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NLLV

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 16, 2020
200
272
No one seems to mention this but I make videos for a living so let this be a word of caution.

Cinematic video is an absolute BREAKTHROUGH for creators.

The tech is amazing but it stops being amazing when you want to actually work with the video outside of the native photos and camera app.

1. Using in other apps.

I have a subscription to an app that won’t even recognize these video files. I mean it sees them but won’t import them at all.

Other apps need to flatten and convert the video on the fly when you want to use them.

Some apps are fast and others slow. Like waiting twenty minutes for Facebook to work with a file slow.

2. Exporting to a Mac

This is the biggest joke of of them all.

If you want to export the file and retain the cinematic mode, you need to do one of two things:

a) use airdrop. This requires you to wait for the file to process before the transfer starts.

That means if your phone goes to sleep and you wait it you’re kicked out of the “processing” screen back to the Home Screen.

You can go back into photos and start again and the file will quickly catch up to where it was (the process of converting the export didn’t STOP) and you will still wait.

I’ve waited twenty minutes for a ten minute file to export. That’s before actual air drop starts.

So ten minutes of video takes twenty minutes and I want to shoot a total of an hour. That’s 2 hours to process and export video. No kidding.

b) Use the photos app

When you plug the phone into the computer it might tell you that some cinematic videos need to be processed.

They don’t appear in the photos app until you do the processing ON THE PHONE.

So we’re back to the previous step where we are waiting for a shareable version to be processed on the device.

This seems to be happening because there is extra data in the files so Final Cut Pro can edit them.

So here’s what I have done.

Use LumaFusion.

This is relatively fast at processing the Fidel into a flat format with the blurred background.

It also exports a much smaller file size and then I can share that to the mac via airdrop without the phone processing things.

It’s a shame apple has created this issue. I hope they fix it.
 

jr866gooner

macrumors 68020
Aug 24, 2013
2,169
891
No one seems to mention this but I make videos for a living so let this be a word of caution.

Cinematic video is an absolute BREAKTHROUGH for creators.

The tech is amazing but it stops being amazing when you want to actually work with the video outside of the native photos and camera app.

1. Using in other apps.

I have a subscription to an app that won’t even recognize these video files. I mean it sees them but won’t import them at all.

Other apps need to flatten and convert the video on the fly when you want to use them.

Some apps are fast and others slow. Like waiting twenty minutes for Facebook to work with a file slow.

2. Exporting to a Mac

This is the biggest joke of of them all.

If you want to export the file and retain the cinematic mode, you need to do one of two things:

a) use airdrop. This requires you to wait for the file to process before the transfer starts.

That means if your phone goes to sleep and you wait it you’re kicked out of the “processing” screen back to the Home Screen.

You can go back into photos and start again and the file will quickly catch up to where it was (the process of converting the export didn’t STOP) and you will still wait.

I’ve waited twenty minutes for a ten minute file to export. That’s before actual air drop starts.

So ten minutes of video takes twenty minutes and I want to shoot a total of an hour. That’s 2 hours to process and export video. No kidding.

b) Use the photos app

When you plug the phone into the computer it might tell you that some cinematic videos need to be processed.

They don’t appear in the photos app until you do the processing ON THE PHONE.

So we’re back to the previous step where we are waiting for a shareable version to be processed on the device.

This seems to be happening because there is extra data in the files so Final Cut Pro can edit them.

So here’s what I have done.

Use LumaFusion.

This is relatively fast at processing the Fidel into a flat format with the blurred background.

It also exports a much smaller file size and then I can share that to the mac via airdrop without the phone processing things.

It’s a shame apple has created this issue. I hope they fix it.

It doesn't end there, this is what Apple do. They made it work fully within their own eco system, smart thinking but also frustrating at times lol.

Don't get me wrong, they do both hardware and software good. I'm not knocking that. But in my example I have an iPhone 12, my wife an iPhone 8, I quite often want to get a great picture of our family so I choose portrait mode. I airdrop the picture to my wife- it's normal! No fancy bokeh effect or anything!! So it seems just because the iPhone 8 is single lense and can't take the pictures in portrait it also can't view them... why?? I'm confused as to why it cannot simply view a portrait mode picture despite being unable to take one.

Haven't tried saving the image in Snapseed as a new image and sending I must say...
 

TwoBytes

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2008
3,100
2,041
I still haven't found a way to get Cinematic videos looking normal in Premiere.
Final cut you have to add the HRD filter and turn on the HLG filter
Premiere is a mess of menus and options all without an answer for me. (interested to see if anyone is working in Premiere and found a fix yet).
 

NLLV

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 16, 2020
200
272
I still haven't found a way to get Cinematic videos looking normal in Premiere.
Final cut you have to add the HRD filter and turn on the HLG filter
Premiere is a mess of menus and options all without an answer for me. (interested to see if anyone is working in Premiere and found a fix yet).
I have not tried premiere pro, since the last time I used it on my MacBook Pro (its the M1 Pro) it took over an HOUR to export a video that was ten minutes in length.

I am not hugely bullish on Adobe ever working well, and after learning Final Cut I am happy with its interface and workflow and the magnetic timeline.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,155
It doesn't end there, this is what Apple do. They made it work fully within their own eco system, smart thinking but also frustrating at times lol.

Don't get me wrong, they do both hardware and software good. I'm not knocking that. But in my example I have an iPhone 12, my wife an iPhone 8, I quite often want to get a great picture of our family so I choose portrait mode. I airdrop the picture to my wife- it's normal! No fancy bokeh effect or anything!! So it seems just because the iPhone 8 is single lense and can't take the pictures in portrait it also can't view them... why?? I'm confused as to why it cannot simply view a portrait mode picture despite being unable to take one.

