I love my iPhone 15 Pro Max. It’s a versatile camera that’s always in my pocket. Previously, I disliked the videos it produced: they were too sharp, overly digital, excessively HDR, and the list goes on. However, with the iPhone 15 and the ability to record in Apple Log, there’s now much greater flexibility for editing during post-production.
The stock camera app records in ProRes compression when Apple Log is selected. One minute of footage can take up to 6.6GB, which is an enormous amount.
Fortunately, the Blackmagic Camera app has been a game-changer. First, it’s free. Secondly, it supports recording in Apple Log with HEVC compression. I love it. The files are now manageable, and the file sizes are reasonable. I’ve recorded hundreds of videos using this compression format.
That said, I hit the limits of this setup during a wedding I attended as a photographer in July 2024. While I could have used my Sony α7 IV to record videos, I chose to use my iPhone 15 instead. It’s small, light, and allows me to move around easily. That was the plan, at least.
When I reviewed the footage back home, I was devastated by the results. Fortunately, video recording wasn’t part of my job description for the event.
The video was noisy! Losing a lot of details. Cleaning using Neat Video doesn’t yield much as it is too soft and details are gone.
After much reading, reflection, and further consideration, I decided to go for ProRes LT. The file size is more than double compared to standard formats, consuming storage space rapidly. However, the trade-off is worth it, as some night scenes are now salvageable. The photo below looks decent, with the details still intact.
However, exploring compression further, I find that ProRes (which is nearly twice the size of ProRes LT for a similar recording duration) offers a slight advantage. It has less compression, therefore it won’t sacrifice details, especially in a dark scene. Now, though, one minute of footage takes up about 3.5GB, so the best approach is to record directly to an external drive.
As always, Google proved incredibly helpful. It led me to the Lexar Go SSD. I chose the 1TB version, which should suffice since I don’t need to record for extended durations.
So far, it has proven to be very useful. I no longer need to manually transfer recordings from my iPhone to my MacBook via AirDrop before copying them to permanent storage. Now, I can simply plug in the SSD drive and transfer the recordings directly to their final destination.
Note: During a discussion, someone pointed out that the iPhone 15 serves as a secondary camera because I use a larger-sensor camera as my primary device. The iPhone’s smaller sensor doesn’t justify creating such large recording files. It seems counter-intuitive that the larger-sensor camera, with clearer details, produces files that take up significantly less space. Yet, in some cases, I used only my phone to record and didn’t touch the larger camera at all. Why? Because it was more convenient. Therefore, I want these recordings to be salvageable, with less noise and clearer details.