iPhone & Android Hardware Accessories

I have a question about the hubs that we’re likely to see in the coming days, such as the Kondor Blue one announced today that will power the phone which will in turn power video storage, audio storage and a monitor.

Is there a limit to how much can be powered at once through a single USB-C port? Is there a point at which the phone, like Bartleby, says “I would prefer not to”?

Steve Martin (Ripple Training) has posted a YouTube Short on the Blackmagic app’s new focus racking feature:

https://youtube.com/shorts/AiMqYzhsYjQ? ... 6-omDMpUAt

B&H has posted a 16 minute demonstration of Tilta’s Khronos “ecosystem”:

B&H also has Tilta’s Khronos system for preorder, with the full system costing US$570:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/tilta/ci/58355

Looks good. The upcoming flood of reviews will certainly reveal its shortcomings if any.

Since it screws together, for me the basic cage will have work as a daily driver for the phone.
My Neewer cage just barely achieves this.

Easy decision. I won't be trading in my Beastgrip cage for Tilta’s “ecosystem”.

My main observation is that the proprietary filters are so cheap (US$19 each) that they’re likely to help sell the Tilta cage and may hurt a number of competitors. The range: 2 stop, 4 stop, 6 stop, 8 stop, 1/4 and 1/2 white mist and 1/4 and 1/2 black mist. Total: $152 if one buys all of them.

I’ll be sticking with my B+W, Heliopan and Hoya filters and polariser, which won't work with the Tilta cage.

Adobe and Frame.io have announced a major re-write of Frame.io. iPhone and iPad users are among those invited to join the beta. Frame.io currently has 4 million users, and integrates with Avid, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut as well as Premiere Pro. There’s a Frame.io app for the iPhone.

Details:

Frame.io Version 4 Beta is Here
https://blog.frame.io/2024/04/09/frame- ... ouncement/

See the heading “iPhone and iPad” in particular.

Video: Reimagining Frame.io from the ground up.
https://frame.io/v4-keynote

Scroll down to the video, which is 14m long.

Presenter of the video: Emery Wells, CEO/Co-founder of Frame.io

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Beastgrip sent out an e-mail this morning saying that its SSD clamp mount is now available. There’s a collaboration with Western Digital/Sandisk. The mount is being sold from Western Digital’s site, not so far from Beastgrip’s. The mount is US$39.99 plus shipping (free if your order is over $50) and tax. There’s a Mount/Sandisk package for those who are interested. WD is also selling the iPhone 15 Beastcage.

This is the URL: https://www.westerndigital.com/products ... ccessories

I ordered and the estimated shipping date is 7 days from now, April 18.

Beastgrip says that it’s for SSDs “and devices” that are 43mm to 60mm wide. I’m interested in using it with a power bank.

Beastgrip will be at the Western Digital booth at NAB.

From Beastgrip’s e-mail:

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Specifications:

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Due to the Beastgrip/Western Digital collaboration (see above), I had a look at current SanDisk Extreme Portable V2 pricing. B&H, and perhaps other vendors, is offering significant discounts on 1, 2 and 4TB through April 14. If I recall correctly, when these drives came out there was an issue about whether silicon Mac computers would achieve the claimed speeds. I don’t know the current status of that issue.

1GB max on Mac’s.

Blake Calhoun (iPhoneographers) on the Blackmagic Camera update:

1GB max on Mac’s.

You mean 1 gbps?

I meant about 1GBps or 10Gbps.
I know that’s the max I can get on my M1 Max and all I’ve read about even the M3 says:

“Thunderbolt 3 data-transfer speeds up to 40Gbps, and USB 3.1 Gen 2 data-transfer speeds up to 10Gbps.”

Atomos calls this the Ninja Phone.
$/€400

"Ninja Phone is a whisper quiet, 10-bit video coprocessor for iPhone 15 Pro/Max that records from professional HDMI cameras to Apple ProRes and H.265. The iPhone’s stunning OLED display is a superb viewfinder, complete with Atomos’ professional video monitoring tools. Use iPhone’s 5G and Wi-FI for camera to cloud workflows and live streaming."

