Shooting 4K ProRes Video Requires iPhone 13 Pro With at Least 256GB Storage

[ian87w]

and it's obviously storage related, for anyone willing to a) google and b) do some math c) not limit themselves to the one thing they felt like thinking about (storage speed? yet you skip right past capacity so you can what, make a point about being upset about a feature you clearly know nothing about, and thus wont even be using?)

http://landing.quantum.com/rs/561-AAR-658/images/Tom_Coughlin_Whitepaper_2016.pdf

luckily those guys did it for us. but in the interest of finding multiple sources, another site's math says a 128gb device would be full within 5 hrs of 4k30 recording, no mention of HDR

that first link also did math to get a bit rate of 31.1mbps. apple's lowest tier prores format boasts a bit rate of 45mbps, and goes up to 105mbps from there.

this move makes sense from a "we're trying to make sure your device isnt going to slow to a crawl once you wipe out the usable space for file swapping."

having done a great deal of 4k60DV recording, and also video editing, this is hardly a bad choice to implement.

"waaaah just let the user have it anyway!"

user: "waaaaaaaah apple why is my phone always out of space"

besides, anyone recording a great deal of 4k60HDR videos on their iphone already took into account how much storage space this stuff takes, making this a non issue.

This is the same Apple that introduced 4k recording with the iPhone 6S and still sell 16GB models.

No excuses for Apple. I bet the engineering team did design the 13Pro with the faster storage in mind. But then the accountant team probably wants to maximize Apple's margin si the need to keep 128GB as base model by sacrificing the feature.

 

[ian87w]

This seems like an unnecessary limitation.

Does the 256GB model similarly restrict this feature if available storage drops below 128gb? if not why does the capacity of the phone matter?

Sounds like an artificial constraint imposed just to goad buyers into buying the next model up.

Traditional upselling tactic. This is basically the premium version of McDonald's upsize your meal strategy.

 

[Lwii2boo]

It's a silly decision by Apple. If a user doesn't have enough free space, the app can display a warning. But there's no reason to lock out all 128GB users.

Maybe there is a RAM requirment and 128 GB Pro has less ram (4/6?) than higher storage device (6/8?).
I don't think so but IMO it's the only hardware related possible reason. If ram is same as 256GB, it is an intended software limitation.

I bet it is just a basic upselling tactic exactly why they still sell the watch S3 (to make you clearer the benefits of SE/7 watch model to sell more expansive model du to huge physicial differences you can see in 2sec)

Anyway with this ProRes thing Lighting gets ever more ridiculous escpecially when they are explaining its benefits few minutes before for iPad Mini. It's embarassiing.

It's more a flex phone than a "pro" phone at this stage...
+ cinematic mode capped at 1080p at 30 FPS, that is so bad 😂

 

[RyanFlynn]

Correct me if I've wrong (and there's a high probability of that), but didn't Apple under Jobs' reign operate under the core belief that each product should be easy to explain, easy to use and appeal to the average Joe? How many average Joe's see 4K ProRes and understand it, let alone want it? Seems like Apple is trying to sell something that very few people asked for.

I’m a documentary film maker, we shoot with cameras that shoot prores or in raw natively. Occasionally, we don’t have cameras up and reach for our phones to capture what’s happening, but quality always lacks compared to our main cameras due to compression. It’s hard to match color in post, even with with cheap lenses on our cameras. We usually purposely make it look like cellphone footage to sell it.

this update shooting video prores is the first time I believe the iPhone “pro” deserves the snake “pro”, but we will see when it comes to matching our shots in post!

 

[klerke]

The new iPhone 13 Pro models support 4K ProRes video recording, but there's a catch if you want to capture video at the highest quality - you need an iPhone 13 Pro or Pro Max with at least 256GB of storage space.

On Apple's tech specs page for the new devices and in the press release announcing the new iPhone 13 Pro models, Apple says that if you have an iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 13 Pro Max with the base 128GB of storage, you'll be limited to shooting 1080p ProRes video at 30 frames per second.

For recording ProRes video at 4K at 30 frames per second, higher 256, 512, or 1TB storage capacities are required.Aimed at professionals, the ProRes codec offers higher color fidelity and less compression, and it is often used for commercials, feature films, and TV broadcasts. With ProRes support, iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max users can capture, edit, and share professional quality video right on their devices.

ProRes support will not be available when the iPhone 13 Pro models launch and will be coming in a future iOS 15 update.

Along with ProRes, the new iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max offer much improved Wide, Wide Angle, and Telephoto lenses with better low light performance, macro capabilities, Night Mode, Cinematic video recording for depth-of-field transitions, and Photographic Styles for enhancing images.

Article Link: Shooting 4K ProRes Video Requires iPhone 13 Pro With at Least 256GB Storage

 

[kerr]

This is embarrassing

 

[wigby]

I understand ProRes might take up something crazy like 5gb per minute, but if someone wants to fill up their 128gb iPhone with just ProRes videos, who's Apple to tell them they can't?

I imagine there will quickly be a jailbreak tweak to get around this.

It’s not about storage space as much as it’s about speed. In order to save money, Apple uses slower SSD in 128GB iPhones. Too slow to handle sustained 4K prores data recording. They do it all the time in Mac and iOS devices so you can bet they’re doing the same here. Besides, if you’re really serious about shooting 4K video, 128GB is not enough anyway.

 

[wigby]

There's really no excuse for this, other than pushing higher storage options.

iPhone 12 128GB can write at least 400MB/sec. So it's obviously not speed related.

Why do you assume Apple is using the same or faster SSD on the new, cheapest iPhone Pro?

 

[tann]

Phones really should have started at 256gb it seems.

 

[SSDGUY]

Does ProRes have anything to do with the forthcoming depth-of-field editing capabilities in post, ie. do you have to shoot in ProRes to access such a feature?

