A pair of music videos shot on iPhone 13 offer a glimpse at the handset’s filmmaking prowess, with the shorts focusing on Apple’s new Cinematic mode.
Jonathan Morrison and Julia Wolf teamed up this week with Ariel View and Ariel View in music videos to test the iPhone 13’s Cinematic Mode capabilities.
Posted to Morrison’s “Jonathan & Friends” channel on Monday, “Falling in Love” follows Wolf as she sings her track while strolling through the streets of Claremont, Calif. Interspersed throughout the video are behind-the-scenes style shots showing Morrison filming Wolf with an iPhone 13.
Cinematic mode automatically blurs any background in video clips. This feature is new for 2020.
The Cinematic mode is available on both iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro models. It adds depth-of-field effects to recognize subjects, mimicking professional videography. The software algorithms detect people, pets, and objects and then focus them on a blurred background.
The information about a scene can help to focus cinematic mode. This feature can predict when another subject will enter the frame and detect when they turn away. Using Apple software, such as Final Cut Pro or iMovie to adjust focus manually in post-production is important.
Early iPhone 13 reviews noted that Cinematic mode can only be used at 1080p and 30 frames per second. This limits its appeal for serious videographers.
It looks quite convincing in “Falling in Love”, with an authentic-looking bokeh being applied to vehicles, shops, and buildings as Wolf moves past. However, cinematic mode starts to drop in dimly lit scenes with obvious artifacts, blending problems, and Wolf’s hair falling down.
Morrison’s second video, a cover of Ed Sheeran’s “Shivers” performed by View, highlights the lowlight problems.
It features musicians performing on a street with the sun setting against a backdrop. It is a difficult scene even in normal lighting conditions. Cinematic mode sometimes fails to focus. The feature appears to have difficulty defining borders under low-contrast lighting. This issue is compensated for by the system’s subject blur parameters. View is left with a fuzzy shadow.
The video has a remarkable dynamic range thanks to Dolby Vision graded support.
Daring Fireball’s John Gruber highlighted Morrison’s work earlier today.
iPhone 13 offers a range of hardware and software features beyond Cinematic mode. These include improved sensors and lenses as well as enhanced night mode capabilities and photographic styles. ProRes support is also available for iPhone 13 Pro models. Earlier on Wednesday, photographer Austin Mann touted iPhone 13 Pro’s macro feature — enabled through the ultra wide lens — as a selling point for the handset.
