iPhone Hardware Accessories

I'd like to put in a vote of approval for the handles that came with my version of the Neewer cage. Just one of those handles makes a huge difference to hand held shooting. Two is even better.

Handles result in smoother, more accurate moves and much fewer fingers in the shot, especially with the 13mm lens.

Safer, too. I'll bet many a shooter has dropped, or nearly dropped, a phone while shooting.

Uploaded today, Marques Brownlee's 3 month review of the iPhone 15. Several comments about the lenses and camera app. Like me, Brownlee has good taste and went with white

Forgot to mention that Marques Brownlee shot yesterday's video on the iPhone 15.

This afternoon, Beastgrip founder Vadym Chalenko and manager Oleg Gavronski released a video about their new cages for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. I could not be happier with the changes. Even if one doesn't use their products, the discussion about the issues with the new phones (which arise from the re-positioning of the telephoto lens), and what's been done to resolve them, is interesting.

There will also be a new mount for SSDs which can also be used with other devices.

Interesting comments about Moment lenses and about lens alignment.

Beastgrip's filter adapter has a 58mm thread. There will be a new 58mm to 77mm step-up ring and a line of 77mm filters. They think that step-up rings can help address vignetting. I intend to use the 58mm to 82mm step-up ring and 82mm filters that I already have. I also plan to use Lee100.

There are a couple of references to a DOF adapter that are unclear unless one knows what the adapter is. It converts full frame 35mm lenses for use with an iPhone.

Beastgrip expects to start shipping mid-January. Given when I ordered, I hope to receive a Pro Max cage a few days later.

Robert Niessner points out in another thread that the Blackmagic app now supports Tilta's Nucleus Nano II. He links this article from Newsshooter: https://www.newsshooter.com/2023/12/28/ ... re-update/

Using the iPhone 15 and the Nucleus Nano II, Tilta and Claudio Miranda made The X Gift below. Miranda won the Academy Award for Life of Pi, and was nominated for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and last year's Top Gun: Maverick.

The X Gift — A Holiday Short Film Shot on iPhone 15 Pro with Tilta Khronos Ecosystem

That Tilta Khronos cage certainly looks interesting. There appears to be a fan on the camera side. Hmm.

That Tilta Khronos cage certainly looks interesting. There appears to be a fan on the camera side. Hmm.

From the video description:

"The Khronos Ecosystem is scheduled to launch by the end of January, along with the release of a behind-the-scenes video. Please stay tuned for further updates and announcements.

The upcoming BTS video was apparently shot by Gene Nagata, better known as Potato Jet, the name of his YouTube channel.

Screen captures from the film:

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There's more information about Khronos in an article on Tilta's website: https://tilta.com/2023/12/the-x-gift-a- ... ne-15-pro/

Also more images.

Cinematographer Claudio Miranda (right) and Tilta's Yang Shao:

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Yang Shao and one of the actors:

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I guess it was just a matter of time before people started coming up with ways to cash in on the growing demand for vertical video. According to popular YouTuber Tyler Stalman and Kondor Blue, phone clamps have either a horizontal or vertical orientation, and they've come up with the first clamp that's oriented to vertical filming.

Of course, if you want to use your "Stalman Clamp For Vertical Filmmakers" to shoot handheld, you need a handle. The handle is called the Pro-Blade SSD.

The "Stalman Clamp", currently on pre-order, is US$75. You won't learn this from Stalman in his video, but the handle is $200. That's just for the handle. If you want an SSD in it, B&H has the "Kit" for $360 and up. We're now at $275 minimum, and at least $360 if one wants the handle to do what it's designed to do.

Kondor Blue's two webpages on this:
https://kondorblue.com/products/stalman ... 1258585136
https://kondorblue.com/collections/hand ... ade-handle

Tyler Stalman's YouTube video:

I invented a better phone clamp

For me, the real issue with phone clamps is that they're C-clamps and generally don't give me a lot of confidence. Beastgrip's is the first I've used where I'm confident that the phone is fully secure. Not cheap, the clamp costs $50. A perfectly good handle adds $8. The video below shows its most expensive clamp/handle configuration, $109. It works well in both vertical and horizontal use, and can also be used with Beastgrip's phone cages. In addition, this configuration can be used to mount one's phone on a tripod, and for very low shots on a level surface the handle will hold the phone upright.

As the images in this earlier post show, with the $8 handle the clamp also has a neat trick: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=191338&start=100#p1001693

Fascinating stuff. As this new way of shooting evolves, new tools continually appear.

