Better Sound, Improved Image Quality – This Fall Is All About Major Video Upgrades

Following the recent introduction of manual exposure controls, external microphone support, and stereo sound – we are very pleased to announce that Dolby Vision HDR Video is now integrated in ProCamera!

DOLBY VISION: 10-BIT HDR VIDEO

ProCamera v14.1 is available worldwide and it includes support for 10-bit Dolby Vision HDR video recording on iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max!

The Dolby Vision video standard can record 700 million colors to make your clips more lifelike and vibrant. That’s 60 times more colors than in previous 8-bit video recordings! Until now, big film studios have adopted Dolby Vision HDR by making according adjustments in post production – the iPhone is the first camera capable of making these adjustments while recording.

On the latest iPhones, ProCamera will automatically record in HDR for frame rates up to 60fps (iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max) or up to 30fps (iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini).

We have also added a settings option to exclusively record standard, non-HDR 8-bit video on the latest iPhones (Settings > Video Quality > HDR Video: Off).

Since HDR video is such a big step for videography, there are some things to consider when adopting it at this point in time: You will need a proper HDR display (like the new iPhones have) to enjoy the increased dynamic range of HDR clips, some editing softwares are not (yet) capable of maintaining the HDR information, and your video portal of choice needs to be able to process HDR video files. YouTuber DailyTekk released an informative recap on the status quo of HDR video:

STEREO SOUND & EXTERNAL MICROPHONE SUPPORT

STEREO SOUND

We think great audio quality is essential for professional videography. That’s why we have introduced stereo sound for video recordings in v14.0 (iPhone Xs and up). When recording clips in stereo, the Audiometer in our video info panel will show two separate audio channels.

EXTERNAL MICROPHONES

To push the audio quality even further, you may use external microphones when recording videos. We wanted to give you maximum flexibility, and that’s why ProCamera can now connect to a wide range of external bluetooth, lightning, and USB microphones –  like Apple AirPods, Instamic Pro, Shure MV88+, Blue Yeti,…

Using external microphones with ProCamera

Our latest video tutorial shows you how to connect to and film with external microphones in ProCamera:

RECOMMENDED AUDIO EQUIPMENT

It’s easy to get lost in the wide range of available audio equipment for the iPhone, which is why we regularly test new hardware for you. These are the products we have used for our tutorial video above:

Instamic Pro* – The Instamic is a high-fidelity audio recorder that doubles as a waterproof bluetooth microphone (check video tutorial above to hear it and see how to connect it to your iPhone). It’s the microphone of choice of our team members – great build and sound quality, versatile, and compact!

*Disclosure: Affiliate link, which means we will earn a small commission – at no extra cost to you – if you click through and make a purchase. This allows us to continue testing new equipment and work on their integration into ProCamera for your added benefit.

Other recommended products: Shure MV88+ Video Kit (Lightning), Apple AirPods Pro (Bluetooth), and Apples USB-Lightning adapter to utilize compatible USB microphones like the Blue Yeti.

As with all new releases, if you find a bug or have a question then please let us know via in-app support or email us at support@procamera-app.com.

The underwater world is a magical place. Wouldn’t it be great to take photos with your iPhone in this beautiful landscape?

Last week we tried just that: We put an iPhone loaded with ProCamera inside an underwater housing and jumped into the Mediterranean Sea. Grab your snorkel and come with us!

INFO: This is a follow-up post to our previous subsea iPhoneography article.

What equipment did you use this time?

We used an iPhone 7 Plus inside a Watershot Pro housing. The main benefits of a professional housing are the robustness and the underwater control. This means you don’t have to worry about penetrating water (depth rating of 195 feet/60 meters) and physical buttons allow you to reliably trigger the shutter button subsea.

How did you set up ProCamera before the dive?

The physical buttons allow you to control the most important features once the iPhone is inside the housing (shutter button, exposure correction, 1x – 2x zoom switch). Yet, some settings need to be entered before storing the iPhone in there:

Continuous Autofocus: Tap in the middle of ProCamera’s Capture Screen to activate. The switch to Continuous Autofocus is indicated by the larger blue reticle and the word “AUTO”. This way, the camera will continuously adjust focus and you are not limited to one fixed focusing distance. This setting is important, since you won’t be able to manually focus once the iPhone is inside the housing.

Aspect Ratio 4:3: Precise framing isn’t that easy under water due to shy and speedy objects, water movement and limited view. Therefore, we went for the maximum resolution (4:3) and cropped our favorite images afterwards.

Rapid Fire: For fish and other agile sea dwellers, our Rapid Fire settings can be quite useful. By holding down the shutter button, the camera will take a burst of photos. This will give you a variety of captures to choose from after the dive.

High image quality: The intrinsic properties of water make it harder to capture crisp and contrasty images. Most of the time, underwater photos need at least basic editing. To get as much image data as possible, set the JPEG/HEIF quality level to 100% or directly switch to TIFF file format.

Do you have more tips for people, who haven’t tried it before?

The most important tipps are already listed in the previous post. But these are additional things to consider:

– The housing is extremely solid and durable. Still, washing the case after a dive in the ocean is recommended, so that the clear front and the glass lens are freed from the layer of salt.

