Harbinger: The iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max

[SrMi]

Gotta love it.  I convinced a recent client that in some cases, my phone could do a better job than a big-ass video camera.  She agreed and we were both right.  The results proved it.  The subject matter was elementary school kids and sports.  Unlike the customary "when's this going to be on TV?" attitude from the kids, they simply ignored my phone.  And me.  In other words, perfect.

The smarphones have been recognized as useful for serious video capture for quite a while. What kind of gear did you attach to the phone for video shooting?
For photography, the smartphones have been less successful as a replacement but rather as a fill-in when "real" cameras are not available.

[Peter McLennan]

What kind of gear did you attach to the phone for video shooting?

Nothing.  The Google Pixel 3 XL has pretty good IS.  The real benefits were ease of placement in difficult situations like extreme low angles, POVs and close to the talent.  The kids ignoring the camera was probably the best feature, as well as slo mo, which at 120 FPS was very useful.

The phone was used as a “second unit” camera, both sound and pix.  The “A” camera, a Sony RX10 IV, was used for interviews and the dialog track.  Phones aren’t much good for that use case, lacking a mic input.  Sound from the phone’s mic was used throughout as background sound.

[Michael Erlewine]

Gear I have ready and will be using with the Apple iPhone 11 Pro which I will receive tomorrow includes:

Shure MV88 ioS Digital Stereo Condenser Microphone (+ windscreen)

Bluetooth Camera Remote Shutter for Smartphone

Cellphone Tripod Mount (Arca-Swiss)

DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Smartphone Gimbal (or similar)

Filmic Software for Gimbal

Mini Tripod Stand with Arca/Swiss

Gitzo Monopod with Arca/Swiss

AOKA Compact Carbon Fiber Tripod with Arca/Swiss

There are probably things I am not thinking of, but I am taking this seriously. Just came back from an event where I had probably 80lbs of video and still equipment. My days for that are numbered. If I can make the iPhone 11 Pro work for some of the travel work, it would be nice.

[fdisilvestro]

Looks good!

You may consider a portable power bank (even with the extended battery life, Filmic Pro is a power hungry app, especially if you use high bitrate).

Additionally, if you have another iphone or ipad, you might consider Filmic remote

[Martin Kristiansen]

I will just pick up a gimbal. If client wants the shoot done on a phone I am not going to try pretend it’s anything else.

[D Fuller]

I will just pick up a gimbal. If client wants the shoot done on a phone I am not going to try pretend it’s anything else.

+1