iPhone 15 Pro in BMA to 2024 Macbook Pro External HD

Howdy folks,

*Preamble: I'm looking for a lasting workflow on professional sets where I'm dumping to a DIT and will not be airdropping files.

I just shot 200+ GB on my iPhone 15 Pro in the Black Magic App. I'm shooting vertical on the DJI Mobile so I can't attach an external while filming.

At the end of the shoot, I was trying to dump to the DIT's SSD (with the supplied Apple cord) It was going to take over 3 hours so I had to leave without dumping. We were doing this in the finder under the iPhone's "Files" section, and 1.) There was no progress bar (we had to monitor in Activity Monitor) 2.) when we checked on the files the process stopped completely and deleted the files I had transferred (twice).

This might be the worst workflow for dumping footage I've ever seen. Every tutorial I've found is about filming straight to a drive, but I can't do that, because i'm vertical on a gimbal. I have to transfer after.

Does anyone have and insight on how to do this in a chill, faster and fairly easy way, that I can replicate?

Also some sort of WebUploader IPN portal isn't going to work either.

OS is most recent OSX is most recent.


Thanks in advance!

I thought the iPhone 15 Pro could record directly to an external device via the USB-C connector.

Well, Matt wrote he can’t record to SSD, for whatever reason. But something is very wrong if transfer from the phone is so slow.
@Matt
Check the cable and the formatting of that SSD.

Well, Matt wrote he can’t record to SSD, for whatever reason...

Perhaps because the phone is carried by a DJI Mobile? Couldn’t he just attach the SSD to the phone? Gaffer tape the phone and SSD?

For that reason, I have glued a mag safe ring to my SSD and got a short and very soft cable.

Good solution, Uli. Hope that’s a helpful suggestion if the painstakingly slow copy isn’t resolved.

We need to get to the bottom of that copying issue too. Fast copies via USB-C are the main reason for me to consider the iPhone as a serious tool for filming.
I’ve got 512 GB in the phone and quite often only carry my NDs, but not the SSD, for spontaneous shooting. Copying is always fast here.
Could it be that you are using a cable meant for charging only, Matt?

Hi Matt,

I don't know what's causing your file transfer problem from the phone, but I have neither experienced, nor heard of others experiencing, what you describe. Don't be surprised if it turns out to be something simple.

I gather that the phone is mounted on a DJI Mobile 6, without a cage and maybe without a case. If so, I think the solution is to use a gimbal for mirrorless cameras and put the phone in a cage. Then you can use an external SSD to receive the footage.

If you look at Beastgrip videos, they don't use bare bones smartphone gimbals. They use gimbals for mirrorless cameras in all of their gimbal footage. You'll need one that can be set up for vertical orientation. Can't recall if the DJI Ronin RS 3 Mini or regular RS 3 can do that, but if so it might be a good choice.

Beastgrip is in Chicago and can send you an iPhone 15 Pro Beastcage overnight. They actually answer the phone. Tell them you need the SSD holder that they're about to release. Alternatively, you may be able to get a SmallRig cage at a good local photo store if there's one nearby. SmallRig already has an SSD holder available.

Beastcage for the iPhone 15 Pro: https://beastgrip.com/collections/iphon ... one-15-pro

If you want to use filters, you'll need this filter mount: https://beastgrip.com/collections/shop- ... -15-series

The filter mount is native 58mm, but takes step-up rings.

Perhaps because the phone is carried by a DJI Mobile? Couldn’t he just attach the SSD to the phone? Gaffer tape the phone and SSD?

The gimbal that he's using is designed to take the phone and maybe a phone case, not baggage

If he can figure out a way to attach an SSD, run a cable to the USB-C port and balance the gimbal, no doubt he will.

For that reason, I have glued a mag safe ring to my SSD and got a short and very soft cable.

You figure that'll fix it, do you?

This is where your MagSafe ring, an SSD and a USB-C cable have to go:

Untitled.jpg (75.48 KiB) Viewed 428 times

So sorry, my bad, I confused the gimbals we use. But then, for vertical a small enclosure like the JEYI 2230 with a U-shaped connector might be a solution if space allows.

But the main question remains: why is copying too slow?

So sorry, my bad, I confused the gimbals we use. But then, for vertical a small enclosure like the JEYI 2230 with a U-shaped connector might be a solution if space allows.

But the main question remains: why is copying too slow?

There's a DIT and they're using Apple Files app functions. This is surely not the only time ever that the Files app has aborted a transfer. Presumably the DIT is researching possible reasons and solutions. It's not something that I'm going to get into a panic about, as in this statement above:

We need to get to the bottom of that copying issue too. Fast copies via USB-C are the main reason for me to consider the iPhone as a serious tool for filming.

.

There's a file transfer problem between his phone and an external drive attached to his MacBook. It could be anything. They'll figure it out and fix it. If you're that interested, do a search. There'll no doubt be plenty of opinions on the subject

I'm not native in English, so thanks for the interpretation. I was assuming a direct connection.
I get just short of 90 GB transferred in less than 4 minutes from the phone straight to an SSD (formatted as APFS, but I doubt HFS+ would be that worse).