The iPhone 12 Cameras (from a Videographer's Perspective) - Krazy Ken's Tech Talk

The Official Announcement of the iPhone 12: A New Era in Mobile Photography?

As I sit here with my dummy models of the iPhone 12, I am excited to share with you the latest news from Apple. The iPhone 12 is officially here, and it's a game-changer in the world of mobile photography. As a video and photo enthusiast, I have been eagerly waiting for this moment, and I'm thrilled to dive into the features that make this device so special.

One of the reasons I wanted to focus on the camera systems of the iPhone 12 is because they are truly impressive. Every reviewer and their hamster seems to be talking about these new features, but what really sets them apart? As someone who uses a Blackmagic rig to shoot, I want to know if the iPhone 12 can hold its own against my professional-grade equipment.

The first feature that caught my attention is Dolby Vision, which allows for 10-bit HDR capture. This means that the iPhone 12 can produce images with a wider color gamut and higher dynamic range than ever before. But what really gets me excited is the addition of more optical zoom, which increases the camera's reach without sacrificing image quality.

But it's not just about the number of features – it's also about how they work together to create an exceptional photography experience. That's why I'm particularly interested in the LiDAR sensor, ProRAW, and sensor-shift optical image stabilization. These advanced technologies promise to take mobile photography to new heights, making it possible to capture stunning images with ease.

Now, I know that some of these features are exclusive to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, so I'll be keeping a close eye on that model as well. But even the standard iPhone 12 has plenty of features that make it an attractive option for photography enthusiasts. And let's not forget about the cost – while the iPhone 12 may not have all the bells and whistles, it's definitely more affordable than its Pro Max counterpart.

So, can you really use an iPhone for professional work? The answer is a resounding yes. I know some people might say that iPhones aren't suitable for pro work, but that's simply not true. With the right equipment and a bit of creativity, the iPhone can be a powerful tool in any photographer's arsenal.

In fact, Apple has already shown that it's possible to use an iPhone for professional photography by releasing films shot with an iPhone 11 Pro. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, we've seen more and more professionals using their iPhones to shoot stunning content.

So, what can we expect from the camera systems of the iPhone 12? I'm excited to dive in and explore each feature in more detail, but for now, let's just say that it promises to be a game-changer. And when the iPhone 12 Pro Max is released, I'll be back with an update on how these features compare to my trusty Blackmagic rig.

