iPhone 13's Cinematic mode lets you film professional movie-style videos
Apple has finally unveiled its much-awaited flagship iPhone 13 lineup at the California Streaming event on Tuesday. While there are not many changes in the design compared to the previous iPhone 12 series, the iPhone 13 range does pack in some impressive camera upgrades, including Cinematic mode that lets you shoot professional film-style videos. Here's more on the iPhone 13's much-hyped Cinematic mode.
Cinematic mode uses computational photography to rack focus
Cinematic mode makes mobile videos look like professional films by replicating the focus capabilities of professional cameras. It features "rack focus" ability to track and automatically shift focus smoothly between foreground and background subjects—including moving subjects in the frame—thanks to computational photography abilities. For creative control, it also allows you to change or lock the focus manually during the shoot and even later—during edits.
Users can adjust focus after capture in Photos app, iMovie
Apple said Cinematic mode can record videos of "people, pets, and objects with a beautiful depth effect with automatic focus changes," allowing anyone to "capture cinema-style moments." It said users can change the focus and adjust the bokeh even after capture in the Photos app and iMovie for iOS, adding the feature would soon be available for iMovie for macOS and Final Cut Pro.
Cinematic mode can bring new subjects into focus automatically
"Now iPhone can shoot with shallow depth-of-field and automatically add elegant focus transitions between subjects. Cinematic mode can...anticipate when a prominent new subject is about to enter the frame and bring them into focus when they do, for far more creative storytelling," Apple said.
Cinematic mode made possible by A15 Bionic processor, advanced algorithms
Apple further said iPhone 13 handsets are the "only devices able to edit the depth-of-field effect in video even after recording," thanks to Cinematic mode. Cinematic mode records in Dolby Vision HDR and reportedly in 1080p resolution at 30fps. All these camera tricks are made possible by iPhone 13's A15 Bionic processor—which Apple claims is 50% faster than the competition—and advanced machine learning algorithms.
It's like having Hollywood in your pocket: Apple
"The sheer computational power needed to run the machine learning algorithms, render autofocus changes, support manual focus changes, and grade each frame in Dolby Vision—all in real-time—is astounding. It's like having Hollywood in your pocket," said Apple. The tech giant also shared a Knives Out-style video, titled Whodunnit, to highlight what Cinematic mode is capable of and how the new camera feature actually works.
Here's all about the upgraded cameras on iPhone 13 handsets
The iPhone 13 lineup—comprising iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max—comes with a 12MP selfie camera. On the rear, iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini feature a 12MP (f/1.6) main sensor and a 12MP (f/2.4) ultra-wide lens. Meanwhile, the Pro models offer a 12MP (f/1.5) main sensor, a 12MP (f/1.8) ultra-wide shooter, and a 12MP (f/2.8) telephoto camera.