One thing I've learned about handles is that they need to be instantly and easily reconfigured and repositioned.

The ones on my Neewer cage are neither. It's the biggest deficiency I've discovered so far.

Further to Beastgrip's video on the new cages for the iPhone Pro and Pro Max (7 posts up), today it posted this YouTube "Short". It shows the new filter and SSD mounts.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/U45yuU-w3xk

An SSD will not interfere with the filter adapter nor a large step-up ring and filter mounted on it. Based on what Vadym Chalenko said about releasing a line of 77mm filters in the earlier video, I think that the step-up ring front thread and filter in the "Short" are 77mm, with room to spare.

The screen captures below, from a Beastgrip video about its side handles, shows that the SSD mount and the USB-C cable will not interfere with using a side handle, or two. The SSD mount is screwed to the face, not the top, of the cage. It won't affect any component that one might want to mount on the top. The side handle's Nato rail will constrain the USB-C cable.

With respect to side handles, there's no material difference between the new iPhone 15 Beastcages and the iPhone 14 Beastcage shown in the screen captures:

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Some specs, with Tilta to come in February...

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 221g (7.81oz)

Beastgrip cage for the Pro Max

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Neewer cage for the Pro Max

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SmallRig cage for the Pro Max

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Edit: Added a reference to Tilta's upcoming cage. Looks like specs will be available toward the end of January.

Even at the stated 4 oz weight I find the phone quite heavy for daily use with the Neewer cage. I never remove the phone from the cage. The benefits so far outweigh the few disadvantages.

I think cage designers should consider a polycarbonate structure.

Even at the stated 4 oz weight I find the phone quite heavy for daily use with the Neewer cage. I never remove the phone from the cage. The benefits so far outweigh the few disadvantages.

I think cage designers should consider a polycarbonate structure.

If you haven't already, maybe check out Polar Pro's LiteChaser case. The case is US$75, and the "Grip", which has a 1/4-20, is $35. Polar Pro tried to make its system proprietary with respect to filters, which dd not go down well. It's now abandoned that, and it offers an ordinary 67mm filter adapter.

Thanks for reminding us of that one. That's more to my taste for an "always with you" camera.
Encouraging that they offer adaptation from some older parts for the 13 and 14, that builds trust in a brand.

Oh, and I really like the wonderful irony when he says you can up your production value by at least 20% with a matte box (actually, primarily a French flag, I don't see a filter holder).

Thanks for reminding us of that one. That's more to my taste for an "always with you" camera.
Encouraging that they offer adaptation from some older parts for the 13 and 14, that builds trust in a brand.

Just a word of caution. Polar Pro has been selling the LiteChaser line since iPhone 11. It has not been a consistent product. There have been ill-advised attempts to make LiteChaser proprietary, several design changes and a supply chain problem. It had YouTube "influencers" pushing a product that it wound up not delivering. For the iPhone 14, it made both a case and a cage. Now it says that there won't be an iPhone 15 cage, only a case.

On the upside, the iPhone 15 case is fairly straightforward and there's a filter adapter for it that works with other brands' filters. If buying its case, I would adopt the working assumption that nothing purchased for it will be usable for a subsequent iPhone.

Oh, and I really like the wonderful irony when he says you can up your production value by at least 20% with a matte box (actually, primarily a French flag, I don't see a filter holder).

That is part of the Polar Pro Recon matte box. Polar Pro's BaseCamp and Recon matte boxes are completely proprietary. They aren't even compatible between one-another. From Polar Pro's FAQ:

Is Recon compatible with any previous PMVND filters or BaseCamp components?

No, all Recon filters and components are only compatible with the Recon system.

All of this said, Polar Pro's iPhone 15 case and certain accessories may make sense for some people if approached as a one-off purchase.

This new video was made by a YouTube channel about Tesla vehicles. The channel uses a DSLR, a Canon point and shoot and an iPhone 15 Pro Max to produce content. The video is about using the Pro Max with a Beastgrip universal cage, a Beastgrip 1.7x telephoto lens and a DJI Ronin RS 3 Mini Gimbal.

At 8:30, the presenter talks briefly about using the Beastgrip cage handheld. I currently use a 15 Pro Max and Beastgrip universal cage myself, and I agree with what he says about the cage's grip and handling.

To clarify what he says about materials, the cage is "Glass filled nylon and machined 6061-T6 aluminum with black anodized finish". It weighs 309g (10.9 oz) without accessories. The Pro Max phone weighs 221g (7.81oz). Total: 530g (18.7oz).

