There's no question that the RED Weapon is a better camera than the one housed in the iPhone 7 Plus, but the results from this video are definitely intriguing. Filmmaker Parker Walbeck mounted the smartphone atop his $50,000 professional cinema camera, both attached to a MōVI M5 gimbal stabilizer, and shot a short film in order to compare the images captured by each camera. Take a look.
Again, no one's trying to say that the iPhone 7 Plus is on par with or anywhere near the RED Weapon—or any other high end cinema camera or DSLR for that matter. However, at first glance, especially for those who are not filmmakers, the footage looks pretty damn similar.
But before you go out with your iPhone and try to shoot beautiful stuff like you saw in the video, understand that you'll need some extras in order to produce this kind of quality. First off, you'll want to download FiLMiC Pro, a $10 app that gives you an insane amount of control over the camera settings on your phone. (If you want to learn more about what it is and how to use it, click here.)
Second, you'll want to get your hands on a stabilizer to keep your shots smooth and cinematic. There are plenty of handheld ones on the market that are designed specifically for smartphones, like the DJI Osmo, ikan X3, and even obscure ones like the LUUV.
Walbeck shares 8 tips on smartphone filmmaking in the video below:
Again, before anyone gets all huffy puffy about comparing a smartphone camera to a pro-grade cinema camera just understand what Walbeck is trying to communicate with this comparison. He's not saying that the iPhone 7 Plus is as good as or better than the RED Weapon or that you can now replace all of your expensive cameras with your smartphone. Not even close. The RED Weapon and other high-end cameras are more powerful by far. What he is saying is that beautiful, high-level imagery doesn't depend on the camera you capture it with, but on the vision, imagination, and technique of the artist.
Source: Parker Walbeck
