imatest is to being fooled by noise reduction. This was always quite clear but this really shows how ridiculous it is to focus so singularly on imatest SNR=2 as CineD tends to do. I remember many years ago when I first tried imatest I believe I recall there was a workflow for normalizing noise reduction built into the software, seems crazy to me that CineD isn't attempting to do that so their tests retain any level of comparability between cameras.
im looking for a phone which takes photos quickly and with as minimal shutter lag as possible. I currently have a pixel 7 and am considering the iphone 16 base model or a pixel 9/pixel 8 pro. Which of these would anyone recommend and what about other chinese brands ? Any thoughts ?
Good video, thanks. You have certainly shown that in the "real world" the small sensor does not stack up with others when not properly exposed. I think it is worth mentioning that when it IS exposed properly, it looks pretty good in the "real world"! Hopefully anyone watching this will know how to get decent exposure and avoid this issue of recovering the footage by 2-3 stops. It's no ARRI, but when exposed well in Log (even h.265) the vast majority of viewers will never see a difference in footage quality in their day to day lives on their devices. Liked and subscribed.
Rolling shutter faster for smaller sensor because of shorter trace distance. Voltage on a wire, hence data, can only propagate lenghwise so fast, roughly 80% speed of light. It will go slower with a longer trace.
honestly the most exciting or interesting thing would be choosing depth of field in post. That would be incredibly revolutionary. How cool would it be to be able to do that on the bigger sensor cameras? Would allow so much versatility!
I really want you to put Kodak Vision3 5219 through the tests. It’s clear it has about three stops of underexposure latitude but the curves don’t show entirely how much overexposure latitude it has.
Liked and Subscribed This comment is simply feedback on a comment early in the video - the LG V series was blazing trails for creators long before Apple. The V30 was capable of recording in full manual mode with a log profile in 2017. Another phone might have beaten it to market with that feature, but as far as I know that was one of the first phone lineups to market itself for photo+video producers. Great video and thank you for your work!
Great info. But I would have preferred seeing your studio scene at the top. That seems the most relevant info. I feel like the more technical tests are not that useful for evaluating iPhones or at least that's what I took away from your discussion.
Hm not sure we follow, which studio scene? All the results are extensively discussed in the written article, click on the link below the video. We will also do a real-world test of the iPhone 15 Pro's Log mode at a later stage.
i hate that its so good on a phone and especially on an iphone :( as an android person i hope someone releases a phone that can film as good as an iphone, preferably with a 1 inch sensor tho.
I was waiting for this test, I think it's great how practical it is to have a camera like this in your pocket. Please do not clip your voice with AI filters.
I ran my phone cinematography arc, after buying thousands of mods, I'm so over it. The novelty wore off real fast. I see some talented people that seem to like working in that box and excel at it but I always wonder if they put the same effort into any m43 what they would be able to produce but that is not really fair, some tools in some hands really work. Every time someone says "the best camera is the one you have with you" I vomit a little. Like we'll leave the Red at home because we have a potatophone in our pocket with a case of mods and gear anyway...
It sounds cheesy, but I think it's true. A phone camera is better than no camera, obviously, when you are out and about and didn't even think about bringing a proper camera, and then you need to capture something that would otherwise be missed and never be recorded entirely. Nino
@@CineD how banal. We take the position with these statements that spontaneous cinematic moments "just happen" without any planning. If they do it's going to end up vertical on some dad's phone with the backs of heads in the lower thirds If your gear of choice is a phone, you probably are over prepared at any moment anyway with a filter or lens mod, but everyone else will have regret they didn't have their gear. Phones are capable but limited, there is no argument on that but nobody is planning a downgrade, which it is, to go to a phone regardless of marketing speak and a stat sheet.
Phone cinematography, like any other form of art, has its own set of limitations and strengths. Therefore, assessing it based on its unique features is essential, rather than comparing it to traditional filmmaking methods. I always ensure proper lighting, using a gimbal and ND filter. Also, It is important to find the right scene. If the subject is closer to the camera and the background is further away, we can create the illusion of increased depth of field blur without adjusting the aperture. "I often get asked about the model of "camera" I use.
a 37 minutes video about the sensor of an iPhone while other youtubers rush through entire cameras in 7 minutes. I had almost forgotten that there are people who actually want to impart knowledge. thank you.