DJI says that the maximum payload for the RS 3 Mini is 2kg (4.4lb).

Beast Grip Package and DJI Gimbal!

Link to the Beastgrip Pro universal cage: https://beastgrip.com/collections/best- ... stgrip-pro?

B&H link to the DJI RS 3 Mini Gimbal: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... imbal.html

Note that the YouTube channel that made the video above is using Beastgrip's universal cage with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I'm currently doing so myself and want to note a reservation related to the iPhone 15 ultra-wide lens. Basically, I suggest that owners of an iPhone 15 purchase a Beastcage for that phone unless they have a good reason to purchase a universal cage.

The universal cage uses this Beastgrip filter adapter:

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I think it's likely that this adapter, used with a screw-in filter, will result in vignetting of the iPhone 15's ultra-wide lens. That's what I've found, even with a low profile filter designed to address wide-angle lenses. I've yet to try it, but I suspect that one needs to use square filters. Depending on the filter holder, it may also be necessary to use the filter hand-held.

Beastgrip's phone-specific cages have a phone-specific filter mount. This is the one for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, which Beastgrip says will start shipping about 10 days from now. As one can see, the mount covers all three native lenses and has a much lower profile.

58mm filter mount

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In his December 29th video on the new iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max Beastcages (14 posts up), Beastgrip owner Vadym Chalenko says "We wanted to make sure that once you put it on [i.e. the iPhone 15 filter mount], you aren’t going to have any vignetting with the ultra-wide camera”.

As one can see on the following page, Beastgrip also made phone-specific filter mounts for the iPhone 13 and 14: https://beastgrip.com/collections/filter-mounts The difference in profile height between the universal filter mount and the phone-specific filter mounts is apparent in photographs on that page.

Does it make a difference whether I get Beastgrip's universal cage (Beastgrip Pro) or one specific to my phone, apart from the fact that phone-specific cages will cost me more in the long run? Despite spending a fair amount of time looking, I've found no helpful discussion of this question.

That's part of the first post in this thread. In the two months since, I've still come across very little on the internet that addresses the question. At the moment, I'm using the universal cage with my iPhone 15 Pro Max, and I'll have the phone-specific cage when it ships around about January 15. At that point, I'll take a stab at answering the question myself

For the reasons discussed in the post above, it's pretty clear that one should purchase the phone-specific cage if one wants to use screw-in filters on the iPhone's ultra-wide lens. However, I want to test this myself. Speaking generally, using screw-in filters on a 13mm equivalent lens normally results in vignetting.

I think that this new video by a cinematographer named Tucker Anderson is one of the more objective, level-headed discussions about using the Blackmagic app and an iPhone 15. While traveling in Peru, Anderson shot some Apple Log and asked a friend, who's a colourist, to grade it. The footage that he posted is only 2 minutes long, but long enough to illustrate his points. He talks about his approach to using his 15 Pro, what worked, and what worked less well. He's also 3D printed a filter holder, which means that there are 3D print instructions floating around the internet.

How good is Apple Log? | iPhone 15 Pro footage breakdown

Loosely related but fun...

Toward the end, Anderson talks about a shot from a recent shoot for fashion brand Lululemon featuring hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalf and Casey Neistat. Neistat made the shot that Anderson discuses on an iPhone 13.

Neistat and Anderson have both made videos about this shoot. Neistat's includes a brief clip (at 7:25) of Anderson using a Onewheel to film him riding a Boosted Board. Interesting comments by Anderson in his own video about using a Onewheel as a camera platform. He was understandably a bit anxious about the professional impact if he crashed out

This is the Lululemon commercial, which has been aired nationally here in the U.S. It's clever. I got a kick out of Gretzky's line: "Rookies." It was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, where Lululemon is based:

The Shockingly Comfortable ABC Pant: Ft. Wayne Gretzky, DK Metcalf, and Casey Neistat

Wikipedia on The Teddy Bears' Picnic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_Bears%27_Picnic

If interested:

Neistat's video: My New Career as a Male Model and Professional Skateboarder
Anderson's: Filming with Casey Neistat | Commercial Behind the Scenes

Philip Bloom has now weighed in on Apple Log. Frankly, I think that Tucker Anderson's video just above is more informative, but here it is:

Apple Log on the iPhone 15 Pro: The hype, the truth, the good & the bad!

Bloom uses the Blackmagic app and Protake. He has comments on both.

He's also using Stu Maschwitz's Prolost conversion LUT, about which more in the next post.

