This is the iPhone 15 Pro, and today I want to talk about the cameras of this phone from a filmmaker’s perspective, because in my opinion this is one of the most exciting iPhone releases Apple has had in many years for filmmakers.
Every year Apple comes out with a new iPhone, and every year they improve the cameras by a few percentage points. But at the end of the day these are still cell phone cameras, and it’s a bit obvious that they are whenever you put them next to footage from a professional camera, like the Sony a7S III I’m using to record this. The iPhone footage has less dynamic range, it’s overly sharpened, and it has a much lower bitrate.
Log Is The BIGGEST iPhone Upgrade In Years For Filmmakers
Over the last few years Apple has made three big upgrades to the video cameras in their phones, with the biggest, in my opinion, coming this year.
The first big change was when Apple moved their iPhones from 8-bit video to 10-bit HDR video with the iPhone 12, which boosted dynamic range and colors and resulted in significantly better footage. The next came with the iPhone 14 and the addition of ProRes recording internally. That codec was a massive upgrade over the heavily compressed H.265 you normally record in, with a much beefier data rate and dramatically less compression, making it easier to edit with while also being able to take a lot more punishment in the grade.
But this year, with the 15 Pro and Pro Max, we’re finally seeing the upgrade I’m most excited about, because Apple added log recording when you record in ProRes.
If you don’t know what log is or why it’s such a big deal, this is about as close as we’re probably going to get as filmmakers to recording RAW video with an iPhone. Yes, while Pro iPhones can take RAW photographs, they’re incapable of recording RAW video, and I do not see that changing any time soon, mostly due to RED, the camera company, having a patent on RAW video that Apple already challenged and lost in court over. That’s a whole other story though. Let me know if you want a video about it.
Whenever you record in log, your iPhone captures a very flat, desaturated image that has significantly higher dynamic range, meaning you don’t lose nearly as much detail in the shadows or the highlights. Then whenever you color grade, you’re able to bring back all of that contrast and saturation while having significantly more control over the image, which also helps you match your iPhone to other cameras.
It’s Time To Make iPhone Footage Not Look Like iPhone Footage
Filming in log gives you more control. But more importantly, and the reason I’m so excited about it, is that this is finally an upgrade that can help make footage you shot on an iPhone not look like it was shot on an iPhone. Yes. Really.
Log footage helps you overcome three of the biggest indicators that a video was filmed with a cell phone: how contrasty, how saturated, and how sharp the image looks by default.
Apple knows most people want an image that looks great straight out of camera, so they add a ton of contrast and saturation to anything you record, and then they oversharpen it so things look really crispy. For most situations that’s fine, but because those three things are baked into your video file, it’s essentially impossible to remove them and get rid of those cell phone tells.
That was true until log recording, because by recording log your iPhone removes that baked in contrast, saturation and sharpness and gives you, the filmmaker, full control over how much of each you want to add back. It is, in a word, magical.
ProRes Log Examples
Whenever you combine that flat log footage with the significantly more robust ProRes 422 the 15 Pro and Pro Max can record in, you get incredibly high quality video from your iPhone that rivals what you get from a professional cinema camera.
Just look at the quality of the footage here. It looks phenomenal, and if you hadn’t told me it was shot on an iPhone I may not have believed you.
Color Grading Shortcut
Of course, it’s going to take some work to color grade this footage, because it is not going to look great straight out of camera.
If you want help with that and want to save a ton of time grading iPhone log footage, I’ve created a set of video presets called WhoisMatt LUTs. I’ve tested them with the log profile on the new iPhones and they were great, giving your footage vibrant, true to life colors while keeping that high dynamic range. Seriously, if you use these, people are going to say, wait, you filmed this with a phone?
And if you want your log footage to look its best, you need to do more than open the camera app and hit record, so I’ve also put together a full tutorial on how to film in Apple Log with the new iPhones.
USB-C Upgrades For Filmmakers
We aren’t done with the pro video features, because while log is the headliner, Apple added others, with easily the second biggest being the USB-C port on the bottom, which enables two awesome things.
First, the 15 Pro and Pro Max can now copy footage off the phone at USB 3.0 speeds, which are significantly faster than the old USB 2.0 that preceded them. That’s really beneficial when you’re recording ProRes, because the file sizes are, in a word, massive. Just stupid large. This brings these phones more in line with the experience of copying footage from a professional camera and memory cards.