But before I do, I want to give you a sneak peek at what's coming next. As soon as I get my hands on the iPhone 11 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro, I'll be putting them through their paces and comparing the camera systems head-to-head. Stay tuned for more updates from the world of mobile photography!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(logo beeps)(machinery whirring)- Hey guys, how are you all doing?Really? That's just great.You know, I'm doingpretty great today too,because the iPhone 12 is official.It's been announcedand yes, these are still the dummy modelsI've had for a whilebut they'll help me illustrate my point.So all of the new featuresare really fricking coolbut every reviewer and their hamsteris talking about that stuff.We're gonna talk todayabout the camera systems for two reasons.One, it's important to me,I'm a video and photo guy, right?So I pay attention tothose features a lot,but two, I think it'sfair to say the camerais the killer feature.Everybody, mostly everybodypays attention to the camerawhen they're looking for a new phone.So let's talk about that today.And we'll explore some other avenues.You know, I use a Blackmagic rig to shootbut how much closer is this new phonegetting to be a replacement for it?So we'll take a look at that too.But then I'm gonna giveyou a little sneak peekas to what I'm planning nextbecause I want to take my current 11 Proand pit it against the iPhone 12 Pro.And then when the 12 Pro Max comes outI wanna pit those side byside, just the camera systems.There's a lot of great features,but I just wanna pit the camerasystems against each other.So that'll be coming in the futurewhenever I can get my hands on the models.(whooshing) Okay. Sofeatures, what do we got?We have Dolby Vision, 10bit HDR, more optical zooma LiDAR sensor, ProRAW, whichI'm pretty excited about.And probably what I'm most excited aboutis the sensor-shift opticalimage stabilization.So those are the featureswe'll take a look at.Now, keep in mind, some of these featuresare exclusive to the 12 Pro Max.So that's the one I'm thinking of getting,but the 12 Pro stillhas plenty of featuresand the regular 12 has evenfewer features but it's cheaper.So you get what you pay for.So the first question,is it acceptable to usean iPhone for pro work?Absolutely.I know some people diss it,but people have beendoing it for a long time.And in fact, people are doingit even more now during COVID.You can turn the iPhoneinto almost anything,and it has a great camera system built in.So it absolutely can work for pro work.And if you need a greatexample, yes, of course,Apple's gonna use other equipmentwith an iPhone to shoot with it.I mean, I would toobut they released this filmcalled \"Vertical Cinema,\"something like that.I don't exactly rememberbut it was all shot on iPhoneand it was really good.So if you need some examples of cool stuffshot on iPhone, go check that out.Or if you have a lotof time on your plate,there's this five-hourvideo shot on iPhone.Anyone who says you can'tuse an iPhone for pro work,frankly, I think they're wrongbecause it comes down to the skills.It's not the tools, it'sthe person using the tools.In fact, one of thethings the iPhone has doneis it's liberated people.You know, people aren't tied downto big, expensive, heavy rigs.You know, you can do so much, especiallyas a beginner filmmaker orphotographer with the iPhone.So Apple has liberated peoplefrom being stuck in thosetraps of expensive gearand it sets the bar even higher, not justfor other smartphones tobuild better camera systemsinto their phonesbut it also kind ofbuilds some competitionin the actual camera space.We may see prices come down.We may see more features come out,you know, just so that stuffcan compete with an iPhone.Because these camera systemsare getting pretty sophisticated.And let's be honest, Applehas a ginormous influenceon the industry.They took the headphonejack off the iPhone.Many people ridiculedthem, but guess what?Pretty much every otherphone following thatdoesn't have a headphone jack on it now.So influence.Or as Phil Schiller says,- Courage.- Now would I replace my Blackmagic rigwith an iPhone 12 Pro Max?Well, I haven't tested the 12 Pro Max yet.Again, this is just a piece of plastic,but odds are no.My Blackmagic rig does a lot of thingsthat an iPhone can't do very easilyespecially out of the box.However, I absolutely see myselfusing an iPhone 12 Pro Maxas a, like a quick in themoment, kind of B roll camera.Like if I'm doing somethingand I don't have my rig with meand maybe I want to capture it quick,you know, I'll use myiPhone 11 Pro no problem.So I would use it not inlieu of my Blackmagic rigbut as like a complimentto my Blackmagic rig.But here's where things get interesting.Can the iPhone 12 ProMax do things on paperthat my Blackmagic can't do?Yeah.Two of them being DolbyVision HDR, HDR in generaland sensor-shift opticalimage stabilization.I love my Blackmagic rigbut it does not have anyHDR capabilities built in.nor does it have any kindof stabilization built in.So let's talk aboutDolby Vision for awhile,'cause that's kind of a big deal.It's in the iPhone 12sacross the whole lineand it's been around.You know, Dolby Vision isn't anything newbut it's resurging becauseagain, Apple influence.It's now in the iPhone 12 line all the wayfrom the Mini to the ProMax and you can shoot,view and edit 10 bitHDR Dolby Vision footageall on the phone.There's no other phone that can do that.So that's pretty insane.And we're gonna see thatroll out into more devices.Everything's going to begetting these HDR displaysand it's gonna spread like wildfire.Trust me, it's coming.So what's with all thisdynamic range stuff?So going from 8-bit to 10-bitbut essentially givesyou more luminance valuesper color channel, which meansit can have more smooth gradientsand better looking color.You go from 256 valuesper each channel to 1,024.So you get a lot more color.And that's 10-bit, highdynamic range or HDR10.That's a standard, butDolby Vision is builton top of that standardand Dolby Vision is kind oflike dynamic, dynamic range.This is a general synopsis, by the way,I'm not gonna go too down the rabbit hole.Dolby Vision video contains instructionson how the picture should look.So if there's different objectsmoving through the scene,or as the scene changes,the dynamic range can adjustto make the picturelook as best as it can.Whereas HDR10 is more fixedand not as dynamic as Dolby Vision.And you can edit this stuff,not just shoot it on your phone,but edit it on your phone inthe Photos app and in iMovie.And later you're gonna be ableto edit this stuff directlyin Final Cut Pro on your Mac.Which is gonna be interestingbecause to the best of my knowledge,the only display Apple sellsthat could actually letyou view this stuff isthe Pro Display XDR.There's no laptop oriMac that can do that,but I'm sure that'll be changingin the not too