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The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max's cameras got a huge boost to their video production skills by being able to shoot Apple ProRes video in Log color profile at 4K resolution. That might sound like a string of jargon (because it is), but what it really means is you can get professional-standard, beautiful-looking video footage, shot only on your phone.
But what do Log and ProRes mean, how are they better than your phone's standard video and, crucially, should you use them when recording your own videos? Here's what you need to know.
ProRes is a video codec created by Apple in 2007 that has been widely adopted by video and cinema professionals. Typically found on high-end video cameras costing many thousands of dollars, ProRes files capture more data when shooting, resulting in better quality footage than you'd typically get from a phone or even some dedicated cameras.
Log (short for "logarithmic") is a color profile found on some professional video cameras and which is now also available on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Log footage preserves more image information in the highlights and shadows, allowing for greater flexibility in editing colors and contrast in post production.
On the left is ungraded Log footage. On the right is how that same footage looks after some basic color grading in Davinci Resolve.
How do you turn on ProRes and Log video?
On your iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, go into Settings, then scroll down and tap Camera. Then tap Formats, and within this sub-menu you'll see a section for Video Capture. Toggle Apple ProRes to on and below will be the options for ProRes Encoding. Tapping on it will allow you to switch between HDR, SDR or Log.
You can turn on ProRes and Log recording in the main Settings app.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
Bear in mind that while you can toggle ProRes on or off directly in the Camera app, you have to go back to the Settings app if you want to switch from Log to HDR or vice versa. You can shoot 4K footage at 30 frames per second on the phone, but if you want to shoot at 60 frames per second, you'll need to connect an external SSD drive via USB-C and record directly to that. While you can shoot ProRes footage without Log, you can only shoot Log with ProRes.
Log files straight out of the camera look flat and have low contrast and low saturation. The files are designed to be edited in programs like Adobe Premiere or DaVinci Resolve, where colorists will bring back contrast and color tone according to the look they're trying to achieve, a process called color grading.
The low-contrast look of ungraded footage gives colorists the best starting point to tweak the video image however they want. Log footage always needs to be edited and graded before being used.
While Apple has yet to implement specific color editing tools for Log footage on the iPhone, you can get some of the way there using some of the exposure tools in the 'Edit' options in the Photos app. However, you'll get your best results by transferring the files to your iPad, Mac or Windows PC and editing in dedicated video production apps.
My favorite is DaVinci Resolve by BlackMagic, which is an industry-standard piece of software used in professional productions and Hollywood films. It's known for its flexibility with editing color, and I loved using it to see what looks I can achieve from video footage from both the iPhone 15 Pro Max and BlackMagic's own Pocket Cinema Camera.
Davinci Resolve on desktop can seem daunting, but its color grading tools make it an industry standard piece of software.
Resolve is available on Macs and PCs but there's also an excellent iPad app version. Best of all, the software is free to use on all platforms, with only some advanced features requiring the paid-for Studio version. But anyone wanting to spice up their footage will find the free version more than capable.
BlackMagic has also launched a color-editing panel designed to be used with the iPad. The Micro Color Panel gives fine grain control over color editing in Resolve and allows you to quickly edit your footage using the same pro hardware used on Hollywood movies.
Apple introduced the ability to shoot with the ProRes codec on the iPhone 12 Pro, but right now only the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max can also shoot in Log.
No, Apple has opened up this feature to third-party apps. My recommendation is the BlackMagic Camera app, which gives the same level of control over settings as you'd find on the company's professional cameras. It's a superb tool for getting the best-looking video out of your phone and, like DaVinci Resolve, it's free.
Should I shoot video in ProRes Log?
ProRes footage in Log profile is very specialized. It requires additional time in post production to color grade the footage, and the file sizes are many times larger than regular video files. If you just want to shoot footage of your family gathering or your mates at the beach to upload to Instagram or YouTube, then you don't need to worry about ProRes or Log.
However if you want to use your iPhone 15 Pro as a professional video production tool and you have the time and resources to color grade and edit your footage, then you should absolutely give it a go. The flexibility of recording allows you to get video out of your iPhone that would give dedicated cinema cameras a run for their money, and it makes the iPhone 15 Pro an exceptionally powerful camera for content creators looking to add some professional flair to their videos.
