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See iPhone 11 Pro’s 4K camera in action with impressive footage from Sequoia National Park

We saw an impressive video last week demonstrating the 4K video that the iPhone 11 Pro’s new camera system can capture with a journey through Tokyo from filmmaker Andy To. Today, we’ve got some more impressive 4K cinematic footage that shows off the stunning video results made possible with the iPhone 11 Pro’s ultra wide camera.

Filmmaker Mateo Bertoli took the iPhone 11 Pro to Sequoia National Park to test out the new camera system  and specifically wanted to see what he could capture with the ultra wide lens.

Last weekend I took my iPhone 11 Pro Max for a test in Sequoia National Park. I decided to mainly test the ultra wide angle camera and what a better subject to film than those huge trees?

As far as improvements for capturing video that come with the iPhone 11 Pro, Bertoli noted less noise and improved dynamic range making for more natural images.

In terms of videos I noticed a slight improvement in terms of noise (on the wide and telephoto lens) and mainly bug fixes from previous model. For example the extended dynamic range was working very bad for me on the iPhone X/XR/Xs; the skin tones used to look very weird and when I was filming sunset/sunrise there was something off in the way the iPhone was managing the highlights. Now that is fixed the image look way more natural.

As for stabilization, he was very impressed and notes that he didn’t use his slider or tripod at all, with every shot from the video done by hand. That’s particularly notable since the ultra wide camera doesn’t have optial image stabilization and relies on software-based stabilization.

The stabilization is absolutely incredible and I think we got to a point where you don’t need a gimbal anymore, period. I’ve never seen anything like that and even on the ultra wide angle camera (which doesn’t have optical IS) the software does an amazing job in stabilizing the footage. I actually brought my tripod and slider with me, but I’ve never used them since I was able to do all my camera movements handheld.

He shared more thoughts on the ultra wide lens:

Now, let’s talk about that ultra wide angle camera, because this is the main difference from any other iPhone. To begin with, the ultra wide angle camera is not sharp, at all. And this is why I love it so much. We got to a point where sensors are so good that the image is usually extra sharp and crisp, specially when we film in 4K. This happens not just on smartphones, but on any other cameras, that’s why cinematographers use diffusion filters so much, to smooth out the highlights, decrease the contrast and to make the image less sharp and more organic. In facts I found myself using the ultra wide angle lens for the vast majority of the time, because it almost seems to have a diffusion filter in front of the lens. The other two cameras on the other hand are incredibly sharp, too much in my opinion. With that said, the ultra wide angle lens has way more noise in low light and interior and I wouldn’t recommend it in those situations. But I have to say, I absolutely love it and it opens up tons of opportunity for creators since you can literally capture everything with that 13mm focal focal length.

Bertoli also said that he used the stock Camera app and filmed in 4K 60p before conforming to 24p. He edited the video in DaVinci Resolve.

In this video I wanted to test the camera as it is. What you see in this test was filmed on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, the original camera app (Filmic Pro was not working properly, but they are releasing a compatibility software update as we speak) and a Shoulderpod for a better grip, nothing else.
Everything was shot in 4K 60p and conformed at 24p. The video was edited and graded in DaVinci Resolve 16.

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Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.