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Make better videos

Record better videos on your phone. Navigate your video settings with ease. Learn how to record basic and b-roll and interviews. See our favourite accessories. All in the Smartphone Learning Center!

with your smartphone

WHAT WE COVER:

Navigating your video settings

Resolution and Frame Rate

Aspect Ratio

Main Camera Settings

Microphone type

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White balance

Focus

Exposure

In Android and iOS, gridlines and level can be turned on in Main Camera Settings.

How to read your specs

MP - Megapixels - The bigger the number, the more detail that can be captured.

#.##µm - Micrometers - The bigger the number, the larger the pixel and more light that can reach the sensor.

f/## - f-stops - (size of the aperture opening). The smaller the number the more light is able to reach the sensor.

#of mm - the smaller the number, the wider the field of view.

##fps - Frames Per Second - Standard broadcast in North America is 30 fps (25 fps in UK & Europe). Half speed slow motion is 60 fps. Slow motion at 25% is 120 fps. 

Your Smartphone Camera and Recording Specs:

iPhone 15 & 15 Plus

2 MAIN CAMERAS:

48 MP, f/1.6, 26 mm (wide), 1.0µm, dual pixel PDAF, sensor-shift OIS
12 MP, f/2.4, 13 mm, 120° (ultrawide)

Features:
Dual-LED dual-tone flash, HDR (photo/panorama)

Video Resolution and Frame Rate:
4K@24/25/30/60fps,
1080p@25/30/60,
10-bit HDR, Dolby Vision HDR (up to 60fps),
Cinematic mode (4K@30fps), 3D (spatial) video, stereo sound rec.
Action mode up to 2.8K@60 fps

FRONT/SELFIE CAMERA:

12 MP, f/1.9, 23 mm (wide), 1/3.6", PDAF SL 3D (depth/biometrics)

Features:
HDR, Cinematic mode (4K@30fps)

Video:
4K@24/25/30/60fps, 1080p@25/30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS

Choosing which camera to use

Wide, Ultrawide, Telephoto, Selfie

Popular settings:

 

Wide or Selfie is the default camera depending on which side you are recording.

Telephoto or Periscope will achieve better quality when zooming in on a subject. 

Ultrawide will capture a vast landscape or a large space. 

It's challenging to get a smooth zoom with smartphones. To quickly zoom-in or out during recording, switch between cameras or touch the onscreen zoom factor you want. These factors are what your smartphone is able to capture optically through lenses. Zoom beyond these factors is digital and will degrade quality. 

Pro Tip

If your subject is beyond your optical zoom capabilities, record in a higher resolution such as 4K or 8K which will give you higher quality image and then zooming in in editing.

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Check your optical zoom capabilities

Choosing frame rate and resolution

Popular settings:

 

FHD 30: For interviews, or any long form video recording. Also a good all-round default choice.

FHD 60: For quick moving sports/action videos, or for half speed slow motion.

UHD (4K) 30: For short b-roll clips and lots of flexibility in editing.

UHD (4K) 60: For shorter quick moving sports video clips, or for slow motion at half speed and flexibility in editing.

4K vs Full HD - 4K resolution but 4X the file sizes!

4K & 8K are amazing quality, but most office computers cannot handle the file sizes in editing and many internet connections cannot handle streaming in this resolution.

Best practice is to record your b-roll in 4K because they are shorter clips and won't take up too much space, however, they will give you lots of flexibility in editing. You can zoom in and reframe your shots and virtually get a few different options with one video clip!  

Locate your recording options

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iPhone video and recording settings are found through the main settings menu

Choosing focus

Popular settings

Automatic Touch a subject anywhere in the frame to select your focus point. Hold it down to lock focus in place.

Multi Select this option when there are multiple people or subjects in the shot. 

Manual Adjust the onscreen focus wheel until you see green fringing around the subject you want in focus.

Looking for nice background blur? Place your subject with lots of separation from the background, and record in good lighting conditions. Make sure your focus is locked on your subjects face/eyes.

Focus wheel

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Choosing Aspect Ratio

Popular settings

16:9 (landscape) for long form corporate videos, website videos and YouTube.

9:16 (portrait) for short form Stories, Reels and YouTube Shorts

1:1 (square) for social media posts and ads, also work nicely on websites optimized for mobile.

16:9 vs 9:16 - Be mindful of your choice because they can lock you in to a specific format for your final video. If you're stuck, you can crop your video file to 1:1 and add graphic to either the sides or top and bottom.

 

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Choosing Microphone type

Popular settings

Phone - Defaults to internal microphone

USB - Will automatically recognize a USB connected microphone.

BT - Will recognize a Bluetooth connected microphone.

BT Mix - Bluetooth connected mixed with internal microphone Get background audio and interview audio at the same time.

For smartphones that have multiple microphones:

Omni directional picks up sound from everywhere, great if you're capturing background noise.

Front and for capturing sound from the screen side of the smartphone (person holding the phone).

Rear for capturing sound from a subject facing the back side of your smartphone.

Smartphones have "stereo" sound, meaning a left channel and a right channel, which you can monitor onscreen. It's hard to pinpoint audio levels by viewing, so it's always best to record test clips to ensure you are hearing your subject clearly. 

 

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Audio levels

Microphone direction

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Press and hold on your subject to lock in AutoFocus and AutoExposure. This way your camera won't "hunt" for focus and exposure if light is changing. Works the same in Android and iOS.

Choosing Exposure (ISO, Shutter Speed & Aperture)

Automatic recommended

 

ISO, shutter speed and aperture work together to control the amount of light that hits your sensor and your smartphone does a good job of automatically adjusting them.

If you can tell that the picture is too dark or too bright, on Android you can adjust the EV value up or down to compensate but bumping it too much either way can degrade the quality of the image.

Achieving the right exposure is a complex mix of sensor and lens capabilities, shutter speed and available light. Smartphone technology is better than ever at achieving this automatically.

Choosing White balance

Automatic recommended

In automatic mode, your smartphone will adjust the white balance for you.

 

White balance helps the camera sensor know how to read the colours, in different lighting conditions by measuring light temperature (in Kelvins), using white as the reference. Light temperature that looks warm and glowy like candlelight measures between 1000 - 2000 Kelvin. Light temperature that casts a blue colour like overcast skies and reflective snow measures between 6000 - 8000 Kelvin.

If you are recording indoors there can be multiple light sources (fluorescent bulbs, light from windows) so it can be hard for the camera to detect true white. In editing, if the colours are off, you can "tell" the software what is white. But it's helpful to bring along a piece of white cardstock to hold up before an interview to help you get it right. This is especially important in achieving accurate skin tones. 

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Touch the "i" within any setting in Android Pro Video and you will get a pop-up with a quick reference. However, in this explanation, the reverse is true!

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