ProRes On iPhone 13 Pro Max // Am I Doing Something Wrong? 

ProRes is like ProRAW for video. It gives you more flexibility and control in editing, the ability to recover shadows etc. However, Apple’s H.265 compression isn’t that bad - for a compressed format, it does exceptionally well in these regards. So at the end, the differences are marginal. But the other major reason for the existence of ProRES is that it runs well on lesser-specced computers. See - compression and decompression are very complex computational tasks that are heavy on the CPU. And the more advanced the compression format is, the harder it gets for the CPU… Modern computers come with sophisticated Hardware accelerators that are built specifically to be more efficient in compressing and decompressing specific video format, to do the heavy lifting for the CPU. But if your computer has an older graphics card, these 4K HEVC files produced by the iPhone could mean a frustratingly choppy editing experience… on the other hand the ProRes file will consume much more storage, but will be much easier on the CPU.

Amazing video David, felt like Morpheus explaining the Matrix to Neo. This is the only video I have seen that is this technical about iPhone 13. I will have to watch it few more times to understand it

I also bought 13promax and feel same or worst at first time.I used the app VN before and adobe premiere pro,now I changed to mobile app lumafusion reason is finally I found its the different cause to output pic is depended on the pre setting of the color gamut lumafusion could change 709->Wide gamut HDR premiere also have to change the sequence of the color gamut and see the different movie will not become worst also I color grading so the sutiable lut also is important too.

Im wondering if you were to grade them there would be better dynamic range in pro res.

My understanding is that ProRes is an “intermediate” format: it is specifically for post-production. Whereas H.265 is for distribution, ProRes gives you more flexibility in processing the footage, analogous to raw still photography (although it’s not actually raw). H.265 compresses the entire footage *across* the frames whereas ProRes compresses each frame individually so that you retain more data per frame. This helps in two ways 1) you can do highlight recovery/color grading/post-processing/etc better and 2) video editors can handle processing them easier since it can deal with each frame one by one instead of having to edit a compression that compressed all the frames together I’m just learning about this stuff too but that’s my understanding so far. ProRes is an “intermediate” format (for the above reasons) and H.265 is a distribution format much like a jpg is for sharing and raw is for processing

I'm not the slightest bit interested in ProRes but I love your reviews! Wish we had those sort of autumnal colours here in my part of China!

You said it all at the end. The macro lens is the only difference :) I don’t know if it’s something on my side but the footage between (2:10 / 2:28) and (8:38 / 8:54) looks like it have dropped frames. I can't see smoothness in the panning. * I saw the video on my iPhone 12 Pro Max and I notice the same thing.

I try to take Proraw photos, but I find it hard to edit these in Snapseed and be happy with the results.

RU-vid compression makes it difficult to tell whether I’m truly watching the footage as you’re seeing it on your home monitor. How about dropping some links to a Dropbox or Google drive location where we can download your original footage and look at it on our home screens the way you intended. The same could be done when you’re doing image comparisons (raw/proRes raw…etc) Just a suggestion David. Thanks.

Prores would make sense if it's snowing or misty with rain. You need a lot of movement in the image for prores to make sense. Imagine a parade in Brazil with all those movements and colors. I think the regular recording would look okay but if you pause the video there is a possibility that the bitrate was to low and it got blocky. Prores would handle that without an issue.

It seems that a lot of professional and commercial video is shot in ProRes. Since Apple built the ProRes codecs into the A15 chip (and the derivative M1pro chip), they already had that mode for free on the iPhone 13, so they advertised it. H.265 is fine for home stuff but does a poorer job in capturing rapidly moving high density stuff like fast moving landscape or fences. Since it is almost impossible to get the ProRes files off the iPhone 13, there. is no real reason to use it. I think it is a placeholder for the iPhone 14 with the USB-C high speed port.

I'm happy with my 12 Pro max for the time being. I'll wait until the 14....maybe even the 16. I'm odd enough, I don't need an odd numbered iPhone.

Interesting... my decision not to buy the 13 starting to look wiser 😄

THANKS FOR REAL FAIR REVIEW!!! HATE WHEN OTHER KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT VIDEO/PHOTOGRAPHY AND SAY HOW GOOD SOME CRAPPY NEW APPLE'S GIMMICK IS.

I bought the 13 pro max as the missus wanted my 12 pro max. I mainly use the phone to take pictures of earth moving machinery and so far I have seen zero difference between the two.

You must not be grading your footage and pushing the limits of your files. If you were you would then understand prores. It is simply a less compressed CODEC. Its not going to "look better" but being 422 10 bit and lightly compressed it is WAY easier to color grade...and handles it much better. Even in your video where you say it looks.........worse (4k MAX). Are you nutz? It looked way way better...now yes it needed a color grade but the detail was 100x time better and I am on a 1080p projector in my basement and I could still tell. I think you may be expecting a color style or an out of the box improvement with the prores setting and that aint it. I think its more for the color editor. If you want to shoot something - one and done - the iphone does a great job of getting it right - right out of the box with HEVC. I think I heard you say you shoot 8 bit...if you do... try to push the grading around for a sky and you will see banding right away...it wont hold up. If you want to dive deep and really grade something stylistically or match clips or go for absolute color and grading accuracy...PRORES. Otherwise why would the Ninja recorder, Black Magic cameras and all the other pro equipment even bother with it....its BETTER - for grading. Proxy? I am with you...proxy is a codec you convert footage - to - while editing to "lighten the load" on your computer...thus the name Proxy for proxy mode editing...why anyone would film in that mode is beyond me. They should just take it off. Prores LT is pretty good but really stick with 422 and that should be good enough...HQ is not worth the space - minimal return. Great video and thanks.

8:32 so ProCamera SAVED the iphone!!!!! stok camera uses WAY to slow bitrate, and proCamera ses 50mb/s is what it needs to be done