iPhone 6 Plus | At Home with Tech

November 16, 2014

Why iPhone Slow-Motion Videos Need the iMovie App

iMovie on your iPhone can lock in that selected area of slow motion you want to keep from that otherwise boring slo-mo clip you just shot.

When iMovie came out as an app, I scoffed at what I believed was a preposterous idea that complicated video editing software could successfully be shrunk into an iPhone. I come from a world of multi-core, decked-out computer monsters that often ‘render’ their imagery overnight to crank out their completed videos on deadline.

I viewed the iMove app as little more than a toy.

Then, Apple gave it to me for free as part of my new iPhone 6 Plus purchase.

So I had it.
But I would not open it.

Then, I discovered the wonders of my iPhone’s slow motion video capture capabilities.

And I was especially taken with my iPhone’s ability to isolate a particular portion of a slo-mo clip and then only play that part back in slow motion.
(The rest runs normally.)

Some may consider this little more than a parlor trick, but I really like it…

Now, you can utilize slow motion only when a particular moment needs it.
(Because a long and boring slow motion clip is pretty painful to endure!)

How to Lock In Selected Slo-Mo
But there was a problem…
I couldn’t export the clip to my iMac and retain the selected slow motion.
Yes, my computer accepted the clip recorded at 240 frames per second.
Yes, QuickTime offered me the choice to play the clip either at normal speed or in slow motion on my Mac.
But the ‘selected slo-mo’ clip I had created in my iPhone had vanished.
That metadata didn’t make it through the transfer…

Sure, I could recreate the effect on my computer with editing software, but that’s doing the work all over again!

The question was how to lock in all that work before doing the export…

iMovie is Cooler Than You Think
So I looked again at the iMovie app on my iPhone.
(I think it winked at me…)

I opened it up…did a quick tour…and imported the clip in question.
Yep, it played back just the way I liked it…

Cool.

Then I realized I could simply export the clip out of iMovie in its native resolution to lock in the selected slow-motion moment.
You can save it right back to your Camera Roll or to iTunes. AirDrop is another option…

Using iMovie in this way is indeed an extra step…. But it’s not that arduous.
And it solved my dilemma!

Then, did I lightly touch ‘export’ and chalk up another minor victory for humans co-existing with their tech?

Not quite yet…

Taking iMovie Out for a Halloween Test Drive
I decided to continue my journey down the tech rabbit hole…

The clip in question was one of three I had recorded of my son having fun on Halloween night as a pirate. All three had been shot in slow motion…more as part of an experiment than anything else.

I performed some selected slow-motion tweaks on the other two clips, then brought them into iMovie as well. I quickly drizzled some dissolves between the clips, imported a Halloween night photo for the top of the video and blended in a Ken Burns’ zoom/pan.
Then I typed in an opening title, selected a pre-existing iMovie ditty for a background music track, and faded the ending to black.

Huh.

It was twenty minutes later.
(much of that was looking at the app for the first time)

…And I had easily created this cool little video.

The Evolution of Video Editing
So I am happy to report you can teach an old dog new tricks.

No, I’m not going to forget about using uber-powerful Mac Pros in favor of the iMovie app on your iPhone.
But indeed, I finally recognize there’s a lot you can do on the fly editing short videos on your iPhone or iPad.
(And another reason I’m happy I supersized it to the iPhone 6 Plus.)

If I’m not the last human on earth to have this epiphany… you should know you’re carrying a legitimate video editing station in your pocket right now.
(And it also makes phone calls.)

Unbelievable…

November 9, 2014

Three Tips to Better Use Your iPhone 6 as a Camcorder

On our flight south, my new iPhone is about to confront its greatest challenge yet: How to slow down the best moments from our vacation…

My family and I just got back from a mini respite to Miami, and again, I forced my iPhone 6 Plus to do some of the heavy lifting… this time on the video-taking front.

It’s already passed muster snapping photos.
So how did it hold up as a pocket camcorder?

The short answer: Not too badly.

No, it doesn’t have quite as wide a focal length as your typical point and shoot lens… So you can’t see as much at close range.
(29mm Vs. 25mm on the Canon Powershot ELPH 340)

No, it doesn’t have an optical zoom…

But it does have a few tricks up its sleeve that can maximize its ability to shoot some cool HD video clips for you. And these have to do with controlling video frame rates.

Here are three tips to get the most out of your iPhone 6’s inner camcorder:

Tip #1
Shoot at 60 FPS To Capture Crisper Action
In addition to the typical 30 frames per second shooting mode, this iPhone also offers the option to shoot at 60 fps.
(which you need to enable in ‘Settings’)

Now, first off… Jamming more frames into a video doesn’t always make it better.

Some folks talk about 30 fps being too jerky when played back,
which is why 60 fps is preferable.
But for me, that’s only an issue when you’re trying to capture fast action or panning the shot around really quickly.

I wouldn’t write off 30 fps. It’s still very much today’s standard.
And for many situations, I bet you’ll be just fine sticking with 30 fps.
Always hedging by sticking with 60 fps will just suck down your iPhone’s limited memory.
(Remember, the 60 fps mode creates larger files!)

And don’t forget that filmmakers love the ‘cinematic’ look of 24 fps.
If you fashion yourself as the next indie darling…
the hyper-clear reality of 60 fps may not be for you.

Tip #2
Only Use 240 FPS Slow Motion When You Really Need It
If you like slow motion, you’re going to love that the 6 and 6 Plus can now record at an incredible 240 frames per second. This ‘slo-mo’ is twice as slow as what the iPhone 5S can generate.

