Happy 30th Birthday

[sidd finch]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJahlKPCL9g[/youtube]

On January 24, 2014, Apple sent 15 camera crews all over the world and shot over 70 hours of footage — all with the iPhone 5s. Then it was edited and scored with an original soundtrack. Jake Scott son of Riddley Scott who created the original 1984 iconic commercial directed this new piece.




Sidd

[Dave McElderry]

Very nicely shot and edited but it does remind me why I don't use my iPhone for video that's important to me if I have a choice. It's pretty darned good, but phone video just isn't "there" yet.

[Ron Hunter]

Dave, when you say the iPhone video "isn't there yet" that leads me to think you found something about the commercial's video quality objectionable. What was that? Was it the color, depth of field, sharpness, or something else?

I agree with you that I won't use an iPhone for a situation where I really care about the video quality, but I'm curious what you found objectionable in the commercial.

I'm still learning what to look for in "good video" but I didn't see anything in that commercial that got my attention as a negative.

[Dave McElderry]

Dave, when you say the iPhone video "isn't there yet" that leads me to think you found something about the commercial's video quality objectionable. What was that? Was it the color, depth of field, sharpness, or something else?

I agree with you that I won't use an iPhone for a situation where I really care about the video quality, but I'm curious what you found objectionable in the commercial.

Good question Ron. Please note that the iPhone video is excellent, and "objectionable" probably isn't the term that I would use. My reference comparison is mostly to my Canon VIXIA HF G10, which sometimes just amazes me in a consumer grade camcorder. There were several things that struck me as I watched the video. Minor, but apparent. There was noticeable color banding in some of the low light sections, or in the darker parts of scenes which had high contrast, such as the aquarium scene. The same scenes had what I call digital blocking; look for square or rectangular patterns in the darker areas that seem to bounce around quickly. Those same areas were somewhat lacking in detail - they looked flat. Of course that's always a problem in low-light, but some devices handle it better than others. Also, in the scenes with quick motion I see a jitter that reminds me of the difference between a good plasma TV and an LCD, when the playback device can't keep up with the motion (usually noticeable in sports). In this case I attribute it to the phone.

I did watch this at the highest quality available, and in all fairness I have no way of knowing what part of these issues were due to the way that YouTube encodes the video. In the interest of bandwidth they do make compromises. So it could very well be that I'm making an unfair comparison. However, I should also mention that I have an iPhone 5s and sometimes use its video mixed in with my Canon in the same project. I've found in real-world less-than-optimal conditions the Canon significantly outperforms the iPhone (I would hope so), and I've seen more pronounced cases of the issues mentioned above. We know that the iPhone video which they chose for the commercial was expressly chosen as the best of the best. So my bias is based not only on the commercial, but on my own experience. Again, this could be considered nit-picky. Even 5 years ago I could not have imagined that we'd be getting video of this quality from a handheld device like the iPhone. And I can't imagine what another 5 years will bring.

[Ron Hunter]

Thanks for the excellent explanation Dave, now I understand.

[Chris B]

70 hours of footage to 87 seconds of video - ouch!

Reminds me of the Nokia film they made with just an N8.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9ME5_ZzeKI[/youtube]

You can see the banding and bitrate issues - unsurprising given the low light is some scenes - and that fact that it's nearly 4 year old tech. I also see they've done a "zoom" done on the 1020 - Photos (41 megapixel photos mind you) rather than video - but a neat effect.
http://conversations.nokia.com/2013/09/16/exclusive-watch-ny-41x41-the-latest-incredible-film-shot-on-a-nokia-lumia-1020/

[Dave McElderry]

Loved it. That was hilarious!
Bankers!

[BuddyB]

Hilarious, almost fall down laughing. I didn't see any banding, but then I don't know what or where to look. And the big question, did they do it for money? To show what they can do, as a promo, or as an avocation?