Details: https://www.atomos.com/explore/ninja-phone/

Introducing Ninja Phone

I thought I’d pass this on in case anyone wants to make a sound library for use with their videos.

I’ve started using Soundminer Basic to create a database of sound effect and ambience recordings that I make or purchase, and I’ve adopted the new Universal Category System to organise the sounds in the database. I’ve decided to also use Soundminer for music, and I’m considering using it for project dialogue.

Soundminer Pro is the industry standard and is very expensive - US$900. However, Basic is $200 and has everything that I need. I think that $200 is reasonable when spread out over the probable remaining life of Soundminer V6, which was released last year. When V7 is launched, it looks like the upgrade cost will be reasonable, and it doesn’t have to be purchased right away. The Soundminer license is perpetual, not a subscription. When V7 is released, the V6 on one’s computer isn’t suddenly going to go “poof”. The Soundminer website may leave the impression that one has to purchase an iLok physical key ($55). Soundminer signed me up for iLok’s cloud authorisation, which is free to the user. iLok cloud is what I use for other applications that require iLok.

As I said, Basic meets my needs. I’ve mostly discarded sounds when a project is over. I don’t need features, such as batch processing, that I’d want if I had a lot of existing data to input. I also don’t need sound processing features. I have, and am content to use, Logic Pro and iZotope RX for that. Soundminer Pro has what appears to be a pretty sophisticated sampler, Radium, but I’ve already got two in Logic and Kontakt. For the moment, I just want to create a capable searchable database. I think that Soundminer Basic is a brilliant tool for doing that.

I’m using Soundminer together with the Universal Category System. To quote from the UCS website:

Our aim is to provide and encourage the use of a set category list for the classification of sound effects. We hope that in doing so, we can offer a framework for consistent categorization of sound effects, offer uniformity in a filename structure, and ease the pain of maintaining a sound effects library.

The UCS is saving me a ton of time by providing me with a ready-made sound library and metadata structure, created by a group of people who have a lot of experience. Soundminer, which was involved in developing UCS, makes it easy to apply it.

Having used Soundminer Basic and UCS for the last couple of weeks, I’m impressed and recommend them without reservation for people who are starting at square one or close to it. If you already have a lot of data that you want to bring into a library application, you may well want/need Soundminer Plus, which is $400.

Soundminer is based in Toronto and continues to be owned and run by the original three developers. The public face of the application is a gentleman named Justin Drury.

Soundminer: https://store.soundminer.com
Universal Category System: https://universalcategorysystem.com

The Soundminer Basic interface, which is simple but effective, and very responsive:

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Further to the above post...

I settled on Soundminer Basic after also considering Basehead, Soundly, SoundQ and Reaper Media Explorer.

One of the things that I like about Soundminer is that it’s completely independent of the vendors of sounds. Pro Sound Effects Library is an excellent vendor, but SoundQ is fundamentally a platform for selling its own products. Basehead and Soundly also mix library and vendor functions. Both offer “free” tiers that limit one’s use of their applications for personal sounds. Basehead runs a “CloudPack Marketplace”. It boasts that its free version comes with the BBC Sound Library, which the BBC already makes freely available: https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk.

Soundly sells its library application and its sounds as a single package. Once one is no longer eligible for Soundly’s free tier, one is on a subscription (not a perpetual license) that winds up costing more than Soundminer Basic. That said, given the apparent popularity of Soundly many people obviously find it more attractive than I do.

My second choice was Reaper. Reaper is a professional quality digital audio workstation. A license for personal, non-commercial use costs a one-time payment of US$60 after a 60 day trial. It has a feature called Media Explorer that can be used to create a sound library. Reaper pays producer and sound engineer Kenny Gioia to make tutorials, which are on the YouTube channel Reaper Mania. Gioia brings a strong New York accent and a lot of knowledge to his tutorials, and he’s done a series of three on Media Explorer. If you want to use Reaper to make a sound library, start here. You’ll know how before the end of the first video:

The Media Explorer in REAPER (1/3)

If desired, I think that one could implement the Universal Category System in a Reaper Sound Library.

