Well after singing the praises of Filmic Pro and my entire mobile video setup in my previous post, I took the iOgrapher on a 14 day vacation that included a NASA rocket launch, 7 day cruise and some time at Universal Studios, Orlando. Well, I’m sad to say the Filmic Pro experience was a major letdown.
First off, the software does NOT retain any settings when you quit the app. Zero. So every time I launched the app, I had to set my frame size, resolution, destination, audio input, etc…. That was super annoying.
The app just quit constantly. I could generally shoot 2 or 3 movies and then the app would just disappear. Or would I hit the Home button on my iPhone to use another app, then double click the Home button to retrieve Filmic Pro and it would be gone. Then of course I would have to reset everything on the app.
I found the focus drifting a lot even when I would manually set and locked it. Almost seemed like the Camera was competing with the App for control of the focus. The exposure worked as expected but the focus was problematic.
When using 24p mode via Filmic Pro I found the video quality VERY stuttery and staccato, especially with the pans. It’s not really an enjoyable experience to watch the 24p material that was shot with it.
So I used Filmic Pro for the rocket launch and the first three days of my cruise and then abandoned it. I went back to shooting with the Apple Video mode in Camera. If you DO plan to use Filmic Pro, avoid the zoom feature. I thought it was awesome when I was playing with it, but the resolution falls apart very quickly as you zoom.
I plan to check out Mavis soon so I’ll report back after I’ve had a chance to really test that app out for more than just a few days.
Now the Shure VP83 Shotgun mic DID perform brilliantly and that was a great investment.
I have discovered exactly the same issues with Filmic Pro: focus drift (even when locked), jittery panning, frequent crashes, laggy/slow and a total battery hog. Very much a let down.
Now that the built in app supports 4K video at 50mpbs, there is a far compelling reason to look for other apps. It’s good enough. 50mbps is sufficient to capture all the detail necessary.
Does the built in camera app support iris controls yet? That was one of the compelling reasons for me to look for a third party app. I’m about to start a new gig that will involve a LOT of social media work and the phone / camera will come into play quite a bit with that. The one thing I really hate about the on-board app is the constant iris changing as the camera moves around. I’ve yet to download MAVIS but that’s the next one I’m looking at.
You can. First, long press on the display in the area where you wish to lock focus. ‘AE/AF Lock’ will appear on the diaplay. Both focus and exposure are now locked at the same touch point.
You can then vary the exposure by dragging up or down anywhere on the screen. After the exposure is set, it will remain locked at that setting. To unlock focus and exposure, tap anywhere.
I meant to say far LESS compelling reason…sorry about that!
I finally took the plunge and purchase Filmic. I was pleased with the footage when viewed on an iDevice, as captured. I liked the control over the exposure etc., but I too was frustrated by the inability to store settings, meaning I had to chose resolution and frame rate every time.
More importantly though, I am now finding the footage very difficult to work with in Premiere Pro, with stuttering and stalling of the video, whilst the audio plays on. I am not entirely sure whether it is the fault of Filmic or Premiere, but either way it is extremely frustrating. I can rule out it being the computer as it is a maxed out iMac, 5K screen, SSD etc.
A single SSD can cause all sorts of issues for video playback. I have no issues at all with footage from the iPhone whether it’s Filmic or Mavis.