He takes a conventional position on ISO. I would like to have heard him discuss that, given the argument that has been advanced by Gerald Undone and Patrick Tomasso.

This is the second time that Bloom is pushing the Snap case and filter system. I looked into it a month ago. It's an interesting idea, but it has not caught on, and it was unclear whether there would even be an iPhone 15 version. Bloom's U.S. and U.K. Amazon links say that the case and filters are for the iPhone 14 Pro Max. I only saw references to an iPhone 15 product on Ali Express, and it wasn't clear there whether an iPhone 15 case exists.

The promoter's website (panscheme.com) says nothing about an iPhone 15 product, and his YouTube channel (Mediastorm影视飓风), which is very active, hasn't had a video about his Snap filter system since September, 2022.

I think that there's a serious question about whether this is a failed product and they're just trying to sell off remaining inventory.

Further to the post above, Stu Maschwitz made the free conversion LUT that Philip Bloom uses, and has also made his own useful video about Apple Log:

Log is the “Pro” in iPhone 15 Pro (Free LUTs!)

There's also a written version on his Prolost website:

Log is the "Pro" in Apple 15 Pro
https://prolost.com/applelog

I think that this Maschwitz article is excellent:

What Does and Doesn't Matter About Apple Shooting their October Event on iPhone15 Pro Max
https://prolost.com/blog/scarybts

Maschwitz's bio from his website:

Stu Maschwitz is a filmmaker, photographer, writer, visual effects artist, and designer of filmmaking software. A graduate of CalArts, Maschwitz spent four years at Industrial Light & Magic, working on films like Twister, Star Wars, and Mission: Impossible, before co-founding the legendary visual effects firm The Orphanage in 1999. Maschwitz’s directing work includes music videos, award-winning commercials, and second-unit for film and television... Maschwitz designed the Magic Bullet color grading system for Red Giant, and is now Chief Creative Officer of MAXON, where he continues to create powerful, intuitive tools for animators, filmmakers, and motion designers.

What I noticed when having a close look at Philip Bloom's video is the good motion blur with the subway and the bus in particular. I analysed the blur from Red cameras a while ago for very similar shooting situations and could clearly see why digital cameras tend to stutter more, even if you pan according to the book. On those, the edges of the motion blur are very sharp, as you would expect from an electronic shutter.

Not so from the iPhone 15 (if you keep 180 degree shutter). The edges of the MB look really smooth, as if coming from the mechanical shutter in a classical film camera, where the shutter is not in focus. I assume Apple is achieving this with the EDR somehow. Good job, Apple!

On a Red you'd need the Motion Mount, which has quite a few side effects.

I think that this Maschwitz article is excellent:

What Does and Doesn't Matter About Apple Shooting their October Event on iPhone15 Pro Max
https://prolost.com/blog/scarybts

Further to the Tucker Anderson and Philip Bloom videos four posts and three posts up, this is what Stu Maschwitz says in his article about ISO. We know from Beastgrip's December 29th video, linked earlier in this thread, that Apple did not use neutral density filters:

They Shot at ISO 55: Matters to Apple’s Goal of Maximum Image Quality

Here’s where the level of professional control over the lighting starts to really matter: If Apple decided that they must shoot at ISO 55 (the lowest, although possibly not the native ISO of the 1x camera) for the highest image quality, and with a 180º shutter for the most pro-camera look, that means they have no other control over exposure. The iPhone 15 Pro 1x lens does not have a variable aperture, so shutter speed and ISO are your only exposure controls.

When shooting in uncontrolled environments, the typical method of limiting the amount of light entering the lens is via ND filters, sometimes variable ND filters. I don’t see any evidence that Apple used filters on this shoot, which would fit with their overall prioritization of image quality over all else. So this goes back to lighting — Apple’s team controlled that lighting perfectly, because they opted out of any exposure control they might have had in-camera.

I'm curious to learn more about this setting though. YouTubers Gerald Undone and Patrick Tomasso did some tests and found that the best dynamic range from the iPhone 15 Pro came from ISO 1100–1450, with 1250 being their recommended sweet spot. Did Apple prioritize low noise over dynamic range?

Well, with a professional crew and lighting, you don't only control the light level, but contrast ratio too.
Who needs DR?

Well, with a professional crew and lighting, you don't only control the light level, but contrast ratio too.
Who needs DR?

Exactly. There are more controls of DR available than carefully selecting the ISO.

Apple's production crew had complete control of everything, including the time of day for the exteriors.