 

[ratspg]

It’s just such a weird caveat to have. “These are our most pro iPhones ever. Except the 128gb. That one is semi-pro.”

 

[cppguy]

And Cinematic Mode is 1080p 30fps regardless of the model, which makes it little more than a demo mode.

 

[Jandalf]

So everybody needs to upgrade their ICloud storage option as well… smart move 🙃

 

[Homme]

Are these lighting ports still USB 2.0? Would be super annoying to transfer 1TB worth of stuff using 2.0

yes they are.

Can people with 128gb iPhones still record in 4K?

even 16GB iPhone 6s models can record in 4K

Lightning has USB 3.0 speeds for years now. The bottleneck is more likely the computer than the phone or data transport standard.

yes and no

only 3 models which have lightning have the 3.0 spec, the first Gen 12.9 inch iPad Pro and both the second generation iPad Pros

the rest of the lightning line have 2.0

 

[aleksoctop]

Apple has truly lost it they droned on about how important Type-C was on the iPad mini to interact with devices and do large data transfers. But it has a weak sauce camera....

Then they talk about high quality massive data usage around filming with iPhone 13 Pro. USB 2.0 transfer rates no Type-C.

"Pro"

To be fair, I think the filmmaking aspect appeals to a younger filmmaking audience. The shots look great for a phone, but it doesn't compare to a cinema rig.

 

[400]

How many people would/could use this feature? A good 4k capture was always going to be resource hungry depending on settings. I have a 4k camera that dumps out a very good .264 file, say 500-700mb for a 40-60 second but I don't have much control over the rates it uses or output format. On a 55" TV it does look very good (but not pro). It will be interesting to see real world comparisons, file sizes etc.

 

[contacos]

Remember when Apple was about convenience and „it just works“ instead of penny pinching?

Tim Cook Apple is selling a Series 3 Watch in 2021 and a Pro iPhone that isn’t really Pro unless you choose a higher storage capacity. Also, imagine transferring 1 TB over USB-2 speed. Sorry, client … give me just one hour to transfer your raw data I shot with my Pro Phone

 

[anthorumor]

Lack of USB-C ports in the Pro is just annoying if the ProRes files sizes are going to be ginormous

 

[frownface]

It’s not about storage space as much as it’s about speed. In order to save money, Apple uses slower SSD in 128GB iPhones. Too slow to handle sustained 4K prores data recording. They do it all the time in Mac and iOS devices so you can bet they’re doing the same here. Besides, if you’re really serious about shooting 4K video, 128GB is not enough anyway.

Is that confirmed or speculation?

If the 256 and up models use faster SSDs, they should market that fact. It's not a bad thing after all.

 

[kerr]

What Apple is saying is that everyone should only buy the highest capacity of the Pro Max phone, otherwise something or other won’t work as you would expect it to.

 

[sevoneone]

Maybe there is a RAM requirment and 128 GB Pro has less ram (4/6?) than higher storage device (6/8?).
I don't think so but IMO it's the only hardware related possible reason. If ram is same as 256GB, it is an intended software limitation.

I bet it is just a basic upselling tactic exactly why they still sell the watch S3 (to make you clearer the benefits of SE/7 watch model to sell more expansive model du to huge physicial differences you can see in 2sec)

Anyway with this ProRes thing Lighting gets ever more ridiculous escpecially when they are explaining its benefits few minutes before for iPad Mini. It's embarassiing.

It's more a flex phone than a "pro" phone at this stage...
+ cinematic mode capped at 1080p at 30 FPS, that is so bad 😂

ProRes was engineered in the mid'00s for PowerPC Macs editing 1080p and 2k. It is purposefully designed to require very little overhead to encode and decode. I'm pretty sure an iPhone 6s would have no issues recording ProRes if it were not for the storage capacity/speed.

I’m a documentary film maker, we shoot with cameras that shoot prores or in raw natively. Occasionally, we don’t have cameras up and reach for our phones to capture what’s happening, but quality always lacks compared to our main cameras due to compression. It’s hard to match color in post, even with with cheap lenses on our cameras. We usually purposely make it look like cellphone footage to sell it.

this update shooting video prores is the first time I believe the iPhone “pro” deserves the snake “pro”, but we will see when it comes to matching our shots in post!

The thing is, RAW and formats like ProRes are meant to retain more of the original information coming from the camera sensor to give you the flexibility in post. There is only so far you can push the physics on these tiny lenses and little smart phone sensors no matter how good they are getting. A very significant part of the amazing quality these cameras have picked up in the past few years is coming from computational augmentation of the image. I'm uncertain what is to be gained that couldn't be achieved via an All-I 10bit HEVC mode with a high bitrate. Unless we're getting ProRes RAW. Which I'm sure isn't the case because: 1) the marketing would mention "RAW Video" at least 160 times, 2) a RAW format would mean all that computational magic that's done realtime in the SoC would have to happen during playback/editing and that would take a lot of extra compute power on that end of the process.

 

[Kylo83]

Unlike what people think prores is not RAW it’s not the same like apple raw

 

[sevoneone]

Unlike what people think prores is not RAW it’s not the same like apple raw

Unless you're talking about ProRes RAW or ProRes RAW HQ, but highly doubtful that is what is coming to the phone.

 

[Pezimak]

It's an expensive option. I await to see comparisons with the regular iPhone 13, it may not be worth the extra cash for Pro Res video for the majority. It's a shame you need to expand your storage to make full use of it, but understandable too.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

Then the base should have been 256GB.

They would never: They’re quite obviously doing the fast food upsizing strategy even when it seems they suddenly increase storage tiers.

The lower amount of internal storage paired with the absence of certain “pro” features will make the lower priced models appear much more expensive than the higher priced ones.