240 fps?!
That’s great, right?

Yes, but the videos play back really slowly.
(That’s the point!)

But in many situations, you may feel it’s too slow. To capture a normal moment in time, I think this enhanced mode can be overkill.

On Halloween, I tried shooting a video of my little pirate ‘trick or treating’ at one house. And later, when I played back the video, it looked like the falling candy wouldn’t reach the bottom of the bag until Thanksgiving!

I would choose this super-slow motion mode only to capture a short moment of very fast action.

Otherwise, I recommend normally sticking with the ‘less advanced’ 120 fps mode to slow down your video.

Tip #3
After You Shoot, Isolate Your ‘Money Shot’ and Then Give It Slo-Mo
That said, once you’ve shot your slow motion video, you actually have the opportunity to choose which part of your clip plays back in slow motion, and which part runs at normal speed.

What?!

That’s right….
In playback mode, there are two slider controls on the top of the video that let you isolate a particular moment that looks best in slow motion. The rest of your clip plays at normal speed.

It’s a ‘professional-looking’ post-production trick that can negate the concern about 240 fps being too slow.

My New Time Machine…
The iPhone 6’s flexibility in shooting at different frame rates while recording HD video is a neat feature that many of today’s ‘more advanced’ point and shoot cameras still don’t offer.

But beware… today’s tips all focus on a central theme:
Use these new tricks sparingly.
When you do, you’ll be really psyched.

No, I don’t think my new iPhone 6 Plus is a magic bullet for all my video recording needs. But it has suddenly given me the powerful capability to slow down linear time.

And as a father of an active four-year-old boy… I’ll take it!

October 26, 2014

My Canon Elph is Angry at My iPhone 6 Plus

Is this a camera on the new iPhone or a phone on a new camera? The answer: Yes. This ‘good enough’ camera lens attached the new iPhone 6 Plus is going to be a compact-camera killer.

I went on a short business trip to San Francisco last week and decided to leave my little Canon PowerShot Elph camera at home. I figured the few shots I might take could be handled by the tiny camera baked into my new iPhone 6 Plus.

After years of my total support for using ‘real’ cameras instead of phones to handle point and shoot needs… now, you might ask why I’m favoring a more limited smartphone camera over your typical PowerShot, which boasts a more powerful lens and sensor.

You could be muttering “sacrilege!” under your breath.
Or perhaps you’re saying, “It’s about time he figured this out.”

Either way, I was finally facing the same decision tree that millions have been considering since smartphones started sporting cameras.

Time to Break Up with My Canon Elph?
Up until now, I’ve remained completely loyal to the fact that better cameras take better pictures. And as it’s often hard enough to take a decent photo with the best of gear, why stack the odds against you with a more limited camera system.

You’ve got to admit, smartphone photography can’t possibly be as good as the real deal.

But it’s been getting better…

And remember, I held onto my iPhone 4S throughout the 5 and 5S years. So I didn’t experience the photo shooting improvements in those iPhones.

Fast forward to today…

This Smartphone’s Camera is Good Enough…
Guess what…?
The photos I shot in California with my iPhone 6 Plus looked pretty darn good.
Sure, its camera isn’t perfect…

No, the iPhone’s LED flash isn’t that powerful to give you enough fill to combat strong back light.
No, you still can’t zoom in without cropping out pixels.
No, you can’t easily play with depth of field. (not that I’ve figured out yet)
No, it’s not as sharp in low-light situations.

But under relatively non-challenging, photo-taking conditions… it does the job just fine!

Lots of Baked-In Tricks
Plus…

It can shoot time-lapse movies.
It records movies in slow motion at 240 frames per second.
(None of my Canon cameras can do that!)
And I’ve really started to enjoy taking panorama photos.
(which I know has been available for a while via iOS upgrades)
It has optical image stabilization.

And I can do basic photo editing/cropping right in the iPhone and then email or text the photo out. Again, this is not a new functionality… but it’s more useful now, because the photos are starting from a better place… I don’t have to do as much voodoo in Aperture to get these pictures ready for prime time.

Simply pointed out of my descending plane’s window, the camera on my iPhone 6 Plus was able to capture this cool nighttime moment over Manhattan as we broke through the clouds.

You’ve Always Got a Camera in Your Pocket
Still better in so many ways, compact point and shoot cameras are downright boring by comparison.

No… I’m not throwing away my Canon collection anytime soon, but it seems clear to me that the more advanced camera on my iPhone 6 Plus can easily serve as a back up camera when I find myself unexpectedly needing one.

And to be honest, it can really start to take on some of my official photo taking needs when I’m just going for a few casual shots.

Time to Write the Obit?
Does my revelation (however late in the game) confirm a problem for Canon or Nikon… and other camera makers in the compact point and shoot market?
(DSLRs are still clearly superior.)

As it turns out, it does.
Last year, there was a 45% drop in compact camera shipments.
Whoah!! That suggests a huge problem.

Will compact digital cameras go the way of the deceased Flip camcorder and follow the trend of ‘good enough’ beats the need to carry around a second device?

How many of you have already abandoned your old digital cameras in favor of the space-saving, one-device solution for your pocket?

Evolve or Else!
It’s a grim picture for point and shoot cameras and for the few who still want to use them. But look on the bright side…

Now, you can refocus your available dollars on purchasing that more expensive DSLR or lens you’ve been coveting…

Hello, Canon 7D Mark II!

Tag: iPhone 6 Plus

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