I admit to being a sucker for, and an unabashed fan of, Apple's marketing skills. All of their business practices? Not so much.

Well, with a professional crew and lighting, you don't only control the light level, but contrast ratio too.
Who needs DR?

Exactly. There are more controls of DR available than carefully selecting the ISO.

Apple's production crew had complete control of everything, including the time of day for the exteriors.

I'm just a regular guy trying to learn how to use my phone to record stuff.

What does DR stand for? DaVinci Resolve? Something else? I did do a search. Is it insider lingo for people who are too busy to write dynamic range?

Stu Maschwitz, who as far as I can tell isn't thick, and who Philip Bloom and others appear to hold in some regard, asked a question of interest not only to himself, but to ordinary people like me who can't afford to hire RadicalMedia and Company3 to make their videos for them. For those of us who are members of the great unwashed, ISO is indeed significant.

Gerald Undone's and Patrick Tomasso's video on this highly technical subject has had 60,000 views. Uli dismissed the video out of hand in another thread, but nobody has posted a video or article that argues that they're wrong. Maschwitz clearly takes the video seriously. Tomasso is a cinematographer who has worked with major corporations. Fellow cinematographer Tucker Anderson says in his video above that he agrees with him. As I said a few posts up, I would like to have heard Philip Bloom on the subject in his new video, but he didn't address it, perhaps because he spent most of his video trying to sell FilmConvert, Topaz, Philip Bloom branded filters and, in a video about iPhone 15, phone cases and filters for the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

The organisations that Apple hired:
https://www.radicalmedia.com
https://www.company3.com

The edges of the MB look really smooth, as if coming from the mechanical shutter in a classical film camera, where the shutter is not in focus.

Interesting, Uli. I'd never considered that aspect.

Hi Rob, I'm so sorry for being too lazy to always write "dynamic range" in a context where it should have been obvious. I understand it was stupid, just like I myself find IQ as an abbreviation for image quality (used by some in the cinematography subforum) always kind of misleading.

"Dismissing", as you call it, is not the same as expressing some doubt. The way Apple handles contrast with a lot of computational cinematography is a kind of black box that may not be fully suited to the standardised method that Gerald and Patrick used. If the underlying technology changes, the method may need to change.

Before daring to mention my doubts in public, I tried to contact them with a simple question: did they use ND (abbreviation for neutral density here, not neurodivergent or Neodymium) filters only and/or change the shutter speed at some point to bracket exposure? If they were leaving less than about 7.5 ms until the next frame at any point, the results would be distorted.

There was never an answer. And Stu Maschwitz in his excellent article mentions their test and is leaving the question open: "Did Apple prioritize low noise over dynamic range?"

I never said that they are wrong, but I mentioned that there is too much noise creeping into the lower mids if I go as high as ISO 1250 to maximise dynamic range. I stand by that as a very subjective personal opinion.

Finally, with a real world scene arranged for contrast and measured with a Minolta spotmeter, I can say that the iPhone handles 9.5 stops without excessive noise. Not bad for a smartphone.

Hi Rob, I'm so sorry for being too lazy to always write "dynamic range" in a context where it should have been obvious.

I guess that being a member of the cognoscenti is a cross you'll have to bear.

"Dismissing", as you call it, is not the same as expressing some doubt.

I characterised your comments as "dismissive" at the time, using that exact word, and you did not express any disagreement.

Thanks for explaining what you meant to say.

Peace, bro.

And, just like you, I like the article by Stu Maschwitz with his wonderful irony between the lines much more than Bloom's sales pitch. Most of the time he is telling us more about his use of filters that may mean gold for him, than about ISO (except around 10:36).

Of course Apple was using perfect lighting for their marketing production and kept the ISO low for that concept focused on "black" as the theme. But are they trying to sell this product to those with a professional crew and a few truckloads of light? Definitely not.

Most of the folks who will ever switch the iPhone to log (they are probably a tiny percentage anyway) will not have those means at their disposal. They will be fighting with insufficient light and should be informed about the limits. By shifting ISO around with NDs, one can decide between the plague and cholera, aka noise or highlights being compressed too much.

In the U.S., today is the last day for return of iPhones that were purchased between November 3rd and December 25th. I purchased a Pro Max in late November. I've seriously considered exchanging it for a Pro in order to replace the 120mm lens with a 77mm. I get 13mm, 24mm and 77mm, but 13, 24 and 120 is not a focal length sequence that jumps out at me.