Keep in mind these are only USB 3.0 speed ports, and I would not put it past Apple to put a Thunderbolt controller in the iPhone 16 or 17 and enable even faster copying. It’s an easy upgrade for them, and I’m sure they will do it eventually.
Second, there’s one other super cool feature we’ve really only seen on cinema cameras. You can take an external SSD, say a Samsung T7, plug it into your phone via USB-C, and tell the iPhone to record high quality ProRes log video directly to the SSD, bypassing the phone’s internal storage.
This is great, because it saves you time copying footage, since it’s already on an SSD you can plug straight into your computer. Even better, it saves you from having to buy an iPhone with larger storage. You can get away with 128GB or 256GB internal instead of 512GB or a terabyte, and still record a ton of footage to an external drive. So it can save you money.
ProRes Log 60fps
There’s one other thing you get when recording to an external SSD, and that’s the ability to record 4K at 60 frames per second.
Strangely enough, this phone cannot record 4K 60 in ProRes internally, but it can if you’re recording to an external drive.
My theory for why is not that the A17 Pro chip inside can’t handle 4K 60 internally, because it clearly can do it to an SSD. My thinking is that it has to do with heat. Any time you record at higher frame rates and resolutions you generate more heat, and I’m betting Apple’s engineers were running into the phones overheating if they recorded 4K 60 for too long, and realized that recording to an external SSD doesn’t heat the memory chips inside the phone as much.
That’s just a theory though. Alternatively you can put on your tinfoil hat and think Apple is restricting features to hold them back for the iPhone 16. Who knows?
Regardless, recording to an external SSD is pretty awesome. Just keep in mind you’re going to have an SSD dangling off your phone, so you may want a case with mounting points, kind of like a camera cage. Or if you want something sleeker, iPhonedo made a video about a DIY MagSafe SSD mount that’s super cool.
Think Of The Possibilities
I think about how many places restrict you from bringing in a big camera. A concert, a sporting event, a museum, where you can’t bring something like an FX6 or even an a7S III, because they’re going to say no, that’s too professional. But you can bring in your phone, because everybody always has their phone.
Well, now the phone in your pocket records ProRes 422 with video quality comparable to some cinema cameras. Which is kind of nuts, right?
Or for me, as a wedding filmmaker, I know a lot of wedding filmmakers are looking for a B or C camera to run alongside their main one, maybe an extra angle for the ceremony. The iPhone 15 Pro Max records 4K log in ProRes 422, and it has a 120mm equivalent zoom, meaning you could use it for a ceremony angle and have the footage actually match your other cameras. Heads up: this link goes to the newer iPhone 17 Pro. Or at least maybe you could. I haven’t tried it yet. But are you starting to see the possibilities?
Limitations Of The iPhone 15 Pro & Pro Max
Of course, these phones are not without limitations, and I think it’s important we talk about those too.
First, as I said, you cannot record 4K 60 internally, you have to plug in an SSD. Also, if you have a 15 Pro with only 128GB of internal storage, you’re prevented from recording ProRes 422 in 4K on that phone at all, though you can do it to an external SSD. That’s a weird limitation, but considering how much space ProRes 422 takes up, I’m not completely surprised.
The biggest limitation, in my opinion, is the lack of zebras or visible in-camera metering when recording log. If those words confuse you, I’m not talking about a zebra like the animal. I’m talking about the feature on most cinema cameras that turns on stripes over the parts of your image that are overexposed.
This is a really important feature when filming log, because it’s genuinely difficult to tell whether your footage is overexposed, since the image is so flat and desaturated. Zebras tell you at a glance, and whenever you pair them with in-camera metering that tells you if you’re over or under, it makes filming in log much easier.
I would love to see Apple add these in a software update, though I can also understand wanting to keep the camera app relatively clutter free.
And I’m sure you may be preparing to comment that you can just download an app that supports zebras and metering, like Filmic Pro. You’re right, but another app can cost money, and even if it’s free it’s not going to be as seamless as opening the camera app that’s always right there on your lock screen, ready to be swiped to at any time. Or now, with the new action button. The built in camera app is the fastest and most seamless way to record video with an iPhone, and considering Apple is adding pro level features like log video, it makes sense to ask for stuff like this too.
The ProRes Log Tutorial
If you want the full walkthrough on recording high quality ProRes log footage with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, it’s right here. And my color presets work great with log footage filmed on the iPhone.
Are you as excited about the video features of these new iPhones as I am?
Thanks so much for reading, and have a great day!