Now that Khronos has been released, Tilta has posted a new version of the behind the scenes for The X Gift that Gene Nagata (Potato Jet) posted on February 5th. This is the new version:

Behind The Scenes of 'The X Gift' — Shot on iPhone 15 Pro with Tilta Khronos Ecosystem

The new version omits what I think was Claudio Miranda’s most important comment in the February 5th version. Asked about ISO, he said “I was very happy with 200, and I’m very happy with 400, and mildly happy with 500”. See 14:33:

Why "Shot On iPhone" Commercials Look So Good! Ft. Claudio Miranda

The Blackmagic Design booth at NAB has the Blackmagic Camera app running on Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy phones.

If you’re impatient, go to the 55 second mark of the video

Grant Petty’s presentation on Friday ran over 2 hours and he didn’t say a word about this

I’ve spent too much time looking at how other people are setting up their iPhone when they’re not just hand-holding it. I should have been paying attention to what I already use I sometimes use the setup in the photo for stereo recording. I'll post a further photo in the next few days, but basically my Beastcage can easily be mounted on the stereo bar alongside the mikes.

When filming and recording sound in stereo, I'll use the 66cm (26") bar in the photo. If filming and recording with one mike for mono, I'll use the 30cm (12") version of the bar, which I also have.
I can use a tripod instead of the monopod plus ground tripod, or just use the monopod and dispense with the ground tripod. I can also use the 30cm bar for both filming and stereo recording if I use a technique where the mikes are close together, such as Mid-Side or ORTF.

I can sandwich the MixPre recorder between the monopod and stereo bar because it has 1/4"-20 connectors on its top and bottom. The MixPre could also go in a shoulder bag.

To record the sound, I can run a short cable from the MixPre to the phone's USB-C port or use my Tentacle Sync E timecode box, which the Blackmagic app supports.

The two XLR cables in the photo are each 90cm (3') long, but could be shorter.

How to add the Beastcage? Just screw it onto a mike holder like the two in the photo. This just requires a male 5/8" to male 1/4” adapter and a jam nut. Want the camera view to be tilted up or down? As can be seen in the photo, the stereo bar can tilt.

If I want to film from one position and record sound from another nearby, I can handhold my Beastcage or bring along a handheld mike, lavalieres (mine are wired) or my boom pole, which weighs 450g (1lb).

What I like about this setup is that I don't have to purchase anything new, apart from an extra mike holder, and I don't have to compromise on sound.

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Looks like I have enough mike holders to photograph the setup in the photo above with my Beastcage mounted between the mikes. I'll post a photo showing what that looks like in the next few days.

One thing I want to check is whether the 13mm ultra wide lens catches the mikes on either side of the Beastcage, and if so at what distance. If this is an issue, there's a rail for this stereo bar, shown in the centre in the photo below, that I could order to mount the Beastcage well in front of the mikes.

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For anyone who's interested in mounting a phone camera cage on this kind of setup, here it is from a different angle.

It can be a relatively inexpensive approach. There are several monopods on the market that incorporate a mini tripod. Stereo bars come at various price points. One could instead use one of the lateral arms that Manfrotto and others make for use with a tripod or monopod.

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Beastgrip starts shipping its SSD holder today. When I receive mine, I hope by about Wednesday, I’ll post comments and photos. I plan to try it out with a Samsung T5 or T7. If it’s promising, I intend to order a power bank battery in the 5,000mAh to 10,000mAh range. To fit, an SSD or battery has to be 43mm to 60mm wide.

In a video, Vadym Chalenko said that the holder is a smaller version of their standard phone clamp: https://beastgrip.com/collections/shop- ... beastclamp. I have that clamp, and it’s very well made.

The holder can be mounted on the top side of the phone or on a side handle cold shoe, but for a Beastcage the obvious place is on the face of the phone, as shown in the photo below.

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I wasn’t aware of this 2023 Samsung short, which may interest others. The behind the scenes appears to have been seen by few.

Galaxy S23 Ultra: 'Behold' by Sir Ridley Scott

Galaxy S23 Ultra: Behind The Scenes of 'Behold' by Sir Ridley Scott

That was interesting thanks. It just goes to show, as the cliché goes: in the right hands and all that... That and some great post, sound design and grading. Scott never gets any older too; amazing.

