iPhone 17 Goes Fully Pro
- Blake Calhoun
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
The Pro series iPhones have long been called "Pro" even though they were lacking in that category, but the last few years they have actually started to feel a lot more pro. In particular when Apple log was released with the 15 series phones. That was a big step forward in creating a phone where the footage could readily and easily be used in professional workflows - and look great.
[Why? Because Apple log is a true log color space and importantly, Apple turns off dynamic tone mapping and sharpening. These are fine for consumer video, but not for professional work.]
But now with the iPhone 17 Pro they've really leaned into the pro aspects by including 4K ProRes RAW, open gate capture (using the full 4x3 sensor) and even genlock.
Now for many people (probably most) they will never use any of this or likely even know what they are or even do. But for those of us who use our phones for video & filmmaking work, it's borderline crazy to think about what they've added.
ProRes RAW - very high quality raw codec that gives you full control over the image in post. You can change the ISO, the white balance and more with ease and no loss of quality. Before this it was only available in some high-end cinema cameras or recorders like from Atomos.
Open Gate - shooting with the full sensor readout has become popular with some mirrorless and cinema cameras, and then recently with iPhones. The first I'd seen do this was the Pearla app (works on most phones and in Pearl-Log). And now you can shoot this in Blackmagic and Final Cut Camera (iPhone 17 Pro and ProRes RAW only). The main benefit to shooting Open Gate is the ability to reframe in post. You can more or less shoot both 16x9 and 9x16 at the same time. It's also nice for some anamorphic lenses.
Genlock - before now this was only available on higher-end traditional cameras and mainly used in studio setups where you are syncing multiple cameras to trigger them and/or jam the timecode (so they all have the same timecode running).
So again, for most iPhone users this will mean very little or nothing - but for filmmakers it means a lot.
Now you can easily use a 17 Pro within an existing higher-end workflow as a B camera or a b-roll camera. Or you can obviously use it as an A camera for lower budget jobs or YouTube work and a lot more.
[Side note: I still think traditional cameras are better suited for most professional jobs as they are just more reliable and importantly, are designed for that kind of work. For me, iPhones are amazing as B cameras on bigger jobs, but it's not replacing my Sony FX30 or RED Komodo just yet.]
If you have a 15 or 16 Pro iPhone then should you upgrade? That depends. But probably not.
The 17 Pro is a very nice PRO level upgrade, but if you don't shoot (or need) open gate or ProRes RAW then those earlier models with Apple log will work just fine. Although the new telephoto on the 17 Pro is very nice with it's larger sensor and longer reach at 8x (which is evidently not optical, but I can't tell the difference so far as it looks great).
I once read years ago that Apple wanted to dominate the mirrorless camera market just like it did with the point-and-shoot stills cameras market (that basically doesn't really exist anymore). They're not there yet, and may never reach that goal as physics might get in the way (larger sensors in particular), but their latest 17 Pro series phones are VERY pro now and offer a lot more than I think most of us ever imagined.
Happy mobile filmmaking!
-BC