The deterrent is the Pro's battery. It's 12.7Wh against the Pro Max's 17.1Wh (3,274 vs 4,421mAh). I've been unable to find tests focussed on filming video, but tests of overall performance say that the difference in runtime is significant. I'm not thrilled about the power-bank options.

Based on experience with the camera so far, I've concluded that I should use the Pro Max's "main lens" as just that, the main lens, and reserve the ultra-wide and telephoto for occasional guest appearances. This makes telephoto focal length less of an issue. My favourite camera is a 68 year old double-stroke M3, and I'm a member of the small group of rangefinder photographers who have, and use, a 135mm lens. The iPhone 120mm will find its place.

It would be great if someone who's using an iPhone Pro could explain how he's managing power consumption and what codecs he's using.

I noticed with my previous Samsung phone that the longest lens (about 70mm, believe) was my most frequently used one, so I chose the Max specifically for the 120mm lens. I don't regret it. Even though it's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, it's very useful.

I do wish the BMD app could fill the gaping hole between 24mm and 120mm. I think other apps use the 48MP sensor and sample it differently to achieve this. A "nifty fifty" would be nice.

Further to the post two up, my iPhone 120mm's big brother, born 1965

135mm Tele-Elmar f/4, version 1

Photo: Dan Kerin

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I noticed with my previous Samsung phone that the longest lens (about 70mm, believe) was my most frequently used one, so I chose the Max specifically for the 120mm lens. I don't regret it. Even though it's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, it's very useful.

I do wish the BMD app could fill the gaping hole between 24mm and 120mm. I think other apps use the 48MP sensor and sample it differently to achieve this. A "nifty fifty" would be nice.

I've mostly been using the 24mm. Now that I've decided to keep the Pro Max and its 120mm, I'll spend more time with that lens. I've taken note of comments that you've made about hand-holding it. Unless I'm prepared to use a support every time, the 120 is going to force me to learn about stabilisation too. I've never used stabilisation before, and I've had the iPhone's off since I purchased it.

I figure that the 120mm is going to be popular with a school of street/travel photography that emerged as DSLRs, autofocus and image stabilisation for long lenses became ubiquitous. The adherents are keen on street photography provided that they don't have to get anywhere close to their subjects I would not be the least surprised if Apple counted fear of photographing nearby strangers as a consideration when it decided to go with a 120.

Of course Apple was using perfect lighting for their marketing production and kept the ISO low for that concept focused on "black" as the theme. But are they trying to sell this product to those with a professional crew and a few truckloads of light? Definitely not.

The video below was posted yesterday by a London production and post-production house called Team 2 Films. At 3:30, the video starts to evolve into a discussion about the iPhone 15. There is a pointed reference to the cost of an URSA G2.

The reality is that iPhones are already in widespread use for professional image-making, and not just for news gathering.

There's a reason why Adobe's Frame IO has marketed its cloud service to iPhone users for quite some time, and why Blackmagic has integrated Blackmagic Cloud into its iPhone app.

The FUTURE is Here! URSA G2 Blackmagic Cloud Workflow

From Statista, October 2023

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Most of the folks who will ever switch the iPhone to log (they are probably a tiny percentage anyway) will not have those means [professional lighting] at their disposal. They will be fighting with insufficient light and should be informed about the limits. By shifting ISO around with NDs, one can decide between the plague and cholera, aka noise or highlights being compressed too much.

The chart above suggests a widespread preference for smartphone cameras over dedicated cameras. The people who use Apple Log are presumably either professionals or enthusiasts. If they weren't, they wouldn't bother with shooting and processing Apple Log in the first place. Both of those groups appear to be supportive of current smartphone image-making and anticipated advances.

As I said in the first sentence of this thread, I've been a very casual user of smartphones for video. I purchased an iPhone 15 to try it out. My experience so far is more positive than your description would suggest. The question is whether the phone will replace my Pocket 4K, for which I no longer have a business need. There are obvious, strong arguments for the phone.

Rob, thanks for the many insightful posts!

As an experienced cinematographer, I've used my iPhone for quick shots in the past, but Apple's use of an iPhone 15 Pro Max at their event caught my eye. With Blackmagic's Cam App, I've decided to use the iPhone 15 Pro Max for an upcoming production.

To fast-track our learning curve, some colleagues and I have created an iPhone Cinematography website and a dedicated Facebook group for the iPhone 15 Pro and Blackmagic Cam app. We plan to share videos and information with other cinematographers as we build our cages and rigs. Cheers, Bill

As an experienced cinematographer ... We plan to share videos and information with other cinematographers as we build our cages and rigs. Cheers, Bill

Excellent, Bill. Thanks! Looking forward to your posts.