Greatly appreciated, thank you.
Yes, that was also in my mind. I want information like this, and not an ad nor sponsored content. Greatly appreciate you guys @CineD.
ISO on this phone has to do with highlight dynamic range AND separating shadow detail within the 100-1250ISO ranges, making it a requirement to get the ISO setting correct. Completely different from standard cameras, lots to learn.
If you lock your shutter for motion blur purposes and use a VND (I have a ND2-ND32 with a CPL Filter as well)…. ISO has to do with the HDR brightness/luminance of the highlights, VERY different way of thinking compared to traditional ISO. Seriously it’s weird. I found 400-800 to be a really nice ISO for dark daytime/indoor. So essentially, stare at the brightest part, reference IRL brightness/luminance and match it to the camera.
This is a 5 stop camera. I only use ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1250. I tested the ISO in between and noticed some issues that my ND filter could simply fix.
For daytime or bright scenes: ISO as low as possible. If your subject is too dark in the bright scene, I really like 200ISO with my VND… raising the ISO will lift the shadows (separates them, adding a little bit of noise as you go up. I don’t go higher than 400 in this instance). Try to aim for 100ISO… do not EVER use 55ISO bc highlight will be unnaturally dark, luminance will be absent. Put that ND filter to work, but choose the right ISO for LUMINANCE and don’t ever overexpose the highlights.
800-1250 introduces noise for dark shots. 1250 is the absolute MAX you can go considering noise. 1250ISO for dark/night shots with no filters at all (need as much light entering the sensor). There will be noise, but it’s ok bc it’s manageable in post. I also noticed 1250ISO exclusively has aspects of HDR luminance for highlights if you’re trying to blow them out into orange-red.
I have been testing so much these past weeks my brain is sludge.
Thanks for the info!
@@time2go4us let me know if you notice anything in your testing!
I like my iPhone 15 Pro. It will never replace a proper camera but it's nice to have another tool in the tool box to work with. As backup camera its nice that its now acceptable in the right conditions. A iPhone 15 Pro as a backup is better than having no backup at all if your main camera fails, breaks or is stolen.
It's also important to play to the strengths of the iPhone. As a drone, gimbal or wide locked down camera its actually really good. The 24mm main camera is pretty wide but it's great for gimbal use. Gimbals for the iPhone are also much smaller, lighter and affordable making it a logical option for gimbal work.
Light well and stick to the wide nature of the phone and its not a bad solution at all as a B or C camera.
In terms of DOF while it's not very impressive I have found it to be equal to 24mm on FF at around f5.6. I do tend to shoot a lot of FF around f5.6 since thats the sweet spot for many lenses so realistically the iPhone works well as a 24mm camera in terms of DOF. The problem is 24mm on FF isn't going to have a lot of DOF either due to how wide it is. The problem with the 77mm or 120mm cameras on the phones is they use much smaller sensors. The main sensor is a bit under a 1" sensor size. The other cameras are closer to 1/4" sensors. Now the DOF with the 77mm is closer to f 17 on FF making it pretty bad. Even m43 and a budget kit zoom lens is more capable.
Thats why the iPhone works great as a very wide gimbal camera where we kind of want more in focus anyway or as a locked down wide camera in a multiple camera shoot type setup.
At the end of the day like I said it's another tool. Just like an action camera or dedicated drone camera is a special use camera to get very special kinds of shots. The iPhone 15 Pro is better than most of those type of cameras and can do much more.
I totally agree, and I think that is what their tests show. Ideally, in a pinch, you can get a great image. You may not be able to get a great image on any set anywhere, and do it reliably. I actually have started thinking that built in redundancy and reliability is the selling point of the expensive cameras, as well as quality of life features.
I do see a shift, somewhat, around usb-c where now you can use regular batteries, monitors, and regular ssd's, etc with many mirrorless cameras. So, as the dedicated interchangeable lens cameras embrace a universal connector, this opens up those same accessories to iPhone use now.