distant future.So those features sound amazing.And on paper, you know,my Blackmagic can't even do that stuff.But the main sticking point for me is,well, the sensor is still tiny.The optics are still tiny.You can't get the same typeof optical effects you canwith the lenses of a regular camera.You can't get as much depth of fieldand low-light performance asyou can with a regular camerabecause those camerashave much bigger sensorsand these are small, butagain, there's trade offs.This fits in your fricking pocket.That's pretty phenomenal.Because I've looked atcomputational photographyand it's come a long waybut you'll stillsometimes see splotchinessas it tries to removenoise and stuff like that.And I'm not a huge fan ofthat, but it is getting better.So with every year new iPhones come out,like this stuff is getting closerto being suitable replacementsfor actual camera rigs,like the Blackmagic I'm using.But regarding thatprogression and sensor sizethe Pro Max has a biggersensor in the wide camera.It's 47% bigger than the other sensors.So the pixels are now 1.7 microns big.And again, the overall sensoris bigger because of that.And you can get about 87%better low light performancebecause you have that bigger sensor.And that's an exclusive featurethat's in the Pro Maxthat's not in the othermodels of the iPhone 12.And here's another cool thing, LiDAR.So in the iPhone 12 Pro and the Pro Max,you have that LiDAR scannerwhich can help you withaugmented reality experiencesdepending on what software you use.Now, LIDAR can do things likehelp the camera auto-focusin the dark because itcan see in the dark.So your auto-focus speed can improve.But I'm very curious to see how other appslet you layer things in real timeespecially with video.Because if you're lookingat all this depth data,the image of the room, the environmentcan be on the phoneand you can move layersbehind people and do all this cool stuff.And I'm wondering, maybethrough a third party solutionor maybe built in in the future,if we can have super realisticand super accuratesimulated depth of field.So you know how you have portrait mode,if you take a picture and youcan blur out the backgroundfor a photo, imagine beingable to do that for a video.And I know there's otherpeople working on this,but it's not perfect yet.And I wonder if the LIDAR scannercan help us get there more.Maybe Apple hasn't built inthat software feature yetbecause they're still trying to master itand make it a little moreperfect before they do so.So LIDAR opens up a lotof possibilities for videoand this next one, which I wasnot expecting, Apple ProRAW.So when you shoot a photo on your phone,the image signal processor isdoing a crap ton of operationsespecially with deep fusionto make it look great.Because again, smalllenses, small aperturessmall sensors, thepicture may be that greatbut with deep fusion and the chips inside,all the cameras can work together at oncewith the brain and justcombine the exposuresand reduce noise and thepicture you're looking atis immensely post-processedwhen you take a photo.And I don't know about you,but if you've ever shota RAW photo on an iPhonewith an app like Lightroom,it's usually very noisybecause none of thecomputational photography stuffis taking place.Apple is introducing ProRAW.What it does is it offersyou the flexibility of RAW,but with the benefits of Apple'scomputational photography.I think I'm gonna be shootingon my iPhone more with photosif I can have all thatRAW data to work with.That's incredible.And if you're not sureexactly what RAW photos are,I did do a separate video a long time agoabout the subject,comparing them to JPEGs.Definitely check that out.But in short, a raw photojust gives you a lot more datato work with.So if you wanna bring downexposures or pump-up shadowsyou can do that withoutthe photo looking like crapbecause there's no compressionor post-processing happening.So that's gonna be coolto see on the iPhone.So back to sensor-shift quickly,that's a pretty cool feature.Again, it's in the widelens on the Pro Max.So currently the lenses moveinside the cameras to helpyou stabilize your video.And it actually works prettyfreaking well on the 11 Pro.But for even better and morefine cinematic stabilization,what they do now is theyhave the sensor movewhich can be moved a lot more finelythan the lenses because it'sless heavy, it's less big.So the sensor moves tohelp stabilize the image.So coming up in future episodes,I wanna do two cameracomparisons to the 11 Pro.Again, the 12 Pro versus the 11 Proand the 12 Pro Max versus the 11 Pro.But in the end, I'm probably gonna stickwith the Pro Max just becauseit has more features in the camera system.It's probably gonna win me over.So what are some of thosefeatures, just to sum up?(whooshing)The 12 Pro Max exclusive features are:the larger sensor in the wide camerawith that better low light performance.Sensor-shift optical imagestabilization in the wide camera.And you get a lot more optical zoom rangefrom the widest to the tightest lens,it's a 5x optical zoomrange compared to the 4x.The iPhone 12, however,now we're getting away from the Pro lines,doesn't have night mode portraitsno ProRAW, even though it'sthe same A14 processor,I'm not sure why it can't handle ProRAW.It's probably just asoftware feature lockout.So Apple gives youanother reason to upgradeto the more expensivephone, but that aside,there's also no LIDAR scannerno sensor-shift opticalimage stabilization,no larger sensor, onlya 2x optical zoom rangebut it still has Dolby Visionbut it's at 30 FPS, not 60 FPS.So if you think you'regonna use camera features,video and photo moreseriously on the iPhone,do not get the iPhone 12or the iPhone 12 mini,get the iPhone 12 Pro.And do I dare say, go for the 12 Pro Maxthat's going to give youa huge bang for your buckbecause you get thoseextra camera features,plus, you know, slightly bigger screen,longer lasting battery too.So I say, go for the 12 Pro Maxbecause that's the onethat's gonna win me over.I can already see it happening.What's your favorite finish, by the way?I think the Pacific blue is just, noice.So I have a lot of othercool episodes comingbut definitely staytuned for the two part-erwhere I do those camera comparisonswith the 12s and the 11 Pro.That's gonna be a lot of fun.And we'll also see how muchcloser these phones areto replacing other cameras,like my Blackmagic.I might be surprised and you might too.It's gonna be cool.Let me know what you thinkabout the new iPhones.Let me know what model youthink you're gonna get.And I can't wait toread all those comments.Just drop them down below and, hey,if you like this episodeyou know what to do.And if you wanna help fund the futureof the Computer Clan plusget some awesome perksalong the way, feel freeto pledge to us on Patreon.Thank you in advance for your support.In the meantime, thanksfor sticking with me.Catch the crazy and pass it on.(upbeat music)(logo dings)\n"