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We know the iPhone 4S is a killer still camera—perhaps its greatest selling point—but how about video? Do the new guts and 1080p bump make a big difference? Yes. A giant yes. See just how amazing for yourself.
This perfectly-synced test, which used a special bit of rigging to align both the 4S and a Canon EOS 5D Mark II to capture the exact same scene, says way more than any Apple marketing verbiage can. With the 5D’s settings matched as closely as possible to the 4S, the two—at least on Vimeo—look nearly indistinguishable. Yes, if you look closely, the 5D wins. It’s got greater detail, depth of field, doesn’t suffer from the iPhone’s jarring rolling shutter problems, and of course has a giant panoply of manual settings any phone lacks. But the point remains: Apple’s created a handset camera that can shoot pro-grade (albeit limited) video. And for a small, small fraction of the price. [Robino Films via PetaPixel, Thanks Matt!]
Although this is some-what impressive.
people buy £2,500 DSLR for the “giant panoply of manual settings”.
so impressive yes
but “limited pro-grade video” no
I noticed a lot of difference.
To the average user, the difference is minimal, but where it counts, the discerning videographer would without doubt always prefer the 5DmkII.
That’s fine and all, but consider that the iPhone 4S just came out, and the 5DmkII came out in 2008 (that’s 3 years ago) – long enough for things to filter down.
But, credit where it’s due, the iPhone 4S does a good job of taking HD video.
Also forgot to mention that the iPhone 4S costs about £600 handset only, so it’s not that cheap. The Canon EOS 600D is similar to the 5dmkII, and if you were a videographer on a budget, you definitely wouldn’t choose a phone to do the job. Not saying that it hasn’t or wont be done however.
Since it’s completely unfair to compare an actual professional DSLR camera to a camera on a mobile phone, the fact it’s comparison is getting any recognition is testament to really how mind-blowingly good it is.
It probably wasn’t that long ago when they were saying how unfair it was to compare a DSLR stills camera with a pro dedicated digital video camera. Now DSLRs seem to be chosen for many serious shoots.
I think the crucial part of this article is “With the 5D’s settings matched as closely as possible to the 4S”
Turning off the camera settings that perform all the magic a £2,500 camera has on by default and not using the manual settings pretty much gimps any test you do with it.
Saying it “shoots almost as well as a £2500 DSLR” when the DSLR isnt being used at it optimum settings is like saying my 6 year old fiat can drive just as fast as a bugatti veyron, as long as you tune the veyrons engine to match mine, drive it under 70 and put a guy whos never driven a high performance car in his life behind the wheel.
It did say in the article they used “used a special bit of rigging”, what they obviously meant was rigging the test so it looks like the 4S competes with a £2500 DSLR.
I think – if ANYTHING, that video demonstrated the very best you can expect from an iPhone….. and that a 5d could beat it in it’s sleep.
Give us a proper sample with some wide apertures, low light scenes etc. and you will understand what I mean.
Incidentally, there have been some amazing videos shot on 5Dmk2 – including an Episode of House MD.
here’s a decent sample: http://vimeo.com/25997002