This is Beastgrip's SSD holder, which started shipping April 18th. It can also be mounted on a cold shoe. In the second photo, Beastgrip designer Vadym Chalenko has it mounted on a side handle. Note that the handle does not interfere with the cable.

The cable in the first photo is a 5" Kondor Blue. It's quite stiff. I have a 5” flexible ribbon cable on order, like the one in the second photo. I suspect that I'm going to prefer it. Peter McLennan, for his Neewer cage, is using the same cable that Chalenko is using, and recommends it. The brand is Afterplug.

The SSD, even this close to the lenses, is not caught by the 13mm ultra-wide.

The filter mount is 58mm. Sliding the SSD to the left, I had no difficulty fitting a step-up ring and 82mm filter.

The clamp requires an SSD width of 43mm to 60mm and could also be used with some power bank batteries. If I try that, I’ll be inclined, due to the additional weight and bulk, to mount the clamp on a cold shoe rather than over the rear face of the phone.

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I think that most of the increase in the use of phone cameras is going to come from vloggers, instructors. “reviewers" and podcasters, not from makers of fictional and documentary films. There's already very little of the latter on social media platforms, and I don't see that changing.

I do see smartphones replacing conventional cameras for the genres that are already dominant. For those genres, phones are far more cost-effective than conventional cameras, and they meet most makers' technical needs.

Over the last year or so, Google/YouTube have actively promoted the idea of visual podcasts. Earlier today, on their show Creator Insider, they elaborated. Among the presenters' examples, unsurprisingly, was Marques Brownlee's spinoff experiment WVFRM Podcast. Interesting that they refer to Brownlee, twice, but not someone like Josh Rogan

Podcasting on YouTube — What Creators Need to Know!

Beastgrip successful raised funds on Kickstarter for version 3 of its DOF (Depth of Field) Adapter and has been filling orders. I think that this is the first “unboxing” video. The person who made it also ordered an iPhone 15 Pro Max Beastcage. People who are only interested in the DOF Adapter can skip to 3:55. The person who made the video sets up the adapter with Beastgrip’s rail mount and a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens.

BeastCage Iphone 15 Pro Max and BeastGrip DOF MK3 with Rail System - Unboxing

This is the first of two sample clips:

BeastCage x BeastGrip DOF MK3 x Canon 50mm x BMW M4

Sample Clip #2 (YouTube Short):

https://youtube.com/shorts/NVUCd6bVDHc? ... usEVDoNncw

If you’re using an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, you’re likely to find Strada’s new video highly informative:

Measuring the Dynamic Range of an iPhone

Some may be interested in following up by watching professionally shot iPhone 6 footage. Austin Reza used an iPhone 5S and a 6 for his Intelligent Details films:

Intelligent Details (iPhone 5S)

Intelligent Details: The Bespoke Driving Jacket (iPhone 6)

Reza also made behind the scenes films for these.

Apple has announced version 2 of Final Cut Pro for iPad, and a new, standalone iPhone and iPad app, Final Cut Camera.

Press Release, May 7
Final Cut Pro transforms video creation with Live Multicam on iPad and new AI features on Mac

Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 delivers support for projects on external drives and Live Multicam to record multiple angles at once using the new Final Cut Camera app for iPhone and iPad; Final Cut Pro for Mac accelerates editing with new AI features

Link to Press Release: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/ ... es-on-mac/

Pricing and Availability
"Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 will be available later this spring as a free update for existing users, and available on the App Store for $4.99 (U.S.) per month or $49 (U.S.) per year, with a one-month free trial for new users.

"Final Cut Camera will be available for free later this spring as a standalone app.

"Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8 will be available as a free update for existing users and for $299.99 (U.S.) for new users on the Mac App Store. All new users can download a free 90-day trial of Final Cut Pro."

