And the Academy Award Goes To...The iPhone?

With its HD camera and built-in editing, the iPhone 5 is behind some surprisingly sophisticated new videos. But is a smartphone good enough to replace a real camera?

Published

5 months ago

Categories

Technology

Topics

Consumer Electronics

Companies

Apple Inc.

Tags

iphone 5

Transcript

Lights. Camera. Action! (SOUNDBITE) (English) REUTERS REPORTER, JON GORDON, SAYING: "Call me traditional, but the iPhone 5 doesn't really strike me as a cinema camera. That's not stopping a lot of people on the internet though. It's becoming more and more common on the videos we see on Youtube and Vimeo." From low-budget shorts to dabblings by established directors, some of it actually looks, well, pretty darn good. But can you really count on this little thing... to replace all this professional gear? Let's find out... with the Reuters iPhone 5 video guide: The good, the bad and the fiddly. First for the good. Well, the most obvious advantage is size. It's tiny and it weighs virtually nothing. The image quality can be decent, especially in bright, outdoor conditions. For editing, you can do simple cuts right on board the phone. You can also stream video or upload content straight to youtube, which is pretty cool. Now, for the bad. Focusing on this thing is so incredibly painful. It was like pulling my fingernails out. You can shoot in the dark or in low light but get ready for some grain. Recording hiqh-quality audio is a huge hassle. There's also no optical zoom. That means digital zooming and lower quality. The worst problem though, is the battery. It runs out of juice real fast, and when you do run out, you can't switch it out for another one. Last, the fiddly. Now, a lot of the problems can be worked around - sort of - using apps or other accessories. Third party camera software helps you control the iris and the frame rate. You can also download better editing apps. But let's be honest, if you are going to cut this properly, you're probably going to want to transfer it over to your computer. Unless you've got an Apple, be prepared for some serious problems. For the audio issues, you can get an add-on kit to allow professional XLR microphones. But its still a struggle to set up and balance. Clearly the iPhone 5 is not yet ready for professional use. For the average user though, it might be a different story. (SOUNDBITE) (English) REUTERS REPORTER, JON GORDON, SAYING: "These new smartphones do shoot great HD video, but they come with a lot of compromises. If you do have the time and the patience to do it, you could end up shooting your new video like us, on the iPhone 5.