– When snorkeling, applying sun cream (to your back) is advisable. Just wait a few minutes before you touch the housing afterwards. Otherwise, you will cause unpleasant finger prints that obstruct your view at the iPhone display or you will put smudge marks on the lens.

– Try not to directly expose the housing to sand or tiny stones at the beach. The sand grains might scratch the acrylic front of the housing, which could affect the display visibility and the quality of selfies negatively. We put the kit inside a pouch in our beach bag before and after each dive and had no problems.

– Attach the little hand strap to the housing. You don’t want to loose your precious kit and all those wonderful water photos in crushing waves.

– If possible, snorkel or dive more than once. Within a day or even a few hours, an underwater scene can drastically change. You may encounter different wildlife and you may get an even clearer view. A spot that wasn’t very interesting on an afternoon, was fascinating just the next morning.

And last but not least: please take care down there!

Happy shopping and enjoy experimenting!

Polaroid instant prints with an iPhone

As you may know by now, we test and play around with a lot of photo gear and gadgets. Occasionally, we also post reviews of products that sparked our interest. For this handy Polaroid printer, we recently filmed an in-depth review.

Turning a unique moment into a physical object is always special. Not only can you preserve a beautiful instant, you may also share it with family and friends later on. Using the Polaroid Zip is a fun and easy way to get little instant prints directly from your iPhone. We know that you already took a ton of great photos with ProCamera, so why not print your favorites?

Applying a sticker to the lid of your MacBook is fairly easy and only takes about 1 minute:

Tip: Having your MacBook running and flipped open helps positioning the sticker, as you can see the light of the then glowing Apple Logo shine through the free spaces of your sticker.

The ProCamera MacBook Stickers are available exclusively at the ProCamera Online Shop.
 (free worldwide shipping)

ProCamera has a built-in manual white balance feature, as well as an additional method for achieving white balance through what is called ‘gray card’ calibration. For this, the neutral tone of a gray card serves as the reference point for this calibration. It is important that the gray card is positioned in the same light as your actual subject. Once you have calibrated your white balance, which is performed by a simple long tap on the AWB button, the metered value is locked for continuous shooting until you tap the WB button.

Furthermore, a gray card can be used to adjust the white balance in post-processing software. By having the gray card visible in one of your shots, you will later be able to select a point or pixel on the gray card in your image editing software in order to set a custom white balance.

– Special Opening Offer –

When ordering before November 30, use the code “NOV15”: We are offering a special discount of 10 per cent during the remainder of the month, to celebrate the opening of the ProCamera Online Shop: shop.procamera-app.com

Last June, we interviewed Lars Wibranski who used only his iPhone and ProCamera to document his trip to Thailand. When he mentioned that he used a waterproof housing in conjunction with ProCamera to capture vivid underwater scenes, it really sparked our curiosity. Now, he has returned to share the photographs and tips from this dive. 

The black dots on the clear front of the housing are the physical buttons, that assure reliable operation subsea.

Underwater images usually aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about iPhone photography. One might think that special equipment that costs thousands of dollars would be necessary. Yet, the photographs below are evidence of just how far mobile photography can be pushed. Lars has shared with us some great tips in case you too wish to give underwater photography a try:

• When (first) using the case, it’s best to make a quick security check. Put in a handkerchief, close the housing, and submerge it into water. The handkerchief must not become wet while in the case. Lars never had any problems with penetrating water.

You will achieve the best photo results…

• in clear water. If you can’t see a lot underwater with your own eyes, the camera is likely to not see a lot, too. Thailand, where Lars took these photos, has incredibly clear water.
• near water surface, since it’s a lot brighter there. However, some of these photos are taken at around 40-50 feet (12-15m) below the surface. So don’t let that limit you.
• close to your subject. The closer you can get, the crisper your photos will be.

Blue-Green Cast

• The deeper you dive, the bluer and greener your environment will appear. This is bound up with the intrinsic property of water and the fact, that white light is selectively absorbed and scattered when traveling trough water.
• You will gradually loose red and orange tones in your photos when going deeper. You can see that effect in the following photo of the clown fish (we all know that Nemo is orange…).
• With a White Balance adjustment, you can compensate by adding in warm tones. Strictly speaking, the White Balance is only correct for a certain depth. Since you can’t unpack your iPhone underwater and can’t use the touchscreen in conjunction with the housing, it’s best to try find an approximate value beforehand. Alternative ways of bringing back the reds are either additional lighting (dive lights) or screw on color filter (red filter for blue water, magenta filter for green water environments).

• Since you won’t be able to use the touchscreen, when your iPhone is packed into the housing, make sure you don’t lock focus beforehand. When your focus is locked in ProCamera, you will see a little lock symbol inside the focus reticle. Using the big focus reticle in the center of the viewfinder assures continuous focusing, which will give you the necessary flexibility underwater.

The wide screw on lens gets softer in the corners, so make sure you place your main subject more around the center. In this area the optical quality of the lenses is really good – Lars even used the housing in conjunction with the screw on lens for onshore photos, because of the wide field of view.

Maybe we could encourage some of you to give underwater (iPhone) photography a try. With ProCamera, some kind of waterproof cover/housing, and the tips from this post, you are ready to go. There also is a new version of the housing, that is custom made for the dimensions of the iPhone 6.

We at ProCamera love to see our app in action. So, in case you are doing something special, write us an eMail. We are very curious!