We know the iPhone 4S is a killer still camera — perhaps its greatest selling point — but how about video? Do the new guts and 1080p bump make a big difference? Yes. A giant yes. See just how amazing for yourself.
This perfectly synced test, which used a special bit of rigging to align both the 4S and a Canon EOS 5D Mark II to capture the exact same scene, says way more than any Apple marketing verbiage can. With the 5D’s settings matched as closely as possible to the 4S, the two — at least on Vimeo — look nearly indistinguishable. Yes, if you look closely, the 5D wins. It’s got greater detail, depth of field, doesn’t suffer from the iPhone’s jarring rolling shutter problems, and of course has a giant panoply of manual settings any phone lacks. But the point remains: Apple’s created a handset camera that can shoot pro-grade (albeit limited) video. And for a small, small fraction of the price. [Robino Films via PetaPixel -- Thanks Matt!]
Matthew
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 7:13 AMThe 4S does look good. But it lacks definition. 1080p is only good if you can actually get the extra detail. You would be better off with 720p and higher quality.
Darren P
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 7:28 AMI have a Canon 5DII and the new iPhone 4S. Yes the video and photos out of the 4S are great in LOTS of light, but late afternoon/early evening the 4S falls apart (no worse than most P&S cameras tho)
In low light, the 5DII is not just better, it is incredible, in low light the 4S is still pretty crap.
Its funny, the first thing i said when i saw some full sun 4S sample footage was WOW i could cut that into my 5DII footage!
Exaemo
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 3:59 PMOf course a DSLR will do better in low light conditions.
It has the advantage of swapping in a purpose-built big aperture/low light lens that eh iPhone can’t.
Sevrin
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 8:01 AMThere is a video screen in the top left of the street shot that is crystal clear on the 5DII shot yet it shows scan lines on the 4S shot.
I’m guessing that the 4S isn’t true 1080p.
Andy
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 8:33 AMI lul’d so hard..!
That has to do with the video frame rate & the refresh rate…
Pixels has nothing to do with it, but thanks for the lols.
And I found the iPhone in that video slightly (unnaturally) jerky.
Matthew
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 8:39 AMAlso, the iPhone shows very little detail on the bush leaves and the pole.
z3d
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 10:26 AMi can absolutely, 100% guarantee you that this is purely a focus issue. there is no issue with detail on this camera. check out the video from Nads. i am loving the new camera. (i also have a baby due any day now so it’s perfect timing for me)
Sevrin
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 12:37 PMJust to let you know. The p in 1080p doesn’t stand for pixels! ;)
light487
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 8:41 AMYer.. I’ve always loved the iPhone 4′s 5MP camera.. having a bit more grunt isn’t a bad thing. it’s the reason I wanted a smartphone, though I ended up opting for the Galaxy S2 instead. Many phones have the camera but it was my girlfriend’s iPhone4 that made me believe in smartphone cameras.
My Galaxy SII can take 1080p but the issue, for me, is filesize. With 720p video, it’s still extremely clear and detailed but with the 1080p setting it’s just not that much better to make it worth having the expanded file size. It’s one thing to take the video but then you need to do something with it after and generally I am not going to be post-producing it in AfterEffects or anything like that; no, I will be simply uploading the raw footage to YouTube/Vimeo etc.
anth
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 8:50 AMthe 4s isnt no slr so what it has and the footage compared is very good to match up to the 5D
Craig
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 12:11 PMIs that actually a sentence?
Jackson Bison
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 2:10 PMYeah, it is… You gotta read it real slow, add a few commas, an apostrophe, and remove a superfluous double negative while rearranging a few words here and there…
I think he’s saying something along the lines of “Me and Ma are goin’ down to Hicksville to pick us up some moonshine before the rains a comin’…”
MM
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 9:12 AMComparing Apples (literally) with Oranges. It’s a freaking phone!! Don’t go comparing it to a bloody DSLR! Sure, at a quick glance it looks ok, but lets see it capture low light conditions and quality hi-res, aint gonna happen!
Nads
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 10:05 AMI think this comparison is pretty amazing. getting an itchy upgrade finger now…
Nads
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 10:09 AMCheck out this amazing footage(pretty too) from some Aussie surfer dude taken on an iPhone 4S also:
http://vimeo.com/30578363
gob smacked.
BenDTU
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 10:39 AMI saw that one earlier – pretty downright incredible.
GNut.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 5:53 PMwould have been nice to see it without the edit too.
“but I did give this footage a slight grade”
JonBOY
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 10:22 AMThe 4S seems to have better detail for objects up close, whereas as the Canon has a nicer picture for objects in the distance…..well that’s how it appeared to me anyway.
JonBOY
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 10:27 AMIf you pause the video the fast moving vehicles (such as the ‘Budget’ truck) are actually much clearer in the iPhone 4S video than then Canon video. That’s quite impressive, and a welcomed result as I own an iPhone 4S :)
Ozoneocean
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 2:32 PMThat’d just be a matter of focus, at which the Cannon would far exceed any mere phone cam. :)
-i.e. you can easily focus with minute detail on whatever you want. The lenses are simply far, far better.
Heisenburg
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 11:23 AMI hope this deters Mac Zealots from getting a Canon 5D “HD movie” camera.
Andy
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 8:10 PMYour joking right?
You my friend, have not been reading enough Gizmodo.
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/01/transform-your-dslr-into-a-supercharged-professional-video-camera/
You should be ashamed of yourself.
Ozoneocean
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 2:32 PMThis would be better compared to other phones.
ljs
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 4:21 PMFor that small picture size, any camera looks same! a TINY cmos with TINY plastic lens have better quality than a full frame cmos with 50mm optical lens?! Right…….
TSH
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 6:53 PMNokia N8 vs. iPhone 4S is a more fair comparison.
adrian
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 1:11 AMThe iPhone’s video turns very purple in daylight, it’s probably the lens protection coating though as if you look at the lens in the right light it’s purple.
Will
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 11:25 PMThe whole point of the dslr is so that you have bigger aperture and better low light performance. You match settings and in perfect condition for the phone of course the difference is not proportional to the price!!