Two years ago, Honor introduced the LOG profile on its Magic 3 Pro+. It was the first smartphone to get an IMAX Enhanced certification. I was blown away by the difference between the standard and the LOG image quality.
We must have missed that - thanks for pointing that out!
As a former IMAX employee, I remember being told no way in h#ll would we start labelling and licensing our name, then all of a sudden it was everywhere, like Kodak.
@@TimHunold yup - me too. Sad.
You guys are the best. Thank you so much for all your tests. I enjoy reading the articles in detail
Glad you like them! Thank you so much.
Appreciate the testing and explanation! 💚 Is iPhone 4:2:0 10 bit or 4:2:2 ?
ProResHQ in Apple Log is 10bit 4:2:2
12 bit raw video is now possible on the android side (motioncam app). I'd love to see you check that out on a flagship like the s24 ultra. The results impressed me.
I love the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and I personally don't see a need to upgrade until you get to full frame in the consumer world (a ZV-E1 or A7SIII). I think, in combination with the black magic camera app, the iPhone is the perfect beginner camera. You can learn so much by using the tiny device, and you have so much opportunity to practice since you carry it around with you.
Apple Log is really an amazing contribution by Apple. I like that it is actually published in a white paper (i can even make my own DCTL to do the conversion, implementing the transfer function!) I think it is genuinely useful, and as you guys mentioned, their white paper says it is meant to bypass processing and leave that to post.
While I think Honor had an Honor Magic Log or something like that, it never got built into resolve, and I am not sure it had compatibility with ACES, etc. It's still pretty cool, and I hope that the other phones start including a real, published log profile as well.
Thanks for the explanation and knowledge/explanation dump of the tech and things. Super interesting.
Pretty unfortunate you can't turn off NR. It's so obvious in those blotchy shadows that color NR is extremely high. I would think it might be worthwhile to also test for temporal NR artifacts since in my experience some phone CMOS sensors seem to do temporal NR at the hardware level to minimize noise from the very small sensors. If the chart in the latitude test is any indication, it looks like you also have to underexpose by about 2 stops just to get similar highlight range to most real cameras... Also this really exposes how susceptible imatest is to being fooled by noise reduction. This was always quite clear but this really shows how ridiculous it is to focus so singularly on imatest SNR=2 as CineD tends to do. I remember many years ago when I first tried imatest I believe I recall there was a workflow for normalizing noise reduction built into the software, seems crazy to me that CineD isn't attempting to do that so their tests retain any level of comparability between cameras.
and thats what makes it look like "iPhone video" as against cinema camera image
It's just a pleasure to listen to professionals. Thx🥇
Enlightening and entertaining video, thank you guys for taking the time and do this deep dive.
im looking for a phone which takes photos quickly and with as minimal shutter lag as possible. I currently have a pixel 7 and am considering the iphone 16 base model or a pixel 9/pixel 8 pro. Which of these would anyone recommend and what about other chinese brands ? Any thoughts ?
what the base ISO on Apple iPhone 15 Pro?
Good video, thanks. You have certainly shown that in the "real world" the small sensor does not stack up with others when not properly exposed. I think it is worth mentioning that when it IS exposed properly, it looks pretty good in the "real world"! Hopefully anyone watching this will know how to get decent exposure and avoid this issue of recovering the footage by 2-3 stops. It's no ARRI, but when exposed well in Log (even h.265) the vast majority of viewers will never see a difference in footage quality in their day to day lives on their devices. Liked and subscribed.
Wonderful video. Love the technical stuff about those small sensors.
Rolling shutter faster for smaller sensor because of shorter trace distance. Voltage on a wire, hence data, can only propagate lenghwise so fast, roughly 80% speed of light. It will go slower with a longer trace.
honestly the most exciting or interesting thing would be choosing depth of field in post. That would be incredibly revolutionary.
How cool would it be to be able to do that on the bigger sensor cameras? Would allow so much versatility!
can we change that in final ccut pro?
This is great, thank you guys for spending the lab time on this!