This is the Apple event at which the above was announced. iPad Pro from 10:27. See especially from 22:45:

Apple Event - May 7

End frames:

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One of Apple's announcements during yesterday's event was of coming multicam functionality for up to four cameras. Apple used a Beastgrip Pro universal cage during this segment of the event. Shooting under controlled lighting, there was no need for ND filters, and they were using the native Apple lenses. Consequently, Apple was able to use only half of the cage and set aside the other half.

Screen captures below, in order:

1. Half cage screen side
2. Half cage lens side
3. Half cage mounted on the climbing wall, apparently controlled remotely.

The name of the camera control app is Final Cut Camera. There will no doubt be speculation about what this app can do. The name of the app, and what Apple said about it during the event, suggest that it is not a fully featured camera control app; in other words, not a competitor for Blackmagic Camera, FilMic Pro or Apple's current native camera app. We won't know for sure what it can do until Apple provides more details, with release of the app scheduled for "late spring”.

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So, let the speculations begin: what if that Final Cut Camera app is a simple kind of ATEM for 4 iPhones?

Apple (and its shareholders) wouldn't mind to quadruple the phone sales, plus an iPad to run the app…

So, let the speculations begin: what if that Final Cut Camera app is a simple kind of ATEM for 4 iPhones?

There’s a reasonable chance that the updates to Final Cut Mac and Final Cut iPad, and the launch of Final Cut Camera, will happen by the start of this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10. The Final Cut Mac and iPad updates will involve more than the live multicam functionality that was discussed at Tuesday's iPad event.

Steve Martin and Mark Spencer may offer helpful commentary on their Ripple Training YouTube channel shortly after.

Ripple Training, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rippleguys

Ripple Training, website: https://www.rippletraining.com

I know that a lot of people are purchasing third party lenses. It’s something that I’ve just started thinking about, and I have a question about third party lenses and image quality on which I’d appreciate input. I have deliberately ignored special cases, such as anamorphic lenses.

My question is in two parts.

Part I
The “best” lens on an iPhone 15 is the 24mm f/1.78, which provides a resolution, for still photographs, of up to 48MP. The 13mm f/2.2 lens provides a resolution of up to 12MP.

I use a Beastgrip cage. Let’s suppose that I purchase Beastgrip’s 0.75 Wide converter and mount it on the 24mm lens. This would convert the 24mm lens to an 18mm lens. Let’s assume that the Beastgrip converter is of reasonably good quality, as converters go, and that I’m happy to replace the 13mm lens with one that’s 18mm.

What benefits would I get from replacing use of Apple’s 13mm lens with its 24mm lens plus Beastgrip’s 0.75 converter?

Part II
It’s possible to change the 24mm f1.78 lens into a 28mm, 36mm or 48mm lens. With a change to one of these focal lengths, the resolution drops. As I understand it, it is no longer up to 48MP, but rather up to 24MP. It might be worth noting that the camera is not just cropping to achieve these focal lengths. As I understand it, it involves creating several images and complex computation.

Let’s suppose that I purchase Beastgrip’s 1.7x Telephoto converter and mount it on the 24mm lens. This would convert the 24mm lens to a 41mm lens.

Leaving aside the focal length differences, what benefits would I get from using this 41mm lens rather than 28mm, 36mm or 48mm?

Finally, are there considerations in relation to this that apply to video that don’t apply to making still photographs?

Thanks

Beastgrip 0.75 wide angle: https://beastgrip.com/products/beastgri ... angle-lens
Beastgrip 1.7x telephoto: https://beastgrip.com/products/pro-seri ... photo-lens

Apple is launching the iPhone 16 four months from now. Having written the above post, it occurred to me that it might be interesting to look at analyst predictions for the upcoming phone. On Friday, MacRumors updated its coverage of what analysts anticipate. It appears that there may be significant changes to the Pro and Pro Max cameras, including an upgrade for the 13mm lens from 12MP to 48MP. If that’s accurate, and I purchase an iPhone 16, the upgrade will make purchase of Beastgrip’s 0.75 converter, which costs US$200, pointless

For those interested, this is the latest MacRumors analyst roundup: https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/iphone-16-pro/

This MacRumors video from March covers a number of possible changes. Some of this is coming from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who is well-connected and has a good track record on predictions.

