Using 4K on your iPhone

If you have read this blog before, you know that I am an advocate of "available camera." Namely, it doesn't matter if your camera is a RED, ARRI, Canon, GoPro, or an iPhone, as long as you know filmic technique and language, your film or video project should look professional.

While there are some technology limitations with some cameras, such as the iPhone's native wide-angle lens, a true artist will work with these limitations. There are some amazing films with an iPhone and terrible films with a RED.

So when Apple announced the release of 4K for its new iPhone 6s, the indie film community both rejoiced and displayed skepticism. 4K picture is becoming more inexpensive each day, but the files continue to be massive, compared to HD or DV pictures. More devices can display in 4K, so Apple's timing is appropriate. While it's a good thing that 4K is now accessible to the average consumer, the iPhone's internal storage has not changed, meaning you'll be deleting tons of apps and data just to store 10 minutes of 4K video. I assume Apple's photos app will try to solve this by convincing consumers to upload to the iCloud directly from their phone. Your can potentially do this with Google Photos as well, but as of today, Google's Video storage is limited to 1080HD.




Only time will tell if Apple's storage limitations will limit how useful 4K will be. I cannot wait to see what indie solutions the community comes up with.

Happy Filmmaking.