From Joe Rossignol at MacRumors, this is exciting news, though I hope they add it to Mac as well, so it can be added to Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, since those are my editors of choice.
Now I saw this twitter thread thanks to Scott Simmons at ProVideoCoalition and this post.
And here is Jan Kaiser’s eskocz channel on YouTube.
Now you need to look at the thread and see more than just the first post.
Wow, I am blown away that the depth map is only 320×180, and only works so close up.
I was also wondering why the Pro didn’t use Lidar to enhance the depth map, but while it shows allot more depth than the cinematic mode, it is also fluttery and noisy, so I can see that it would cause some serious issues in a depth map.
And the true depth on the front camera would be useless for a depth map.
Between the 1080 30p and low resolution depth map I think I am OK with skipping the iPhone 13 and seeing what the 14 will offer. The technology is impressive, but I want to see future generations.
I have posted about Editingtools.io before, but he has a bunch of other stuff that is a must read. And I may post another post about Jan Kaiser’s iPhone Cinematic Mode info.
So with the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, Apple added a cinemtatic mode to video that is basically Portrait Mode for video, which does a post processed Depth of field using the different lenses to create a depth map. It is not going to be perfect, but certainly will look more cinematic than the deep depth of field you normally get with an iPhone lens, and you can re-focus after the fact in Final Cut Pro, iMovie and in the Photos app. It even has HDR color depth, but then why is it only at 30 Frames Per second?
I just don’t get what Apple was thinking here, especially since it should be easier to process 23.976 than 30 frames a second. And films in movie theaters are in 23.976, and our eyes are used to that amount of motion blur to be cinematic, and not 30 frames, which is much more TV looking, as everything is sharper.
I think eventually will add 23.976 to cinematic mode, but likely not till IOS 16 or the next iPhone with better Cinematic mode.
Honestly I have an iPhone 11 Pro and Cinematic Mode would possibly tip me to getting a new iPhone, but it is the 30 FPS thing that really screws it up for me.
Now I do have a weird relationship with 23.976 vs 29.97, as when I am cutting commercials I would prefer 29.97 because Motion graphics looks less stuttery at 29.97, but we are talking “CINEMATIC” here and for “CINEMATIC” that is 23.976!
I think Apple made a mistep here, and hope they will fix it sooner rather than later.
Of course I also think that they should have figured out a way to use the LIDAR on the Pro model which is used for low light photos to make a better depth map. I know it would split cinematic mode for the 12 and the 13 pro models, but a better depth map would be welcome.
Appleâs new iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro both feature a new Cinematic Mode, which is basically iphoneâs portrait mode for video. So the video also has a depth map, and with AI can track faces and even switch faces or do manual rack focus. It is not true depth of field, but fake depth like portrait mode, and it only works in 1080 30p. According to the video you should also be able to focus after the fact, which would be incredible!
This will be a very impressive feature, and will enhance video, though wonât be perfect just like portrait mode which enhances but not like a real lens with real depth of fieldh. And hopefully someone will make a plug-in for NLEâs that allows focus after the fact much like the awesome focos app. And letâs hope it can be integrated into Filmic Pro as well, as I find it unlikely to record at non-variable speeds
And the extra GPU core of the iPhone Pro and at least 256gb of hard drive space will eventually be getting ProRes recording. Now I am sure that it wonât be ProRes RAW or even ProRes HQ, but instead lite or proxy, but that will beat H.264 or H.265. Of course ProRes is going to wreak havoc on icloud photo storage, and really show how slow lightning cables are.
The Pro can also capture in dolby vision hdr up to 4k 60 fps. I think this means that cinematic mode doesnât include Dolby Vision HDR, but then what computer monitor can play that back for adjusting color?
I also wonder if the LiDAR scanner in the Pro will enhance the cinematic mode? I guess they would have said so if it did, though itâs depth map would be better you would think, though maybe it is only for night mode.