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iPhone 17 Pro Will Make Sports History This Weekend
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I think it’s history in the sense that the post I’m quoting is history. By the time you read this post, it will also be history.
Every individual time you play on any piano you’ve made history. It may not be particularly interesting or relevant history, but we can be mostly certain it happened in the past.
If it happened in the future we’ve got way more interesting problems.
Ref flashing an iPhone to show yellow & red cards and capture player reaction? To deliver fancy footwork footage via the iPhone shin guard cam?
dontwalkhand
macrumors 604
I threw an iPhone at a government drone. OMG History…now I am going to get arrested…..and I need a new iPhone.
jdawgnoonan
macrumors 65816
Honestly, I don’t believe that recording and televising any sports event with an iPhone vs any other camera that has ever existed would qualify as “Sports History”. Maybe whatever camera was used to record the first televised soccer game ever broadcast would qualify but that’s about where that ends.
US TV directors are unable to properly capture a soccer game.
The "Road to 26" pre- World Cup games were just TV disasters.
Rather than using iPhones, they should just travel in real football countries and learn !
It might be very embarrassing during the WC.
The "Road to 26" pre- World Cup games were just TV disasters.
Rather than using iPhones, they should just travel in real football countries and learn !
It might be very embarrassing during the WC.
Before trying to do this gimmicky marketing thing, they need to broadcast these MLS and MLB events in HDR. While ATV does not compress video as much as other streamers, they only add HDR to F1 stuff today.
emulator
macrumors 65816
Not one word about film (they call it broadcast) in the press rls yet ppl talk about "filming". My Film Prod BA from the 90s demands that filming actually requires film in your camera...
I7guy
macrumors Westmere
avkills
macrumors 68000
I am not discounting the actual act of filming with an iPhone; I am just pointing out that iPhones do have the controls nor technical robustness to properly shoot the main shots for live events, let alone sports. They might be great for break aways or b-roll shots later in post.
avkills
macrumors 68000
Proper video engineering has nothing to do with marketing. Please explain how they are going to shade those iPhones so the images match.
avkills
macrumors 68000
Please explain to me how you are going to replace the lens below with anything attachable to an iPhone rig.
Have you actually watched a sporting event on TV, the cameras are a "mile away" from the action.
zarmanto
macrumors 65816
An interesting question... but the answer is simple: Time.
No, seriously. According to Google's AI, there are currently lenses that can get an iPhone out to 600mm; so, taking that to 1000mm is just a matter of time and demand. If this experiment works out in Apple's favor, it'll prompt a further expansion of the existing accessory market to potentially include things like the lens you've depicted. In fact, it would not surprise me if the first 1000mm lens for an iPhone is simply a modified version of that very same lens. (And of course, you can probably bet that it'll work with more than just the iPhone.)
Because here's the thing; no industry stands still... change is a simple fact of life, driven by the passage of time. If you've lived for more than a couple of decades or so, you've seen some examples of this first hand, and likely missed out on some others that are before your time; buggy whips, rotary phones and floppy disks have all been largely left behind by change, among many, many other examples. Emulator, griping about the term "filming" being used incorrectly, is quite right to observe that the industry continues to use the term while less and less frequently using the corresponding technology -- we don't so much "film" anymore, we increasingly record digitally instead.
The iPhone is just one exemplar of that ever present shift.
avkills
macrumors 68000
The phone sensor is not physically big enough so the quality is going to suffer a lot. It is basically the reason that my DLSR which is less megapixels than my phone can take better pictures because the sensor is bigger and the available lenses are much better.
caliguy
macrumors 6502
Yes, but why use a comparatively tiny iPhone sensor alongside an otherwise professional setup? It’s a handicap in exchange for a marketing deal.
The whole “shot on iPhone” idea is supposed to make people think “I could pull this off with that same iPhone I bought”, but it realistically requires shelling out exponentially more money. Think it’s a bit disingenuous.
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
Very difficult to outdo the physics of larger glass and sensors.
I7guy
macrumors Westmere
Absolutely. And I’m okay with it.
Obviously the camera persons are going to be running up and down the field with the camera held in their hand. I don’t think a reasonable person would think that.
It does say exclusively:
“This Saturday, May 23, Apple TV will present a special live Major League Soccer match captured exclusively on iPhone 17 Pro — marking the first time iPhone will be used to capture the entirety of a major professional live sporting event broadcast.”
jimscard
macrumors 6502
When they used them to shoot parts of MLB Games, they were just iPhones mounted to poles and things: [Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro is now an official MLB artifact](https://gadgetbond.com/apple-iphone-17-pro-mlb-hall-of-fame/)
Most likely, if they’re doing lots of live, it’ll be mounted on a gimbal rig, with a [Blackmagic Camera ProDock - Apple](https://www.apple.com/xc/product/HS8B2ZM/A) with genlock providing a broadcast quality feed. Probably a circular polarization or ND32 or similar filter in front of the lens as well. They’re commonly used by photographers; I have a clip-on set that I use with my iPhone 17 PM.
jimscard
macrumors 6502
There will likely be a follow up BTS video on how they did it. For live broadcast, there will almost certainly be a [Blackmagic Camera ProDock - Apple](https://www.apple.com/xc/product/HS8B2ZM/A) to provide the genlock’d video out.
jimscard
macrumors 6502
No. But you *do* make it if you’re the first person *onboard* a spacecraft videoing and photographing using only a consumer phone.
jimscard
macrumors 6502
jimscard
macrumors 6502
Assuming it’s like the previous MLB game where they used iPhone 17 Pros, no. https://baseballhall.org/discover/apple-donation-highlights-broadcast-evolution
A live broadcast-quality rig with an iPhone 17 Pro, gimbal, power bank, rack to hold the phone with a filter adapter, and a BlackMagic Dock (for genlock etc.) is under $1000.
avkills
macrumors 68000
Great, how are they going to shade the multiple cameras and make them match? I suppose it could be done in-switcher but that is kind of pain in the ass and not the way things are normally done.
Just because there is genlock does not qualify as "broadcast quality." For one the output is HMDI which is not what is used in broadcast.
Again, this is way different than shooting a single shot "video" or "film" with an iPhone which is no big deal -- the 4k footage from my iPhone13 mini is incredible and I can only imagine how much better that is with a 17 Pro or Max. The trouble starts when you need to match multiple cameras in real time, remotely adjusting iris, black level, being able to white balance, black balance and shade said cameras; please provide me proof this is even possible with iPhones and I will mostly go away.
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