Our pleasure!
I really want you to put Kodak Vision3 5219 through the tests. It’s clear it has about three stops of underexposure latitude but the curves don’t show entirely how much overexposure latitude it has.
That's an interesting idea. We will think about it.
fantastic to get the lowdown on the phone cam. but you know Arri it is ;)
Liked and Subscribed
This comment is simply feedback on a comment early in the video - the LG V series was blazing trails for creators long before Apple. The V30 was capable of recording in full manual mode with a log profile in 2017. Another phone might have beaten it to market with that feature, but as far as I know that was one of the first phone lineups to market itself for photo+video producers.
Great video and thank you for your work!
Brilliant, thank you for sharing. I'll post a link on our site.
Thank you!
Great video guys!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for Sharing such technical details
Doing our best to bring clarity to our testing methodology!
Great video. 👍🏻
Still no BMCC6K dynamic range test??? What happened guys?
when it comes to cameras and science, you know you can trust someone named Gunther and his german accent :)
Yeah right??
@@CineD I sink hes right
When are you doing the lab test for the Fuji gfx100 ii
We are currently working on processing the results
Why would test u under expose at ISO 50
LG v30 had a log profile before the iphone
Sp basically camera is still a camera.. giving you more exposure latitude
Great info. But I would have preferred seeing your studio scene at the top. That seems the most relevant info. I feel like the more technical tests are not that useful for evaluating iPhones or at least that's what I took away from your discussion.
Hm not sure we follow, which studio scene? All the results are extensively discussed in the written article, click on the link below the video. We will also do a real-world test of the iPhone 15 Pro's Log mode at a later stage.
i hate that its so good on a phone and especially on an iphone :( as an android person i hope someone releases a phone that can film as good as an iphone, preferably with a 1 inch sensor tho.
That would be the newest Sony Xperia 1. People believe Sony makes this iPhone sensor.
There is no way it is 5.3 ms of rolling shutter, I tested it and it's jello!
I was waiting for this test, I think it's great how practical it is to have a camera like this in your pocket. Please do not clip your voice with AI filters.
Noted! I guess we overdid it a little here.
I ran my phone cinematography arc, after buying thousands of mods, I'm so over it. The novelty wore off real fast. I see some talented people that seem to like working in that box and excel at it but I always wonder if they put the same effort into any m43 what they would be able to produce but that is not really fair, some tools in some hands really work.
Every time someone says "the best camera is the one you have with you" I vomit a little. Like we'll leave the Red at home because we have a potatophone in our pocket with a case of mods and gear anyway...
It sounds cheesy, but I think it's true. A phone camera is better than no camera, obviously, when you are out and about and didn't even think about bringing a proper camera, and then you need to capture something that would otherwise be missed and never be recorded entirely. Nino
@@CineD how banal. We take the position with these statements that spontaneous cinematic moments "just happen" without any planning. If they do it's going to end up vertical on some dad's phone with the backs of heads in the lower thirds If your gear of choice is a phone, you probably are over prepared at any moment anyway with a filter or lens mod, but everyone else will have regret they didn't have their gear. Phones are capable but limited, there is no argument on that but nobody is planning a downgrade, which it is, to go to a phone regardless of marketing speak and a stat sheet.
Phone cinematography, like any other form of art, has its own set of limitations and strengths. Therefore, assessing it based on its unique features is essential, rather than comparing it to traditional filmmaking methods. I always ensure proper lighting, using a gimbal and ND filter. Also, It is important to find the right scene. If the subject is closer to the camera and the background is further away, we can create the illusion of increased depth of field blur without adjusting the aperture. "I often get asked about the model of "camera" I use.
The ultra robotic voices of adobe podcast are horrible. It's like seeing a poorly exposed image. Please don't do this downside in your quality.
Agreed. Resolve’s solution is magic.
It actually wasn't Adobe Podcast, but you are right, we overdid it here in the edit. Will let the post pro team know for next time.
The iPhone 15 is stuck with a dated 60Hz fixed refresh rate. Overheating social media toy for rich kids who need to google film terms like timecode.