The iPhone 16 Will Have These 5 New Features!

A U.K. organisation called The School of Sound is hosting a series of online talks about sound recording for narrative projects. The first, held today, featured sound mixer Stuart Wilson, who won U.S. Academy and BAFTA awards four years ago for 1917. I enjoyed his talk, which focused on capturing the sound of the space as well as the actors. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Wi ... d_engineer)

Upcoming:

May 18: Recording Realist Documentaries, Part I
May 25: Recording Realist Documentaries, Part II
June 8: Location Recording for Drama
June 17: An Introduction to Audio Drama

Today’s talk ran about two hours with questions. Cost is £12. UK tax authorities have apparently told the School to charge VAT to non-UK/non-EU residents, on the ground that the talks are delivered in the U.K., but its FAQ hasn’t been changed to reflect that.

The School of Sound: https://www.schoolofsound.co.uk/

I know that a lot of people are purchasing third party lenses. It’s something that I’ve just started thinking about, and I have a question about third party lenses and image quality on which I’d appreciate input...

I received some responses to my question on another forum, including one from a cinematographer whose work I’ve seen and respect.

I haven’t seen any hard data on the effect of using the available iPhone 15 conversion lenses. It’s safe to say that conversion lenses come with a cost in sharpness, but I’ve yet to see anything in writing or in a video that demonstrates, for a given converter, an overall benefit in image quality. Nor have I seen anything on the effect of using a converter made by company A with a cage and plate made by company B. There are no agreed standards on tolerances, and Beastgrip, to its credit, has flagged this issue in a recent video.

We also know that Apple regularly makes changes to its lenses, and that these changes will make a given converter obsolete. It’s just a matter of when. The reason that Moment has introduced its new T Series lenses is that the iPhone 14 and 15 have made the performance of its M Series lenses unacceptable.

On the weekend, I learnt that there are credible reports that the iPhone 16 will improve the resolution of the iPhone’s 13mm ultra wide lens from 12MP to 48MP. In my view, this would make purchase of Beastgrip’s 0.75 converter, which costs US$200, a waste of money for an iPhone 16 owner. I currently plan to buy an iPhone 16 Pro Max when it's released four months from now.

I do think there are special cases where one may decide that the benefit outweighs the downsides. The most obvious example is a decision to purchase an anamorphic lens. In my own case, I’ve purchased Beastgrip’s Macro lens, which I’m satisfied works significantly better than the iPhone’s closeup feature.

Chris Hau was one of the people that Apple invited to New York in conjunction with last week’s iPad event. There’s a lot to absorb in this video, which he made after two days with the new iPad Pro. From an iPhone perspective, I’d suggest watching from 6:40 to the end in particular.

A Video Editors Opinion on M4 iPad Pro

Dave Lee (Dave2D) was also at Apple's New York iPad session. He’s decided to purchase the 13” Pro, principally because of the iPhone multicam functionalty, which was demonstrated to him in New York. He discusses this from 10:10 to the end of the review.

When it comes to YouTube tech reviewers, I pay attention to Dave Lee, Marques Brownlee and Joanna Stern. Brownlee and Stern are still to come.

My 2024 iPad Pro Review

Apple also held a session in London in conjunction with its iPad event. CineD was invited and was able to record during the session.

At 3:45, there’s a demonstration of iPhone multicam. The Final Cut Camera app is discussed at 8:30.

Pro Video Editing on iPad Pro M4 with FCP 2? Hands-on at Apple Event

I think that Apple will launch iPhone multicam by the start of its Worldwide Developer Conference on June 10. The demonstrations controlling four iPhones are promising, and I have access to three.

I use Final Cut Pro on my Mac to edit, and DaVinci Resolve Studio, when needed, to finalise colour.
In anticipation of iPhone multicam, this morning I installed Final Cut for iPad on a 13” M2 iPad Pro. This iPad was released in late 2022 and should work fine. There’s a month’s free trial for the app. If I decide to keep it, it’s US$49/year. I’ll decide whether to install DR Studio for iPad when I make a decision about Final Cut. DR Studio for iPad costs US$94 (the version of DR that’s free for a full computer is also free for the iPad).

