iPhone Filmmaker Calls iPhone 16 Pro Upgrade Minimal Talks Drones

Joey Helms, a filmmaker known for capturing stunning cityscapes with each new iPhone Pro, has shared his thoughts on the iPhone 16 Pro, stating that it doesn’t represent a significant advancement compared to its predecessor.

In a recent discussion, he elaborated on his technique of attaching the iPhone to a drone to capture spectacular aerial footage for his latest project.

Helms has produced sample visuals highlighting the potential of the recent three generations of iPhone Pro models:

Limited Upgrades in the iPhone 16 Pro

He expressed that the Camera Control feature is somewhat irritating and lacks reliability, with his primary usage being simply starting the recording.

While he finds the audio mixing capabilities “impressive” for quick edits on mobile devices, he notes that these limitations become apparent when using higher-quality audio equipment.

Once you don headphones or connect to larger speakers, the noise cancellation artifacts and fluctuations become evident. Therefore, it’s great for quick mobile edits and social media, but professionals still cannot depend on an iPhone as a reliable audio recording tool.

The only notable upgrade he points out is the ability to film high-quality 120fps slow-motion footage, although he considers this to have limited practical application.

From a filmmaking perspective, the most valuable enhancement in the 16 series is the capability to record at 120fps in 4K and ProRes LOG. However, 120fps is an unusual frame rate, being too slow for regular use but not slow enough to achieve a dramatic slow-motion effect. Thus, it’s a feature that most users may not frequently utilize, making the transition from the 15 Pro to the 16 Pro unworthy for many.

Nevertheless, he did observe an improvement in the reliability of SSD recording, under one condition.

I found that when recording onto SSDs (which is my standard approach when using ProRes LOG), it performs much more reliably compared to the initial release of the 15 Pro. However, it’s crucial to format the SSD to ExFAT beforehand. Initially, mine were set to Mac OS Extended, which led to issues when recording 120fps in 4K ProRes, causing the camera app to freeze and requiring a complete reboot to resolve. Switching the SSD format to ExFAT solved the problem.

We mounted the iPhone 16 Pro (not the Max to minimize weight) using a custom 3D printed mount on an iFlight Chimera 7-inch FPV drone, piloted by the skilled Sam Perez from Chicago.

We faced two main challenges during the shoot: 1) The iPhone’s lack of aerodynamics caused it to act like a sail on the drone, complicating flying maneuvers like split-S drops from buildings.

2) The drone’s micro vibrations, when combined with the phone’s image stabilization, resulted in noticeable wobbles. Turning off the enhanced stabilization made the issue worse; however, it appears the iPhone doesn’t allow complete deactivation of stabilization.