Great initiative, Bill!
May I suggest that you add an area where we exchange our experiences with Cinema P3 too?
I consider it an excellent alternative to BM's app. And, no, no affiliation other than being a happy client and having improved the translation to German.

Great initiative, Bill!
May I suggest that you add an area where we exchange our experiences with Cinema P3 too?

Absolutely Uli, you can never know too much.
I'd like to know the differences between the 2 apps.

On December 29th, Beastgrip released a video on the status of its Beastcages for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max:

We expect to start shipping them [the new Beastcages] in mid-January, and by the end of the month we hope to fulfil all the orders.

Good news in an e-mail this morning (Wednesday, January 10th):

The assembly process for our new Beastcages is currently in progress, and all is proceeding according to the plan! We expect the shipping process to start very soon! Your patience is greatly appreciated!

Beastgrip opened pre-order on November 21st. I ordered during the first couple of hours, so I hope to receive a Pro Max cage this coming week. Shipping from Chicago to where I am is 2-3 days.

The cage will be shipped with a phone-specific filter mount (photos below) that should help avoid vignetting with the 13mm ultra-wide lens.

On pre-order, the cage was US$119 ($30 below list), shipping included. The filter mount became available for order this morning. At $25, it doesn't include shipping, for which I was charged $5. Beastgrip is telling people to note, in a comments area of the order, that they've also ordered a cage and to provide the order number. The two will be shipped together and the $5 shipping charge will be refunded.

iPhone 15 Filter Mount

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Mounted

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With filter

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The filter mount has a 58mm thread. I'll be testing it for vignetting of the ultra-wide lens with:

58mm filters (B+W F-Pro ND filters and both standard and "slim" Heliopan polarisers)
58mm to 67mm step-up ring and 67mm filters (Hoya circular polariser and B+W linear polariser)
58mm to 82mm step-up ring and 82mm filters (low profile B+W XS-Pro ND filters and an XS-Pro polariser)*

I also want to find out whether stacking ND filters is problematic with respect to vignetting, and if so at what point.

* Two or three years ago, B+W's XS-Pro line of filters was renamed its Master line. XS-Pro filters are thinner than B+W's F-Pro filters, now called Basic.

This afternoon, Ripple Training (Steve Martin) published a video on using an iPhone 15 with Blackmagic Cloud and Resolve.

Martin briefly explains his iPhone rig. He's using a SmallRig cage. There's a timestamp index in the description.

See also the Team 2 Films video eight posts up.

Blackmagic Cam & Cloud Proxy Workflow in Resolve

Apple has lists of the top 100 free and paid photo and video apps in the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/charts/iphone ... -apps/6008

I've narrowed it down to camera control apps for iPhone, excluding ones that are specialised (e.g. for a specific manufacturer or type of camera).

Top Free

Blackmagic Camera is the only camera control app for video in the top 100.

Top Paid

There are five in the top 100.

#1: Pro Camera (Moment)
#8: Procam 8 (Tinkerworks)
#9: Beastcam (BeastGrip)
#18: ProCamera (Cocologics)
#45: MoviePro (Deepak Sharma)

Some that didn't make the top 100 (all paid)
Cinema P3
Filmic Pro
MAVIS
ProTake (In recent videos about the iPhone, Philip Bloom says that he uses ProTake and Blackmagic Camera)

Martin briefly explains his iPhone rig. He's using a SmallRig cage. There's a timestamp index in the description.

Do I See a Røde Wireless Go there, Rob?

Martin briefly explains his iPhone rig. He's using a SmallRig cage. There's a timestamp index in the description.

Do I See a Røde Wireless Go there, Rob?

What I see is Steve Martin recording to a boom mike, as he always does, and a brief clip of an iPhone rig consisting of a number of components, including a Røde Wireless Go II transmitter/recorder. Not a receiver, a transmitter/recorder. For vlogging.

As it happens, that is how Curtis Judd set up the Røde Wireless ME for the review that was discussed earlier in this thread, except that he used an iPhone 14. The Wireless ME is the Røde product that you asked for opinions on, decided that you didn't like some of the opinions and apparently now want to pursue again. Note that Judd said specifically that the Wireless ME is not a replacement for the Wireless GO II. He also concluded that he couldn't recommend the Wireless ME until Røde addressed a problem with interference. It subsequently appeared that the interference problem may be more serious than Judd appreciated at the time.