While I haven’t seen confirmation, I expect that I’ll be able to run iPhone multicam from Final Cut for Mac. However, using a 13" iPad instead of my Mac Studio computer and Eizo monitor would be a lot more convenient

Dave Lee says in the video two posts up that he intends to go the iPhone multicam route for his reviews. That implies that he’s going to replace his current cameras with iPhones. That’s interesting, given that he’s respected and influential.

I’m trying out the iPad versions of Final Cut and DaVinci Resolve on the M2 iPad Pro that Apple was selling before it launched the M4 last week.

I think that Final Cut on the ~13” iPad Pro has real potential for a first cut or fast turn-around edit, and especially as a controller/switcher for the upcoming feature to film with up to four iPhones. As a controller, it will certainly be more practical in many cases than using a desktop computer and monitor. A 13” or 15” MacBook Air, or 14” MacBook Pro, could also be used, but is more weight, bulk and money.

I think that Final Cut for iPad v. 2 and Final Cut Camera will be released by WWDC on June 10. My Final Cut for iPad trial ends June 16, so I should have time to try out both. If I keep Final Cut for iPad, the cost is US$49 per year.

I sometimes use DaVinci Resolve Studio on my desktop for colour and related finalisation issues. I’m using the free version on my iPad. If I decide to continue using it, I’ll install DR Studio for iPad, which costs US$94.

Screen capture, Final Cut for iPad… YouTuber Andy To made the demo/practice footage. The app help section includes a number of videos by Mark Spencer of Ripple Training.

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Since we are now moving on to accessories in a wider sense, please allow me a comment on FCP for the iPad.
With this app, Apple is showing again that they understand a thing or two about a good GUI. They have worked around the limitations of a tablet brilliantly, by re-arranging the whole layout. It's a bit focused on right-handers, though, it would be nice if media and inspector could change places.
Precision when operated with the stylus only is very good, and the simulated jog-wheel, which can be relocated, as well. The simulation of inertia enables both fast movements and finer corrections. Trimming, relocating keyframes and manual focusing of the camera can all be done with it. You can leave snapping active and still navigate precisely to a frame close to the next edit. Another nice feature is writing or drawing into the movie, but a tracker would improve that function considerably.
A minus is the lack of color wheels and curves for the limited, but useable color grading of the desktop version. On the tablet there are only sliders. ProRes RAW is supported (of course), but no other RAW. If you own a BM camera, you are limited to ProRes, and if you own a Sony recording in .MXF, you are out of luck. Strange enough, since OP-1a out of an Arri Alexa is contained in .MXF too and is accepted. I also don't see an option to import LUTs, and the ones coming with the software are not always perfect. The Scene Remover is pretty limited in functionality and can't replace any decent keyer. It rather looks like the realtime features to replace the background in OBS, Zoom or the like. The desktop version already has a green screen key including light wrap.
Nevertheless, after using the tablet version for a while, one is feeling compelled to touch the screen when working with the desktop version
While Apple knows how to build a good GUI, they also know about hard-selling. Why can't you buy 16 GB RAM, which you definitely need, with just half a TB of storage? And they go even further: you can't work from an external SSD, but have to copy your clips to the internal one before starting to edit. There is no technical reason for doing this, as DR or LumaFusion demonstrate on the iPad, but only another try to sell you a more expensive model. I hope Apple will drop that ridiculous restriction in the next version. Finally, you can move a project from the tablet to the desktop, but not the other way. That might not be of that much importance for most.
Some may complain about the subscription model, a first for Apple software (apart from iCloud or TV), but IMHO the price is quite reasonable. And you can still export a project, even if your subscription is not active any more. Try that with Adobe software.

Disclaimer: This is based on my experiences with the first version, since I later decided that I don't really need the tablet. Looks like Apple has fixed some issues and I hope that the next version is far superior.

Disclaimer: … Looks like Apple has fixed some issues and I hope that the next version is far superior.

