Now that the official yearly iPhone occasion is full, so is my choice. I’m going to upgrade my classic 2020 iPhone 12 Professional Max for an iPhone 16 Pro Max. I am not thrilled with going by the ordering and improve course of, and I am even much less thrilled with spending the whopping sum of money a fully-equipped iPhone 16 Professional Max will price.
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I am selecting the Professional mannequin as a result of I am going to make good use of the 48-MP ultrawide, 12-MP telephoto (5X optical zoom) and 4K 120fps video within the Professional cameras. I am going for the Max kind issue as a result of I choose greater telephone shows each for productiveness and for simply normal use.
What I am not doing is buying and selling in my iPhone 12 Professional Max. In accordance with the Apple preorder system, I may get as a lot as $350 again for my previous telephone.
Verizon’s estimate is $215 if I made a decision to undergo the service as a substitute.
Actually, I by no means commerce in my previous iPhones. I discover them much more helpful as further management surfaces and cameras for my YouTube video manufacturing. They be a part of my fleet of cameras together with a few DSLRs, just a few motion cams, my DJI Pocket 2, three iPads, and a few older iPhones, together with the tiny iPhone SE (second technology).
I additionally often deployed my beloved 2015 iPhone 6s Plus, however after 9 years, it lastly died.
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Having a variety of cameras and digital camera varieties permits me to assemble pictures dynamically, permitting me to choose and select from the gear to get simply the impact I need to create. I additionally typically use a bunch of gadgets without delay, the place they function shows, management surfaces, and recording gadgets.
Talking particularly of my iPhones, let’s dive into my 4 essential studio makes use of of spare iPhones. I did my earliest recordings utilizing simply my essential iPhone, however I discovered that there have been advantages to utilizing two or extra gadgets without delay.
1. Overhead recording
My first use of two iPhones without delay was in overhead recording. It is a type of multicam recording (which I am going to discuss extra in a minute).
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When doing field opening, course of pictures, or critiques, it’s extremely helpful to have a shot going through straight on (the place I initially used my essential iPhone on the time), and an overhead shot that lets viewers see particulars of no matter’s being labored on.
2. Distant viewfinder
One factor you uncover about 5 minutes after establishing your first overhead rig is that you could’t see what’s being filmed. Certain, you may climb up on a stool or ladder to look down on the viewing floor, however it’s a lot nicer to have the ability to see what’s in body as you are filming.
For this, I take advantage of one other iPhone or iPad. I began with the distant app for Filmic Pro, however extra just lately, I’ve moved on to MoviePro and MoviePro Distant. You run one app on the telephone supposed to be the digital camera. You’ll be able to run the Distant app on the telephone supposed to be the viewfinder. It is a very highly effective mixture.
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I additionally use an iPhone and/or iPad as a distant viewfinder for my Sony DSLR. You may want to make use of the Sony Imaging Edge software to set that up, after which the digital camera will broadcast to your iOS system, not solely displaying you what is within the viewfinder but additionally permitting you to manage the DSLR.
I additionally use my iPhone or iPad as a distant viewfinder on my a lot older Canon DSLR. That digital camera would not have any networking, however it does have an HDMI-out supposed to go to a neighborhood monitor. I paired it with a (now unavailable) wi-fi HDMI transmitter that sends video on to an iOS app. You’ll be able to see one configuration of that setup right here.
There are some HDMI digital camera transmitters, however they are much costlier than what I used. I feel the marketplace for digital camera HDMI transmitters dropped off fairly a bit as an increasing number of DSLRs got here with their very own methods to transmit on to iOS gadgets.
3. Multicam recording
Multicam recording is the method of recording a scene utilizing a number of cameras without delay. I take advantage of multicam so much for my how-to and evaluate movies as a result of every digital camera reveals a special angle of what I am engaged on.
I discover this vastly useful as a result of I can arrange a bunch of cameras (I normally use three or 4) to seize numerous angles of my work. Then, I can do no matter I am doing on digital camera, typically with out worrying about whether or not the digital camera can decide it up. That is significantly a win once I’m utilizing one thing that has a spinning blade of dying, and it is far more vital for me to focus on working the damaging instrument than how I look on digital camera.
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Typically I combine and match cameras to get a sure impact. However most of the time, I simply use a bunch of iOS gadgets, every capturing its personal view and storing the ends in the Photographs library for later enhancing.
Remaining Reduce Professional on the Mac has a terrific instrument for synchronizing multicam recordings. All you must do is make certain sound is recorded on all of the cameras, after which the enhancing software program routinely syncs every thing up.
Remaining Reduce on the iPad just lately added its personal Live Multicam feature, the place you may management as much as 4 iPads or iPhones instantly from an iPad, switching between them dynamically.
I nonetheless typically simply file separate streams after which sync them on my desktop, however Dwell Multicam is nice for masking occasions.
4. Robotic movement management controller
Then there are my digital camera robots. I’ve a number of them, and so they’re all managed by my iOS gadgets. That is my motion-controlled jib:
It has 4 levels of movement. The jib itself goes up and down and rotates left and proper. Then the pinnacle additionally goes up and down and rotates left and proper. Utilizing movement management software program, I can set marker factors after which configure the software program to maneuver between these factors, altering the jib settings to the saved markers.
I even have a few sliders, additionally with remote-controlled heads, in addition to a robotic flooring dolly that may transfer a complete tripod meeting primarily based on what I set utilizing my iPhone’s software program.
Every set of motions requires its personal iOS system. So I can program in all of the jib motions utilizing one iPhone. But when I need to individually management a slide and head, that wants one other iPhone. And if I need to mount the jib on a robotic dolly, that wants yet one more iOS system to manage it.
Look, I am going to admit I most likely have just a few too many robots. Between the motion-control digital camera robots and all my automated fabrication robots, I’ve someplace above 30 independently managed semi-autonomous robots. All I can say in my protection is that I’ve a really tolerant spouse.
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However that is not the purpose of this text. My level is that previous iPhones have worth as cameras and controllers. For the reason that trade-in worth (particularly since I normally hold my every day driver for 3 or 4 generations earlier than upgrading) is pretty low, it is far more worthwhile to me to have the added performance of spare telephones for my undertaking work.
What about you? Do you retain your previous telephones? Do you could have a bunch of robots? Are you contemplating upgrading to the iPhone 16? Tell us within the feedback under.
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