I think that it's also helpful to know that there is a difference between what Steve Martin does personally and what he does as a trainer of people who have varying needs, including non-professional needs.

An example... In June 2022, Martin did an interview in which he said that he personally won't use LumaFusion and why. See 32:50 of the YouTube video Inside Ripple Training, with Steve Martin. In August 2022, Ripple Training released a full course on using LumaFusion as a mobile editor.

Martin has also talked about the importance of reliable audio to Ripple Training as a business. See, for example, his address at NAB on making the weekly series MacBreak Studio, in which he says that he's "paranoid" about winding up with poor or missing audio. For the series, he says that he and Mark Spencer set up two separate feeds and "very good quality laveliere microphones" (Sony ECM 77-B, which is a wired lav that costs US$330 each at B&H). I don't think that there is any chance whatever that he and Spencer would rely on either of those Røde systems when preparing their training products.

Since you are apparently intent on revisiting this subject, here is a screen capture from Stu Maschwitz's video above. It reminds me of something that I wrote about mikes during the initial discussion: Hide it or flaunt it. This is cheaper than your Wireless ME, it delivers better, more reliable sound and, unlike a brick on his neckline, doesn't make him look like a dork.

Stu Mascwitz.jpg (86.75 KiB) Viewed 15565 times

Steve Martin "hiding it" on the very same set that he used in the video that you're talking about.

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Apple has lists of the top 100 free and paid photo and video apps in the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/charts/iphone ... -apps/6008

I've narrowed it down to camera control apps for iPhone, excluding ones that are specialised (e.g. for a specific manufacturer or type of camera).

Top Free

Blackmagic Camera is the only camera control app for video in the top 100.

Top Paid

There are five in the top 100.

#1: Pro Camera (Moment)
#8: Procam 8 (Tinkerworks)
#9: Beastcam (BeastGrip)
#18: ProCamera (Cocologics)
#45: MoviePro (Deepak Sharma)

Some that didn't make the top 100 (all paid)
Cinema P3
Filmic Pro
MAVIS
ProTake (In recent videos about the iPhone, Philip Bloom says that he uses ProTake and Blackmagic Camera)

Having used Filmic Pro, BMD Camera App and Cinema P3, it makes me wonder what I've been missing - I wonder how Apple rates these apps?

On pre-order, the cage was US$119 ($30 below list), shipping included. The filter mount became available for order this morning. At $25, it doesn't include shipping, for which I was charged $5. Beastgrip is telling people to note, in a comments area of the order, that they've also ordered a cage and to provide the order number. The two will be shipped together and the $5 shipping charge will be refunded.

Looks like they're gearing up for shipping, refund made this morning.

I like the fact that Beastgrip is in Chicago rather than half-way around the world, is a small company that's customer-oriented and pretty fast to respond to e-mails (they handle support in-house and do take the weekends off), and makes well-designed, well-built gear.

Vadym Chalenko could cut his costs significantly, and almost certainly increase his market share, if he cut the weight of his products. Apparently he has his own ideas about what this kind of gear should be, and he's sticking with his ideas. He's just released version III of his Depth of Field Adapter, which converts full frame 35mm lenses for smartphone use. This is a niche product if there ever was one.

Interesting to learn yesterday that his camera app, BeastCam, is one of the Apple App Store's top ten paid apps for still photography and video. The interface is excellent, but I haven't explored the app in any detail. I should.

I think that this video, which was part of Chalenko's Kickstarter campaign a decade ago, says a lot about the company. That was when Apple and Director Austin Reza were tapping Chalenko to supply gear for the "Intelligent Design" series, starting with Bentley Motors:

This is a review of Beastgrip's new DOF (Depth of Field) Adapter Mark 3. The reviewer reviews it with an iPhone Pro Max Beastcage (shipping this coming week), an iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Blackmagic Camera app.

The Kickstarter campaign for Mark 3 started on November 8th and rapidly exceeded its goal, raising US$183,000 from 555 backers. This is the campaign page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/10 ... dapter-mk3

Price is US$300, delivery in April: https://beastgrip.com/collections/dof-a ... dapter-mk3

The adapter is based on Canon's EF mount. Beastcage lens mounts can handle the weight (431g/15.2oz for the adapter).

The reviewer had trouble getting the Blackmagic app's focus peaking to function effectively. The question is whether Blackmagic will address this. Presumably, Beastgrip will address any focus peaking issue in its BeastCam camera app.