People who attended Apple’s M4 iPad sessions in London and New York confirm that the improvements to Final Cut for iPad include addressing the two main criticisms of version 1. Users will be able to edit from an external drive and to round-trip between Mac and iPad. See the videos above by Chris Hau, Dave Lee and CineD.

iPad owners have two Apple options for video editing: iMovie, which comes with an iPad, and Final Cut for iPad. Having used Final Cut for over 10 years without a single upgrade charge, I’m fine with US$49 per year for the iPad version. If it works as an iPhone controller/switcher as well as Dave Lee and CineD say, I’ll be subscribing. Depending on how far I want to take iPad edits, I may also pay US$94 for DaVinci Resolve Studio for iPad.

Yes, they saw the light regarding external storage. But it's not clear yet from what I saw, if the full ProRes footage transferred from the phones will reside internal only or optionally external. And then, working with those up to four phones in a WiFi-infested environment might not be sheer fun.
I hope they can improve the AI 'keyer', though, before they go final. It still shows the same flaws like version 1, at least in the CineD demo.

P.S. Would have been nice if Chris Hau had taped over his reflective DJI mic with something.
The first thing I did to our RØDE

Yes, they saw the light regarding external storage. But it's not clear yet...

Personally, I’m more interested in Mac/iPad round tripping than in editing on external drives, which I don’t do anyway. That said, if ProRes is excluded from external drive editing, I think that we’d know. That’s not consistent with Apple’s statements, and there were a lot of people at the London and New York sessions asking a lot of questions. What we don’t know is how the Final Cut performance of the previous M2 iPad, which is what I have, will compare to the performance of the new M4, especially an M4 with 16GB of RAM. I’m interested in this question because I paid less than Apple’s trade-in value for the iPad on which I’m testing Final Cut and DaVinci Resolve.

The focus on June 10th’s WWDC will be on artificial intelligence. While not finalised, at least publicly, it appears that an Apple/OpenAI partnership will bring the latter’s technology to iOS 18. I think that Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is the most reliable Apple observer. He publishes a newsletter every Sunday. In today’s issue, he says that iOS 18 is seen within Apple as the biggest update in the iPhone’s history. That’s 17 years. The M4 chip in the new iPad, skipping M3, suggests the same for the iPad.

I’m happy to wait three weeks to see what WWDC means for the iPhone/iPad, Mac, Final Cut and Logic, which I use along with iZotope RX for sound creation and editing.

Speaking of sound, Soundminer, which I purchased in April, is working extremely well as a sound library manager. At the time, I wrote two posts about it, this one and the one following: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=191338&start=450#p1035980

Steve Martin of Ripple Training has posted a video on filming with timecode. He demonstrates setting up an iPhone 15 Pro and a Blackmagic Pocket 6K to record a singer and pianist, with both cameras using Tentacle Sync E timecode. The video Description has a timestamped index.

Timecode Sync Cameras with Tentacle Sync E Mk2

New Blackmagic Camera Update

NewsShooter
Blackmagic Camera 1.4 Update
https://www.newsshooter.com/2024/05/24/ ... -4-update/

BM Update.jpeg (166.82 KiB) Viewed 8375 times

At Cannes today, the Palme d’Or went to American Director Sean Baker. In 2016, Baker shot a 12m film for fashion house Kenzo entirely on iPhone:

Yesterday, Lux Optics, maker of the still photography app Halide, released an iPhone video app called Kino.

Halide has a good reputation, and Lux is strong on user interface and user engagement. The launch price for Kino is US$10, although the website says that that price will only be available through Friday, May 31st. The regular price will be $20. The Kino FAQ has useful information on future Kino pricing. Halide currently costs a one-time payment of $60 or a subscription at $12 per year.

Why would someone pay $10 for what is very much a first cut at the app? The implicit sales pitch is that Lux is including 11 "hand-picked" LUTS for Apple Log footage as part of the deal, although one of these (Stu Maschwitz’s) is already available free from his website. I expect that these LUTS will work with any video app, such as Blackmagic’s, that accepts LUTS; and of course they will work in a video editor.

Kino: https://www.shotwithkino.com
Lux Optics: https://www.lux.camera
Stu Maschwitz’s post on Kino: https://prolost.com/blog/kino