Haven't tried saving the image in Snapseed as a new image and sending I must say...

Funny you bring this up, I just spent the last 2 hours testing and finally replicating the issue. Keep in mind that the "portrait" part of the photo basically an edit, as you saw on your wifes phone the original photo was there. I will say if you see that happen, just try again because personally I had a tough time replacing the issue but now I can replicate it in a moment.

I did the below by AirDropping and Messaging myself.

Take any portrait photo from photos. Open the share window, click on options at the top of the share window, select to share 'all photo data'. Close that window and share it using AirDrop. Then close the AirDrop tab and while you are still in the share windows share the same photo with message. As soon as it pops up in messages you can see the portrait data isn't there. If you send it it will send the photo unmodified without its portrait data however the image will still say its a "portrait".

This is where it gets weird from me because I'm sending these to myself. If I move the portrait that is lacking the portrait data into photos (keep in mind there is a copy already in there) it will sometimes sync up and the portrait data will come back (its still not in messages though obviously).

Soooo weird. Maybe I should make a video and send it to Apple. Anyway like I said, if you see that happen, have the person delete, close the photos app, and then try again. It SHOULD work because its easier to send a portrait correctly then it is to get it to mess up.
 
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Reactions: jr866gooner

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,155
No one seems to mention this but I make videos for a living so let this be a word of caution.

Cinematic video is an absolute BREAKTHROUGH for creators.

The tech is amazing but it stops being amazing when you want to actually work with the video outside of the native photos and camera app.

1. Using in other apps.

I have a subscription to an app that won’t even recognize these video files. I mean it sees them but won’t import them at all.

Other apps need to flatten and convert the video on the fly when you want to use them.

Some apps are fast and others slow. Like waiting twenty minutes for Facebook to work with a file slow.

2. Exporting to a Mac

This is the biggest joke of of them all.

If you want to export the file and retain the cinematic mode, you need to do one of two things:

a) use airdrop. This requires you to wait for the file to process before the transfer starts.

That means if your phone goes to sleep and you wait it you’re kicked out of the “processing” screen back to the Home Screen.

You can go back into photos and start again and the file will quickly catch up to where it was (the process of converting the export didn’t STOP) and you will still wait.

I’ve waited twenty minutes for a ten minute file to export. That’s before actual air drop starts.

So ten minutes of video takes twenty minutes and I want to shoot a total of an hour. That’s 2 hours to process and export video. No kidding.

b) Use the photos app

When you plug the phone into the computer it might tell you that some cinematic videos need to be processed.

They don’t appear in the photos app until you do the processing ON THE PHONE.

So we’re back to the previous step where we are waiting for a shareable version to be processed on the device.

This seems to be happening because there is extra data in the files so Final Cut Pro can edit them.

So here’s what I have done.

Use LumaFusion.

This is relatively fast at processing the Fidel into a flat format with the blurred background.

It also exports a much smaller file size and then I can share that to the mac via airdrop without the phone processing things.

It’s a shame apple has created this issue. I hope they fix it.

Well what is the info on the video you captured. Resolution, bit depth, frame rate, bitrate, overall file size, etc....

To me it seems like you are potentially suggesting you could capture in RAW, do your editing, add a depth of field effect to all 18,000 frames (30fps@10min), color grade the video for Dolby Vision and export in a HEVC file using a Dolby Vision Profile in less than 2 hours....Maybe I'm misinterpreting something but that is why no one seems to be mentioning it.

15 frames per 1 second is decent on a PC built for video rendering at very high quality more or less depending on hardware and project. Rough math has your iPhone doing it at 20 frames per 1 second...Maybe you are capturing in 1080p/30fps h264 SDR and in that case I would consider that slow for a computer. If you are using HDR and faux depth of field the entire time I almost find it hard to believe a phone can do that. The computer I'm using at the moment can even play that of course its a bit of a relic.

Encoding programs rely on the power of the hardware they are using. They are all using the same codec and profiles so the device or player they are played on can decode the file to play it. Meaning if one is faster than another its coming at the expense of quality. Well you said it yourself, it was fast (so the compression is less complex) and the file was smaller (so a significant amount of video data was lost overall reduction in the bitrate).
 

VeryLazyLewis

macrumors newbie
Mar 15, 2023
1
0
No one seems to mention this but I make videos for a living so let this be a word of caution.

Cinematic video is an absolute BREAKTHROUGH for creators.

The tech is amazing but it stops being amazing when you want to actually work with the video outside of the native photos and camera app.

So I found a free workaround as LumaFusion costs.

I found your post like 2 hours ago because I've been having the same issue and absolutely pulling my hair out - I even contacted Apple. Dead end.

Adobe Premier Rush is Free on iOS. I imported the video and exported as MP4. Then I cable transferred.

Worked like a charm.

I will do more testing later as I'm on a train. But I think, albeit annoying, a solid fix without cost.
 

Unami

macrumors 65816
Jul 27, 2010
1,366
1,570
Austria
I don‘t have an iPhone with cinematic mode, but can‘t you just import it directly into FCPX via a cable without going through the photos app? (e.g. close the photos app, if it opens when plugging in the phone). That’s how I’d expect it to work and apple also seems to suggest it in their support document. https://support.apple.com/guide/final-cut-pro/import-cinematic-mode-clips-verb4a073010/mac

Or does it still do the rendering on the phone then?
 
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