iPhone 8/Plus Let's talk 4k 60fps on the iPhone 8 Plus

[Travisimo]

Can someone help me with exporting?

iPhone 8+, shot in 4k 60fps. I'm trying to get everything to my MBP (high sierra) as fast as possible because I need to get these clips uploaded to youtube.

I changed the settings in photos to transmit originals as stated above, but when I go into the photos app, the video library, and select all my videos, and then go to airdrop... it goes "WAITING" and then "CONVERTING."

I then cancel it, because I was under the impression if I said keep originals it would just send it over as is.

Is there any other way to get these videos to my MBP? Am I doing something wrong?

Wait, are you trying to transfer your media from the phone to your Mac via Airdrop? Or are you plugging your phone in and using the Photos app to do the actual importing? Airdrop will convert them, but importing via Photos or the Image Capture app on your Mac should import them as originals.

 

[peck1234]

I wonder if any future software update will add electronic image stabilization to 4K 60fps. : (
Or if it’s just strictly a hardware limitation

 

[Bel3Bel]

Interesting about EIS using Moviepro. I have been shooting 4k @60fps with the stock camera app, and importing to my puter and using FCPX to stabilize. It works great, naturally. BUT, I would much rather just using EIS on my phone and edit with iMovie on IOS and export to Youtube for simplicity sake. Mostly I take kiddo movies and I'd rather not have to take the time editing with FCPX. I'll give Moviepro a whirl. Weird with the A11 Bionic that Apple doesn't enable EIS for 4k footage. Stupid if you ask me..
[doublepost=1509645223][/doublepost]I'm not able to enable 4k 60 FPS using MoviePro. It keeps reverting to 1080. I can only shoot 4k @ 30FPS... I have an iPhone 8+

[doublepost=1512914091][/doublepost]Yes, indeed I have the same problem too now..I already got in contact with MoviePro about it. Not very stable sadly.

 

[tonybarnaby]

Excellent thread!

 

[RicardoAlbuCardoso]

I normally use the mavis app to record highest quality video (it's like filmic pro). The "pro" recording apps seem to have difficulties to record smooth 4k 60fps for now. The videos are stuttering and showing 48fps instead of 60fps.

The problem with the 48fps is that actually some frames got dropped, apparently the apps try to record at 60 but some frames get dropped.

Then you open in Quicktime and you got the 48fps, but if you open on fcp or compressor they think it's 60 so they fill the missing ones with repeated frames.

On premiere: reads as 60 fps but ignores the repetition and you end up with a shorter time video...

 

[jav6454]

Great breakdown. I still record 1080p@60fps. Sure 4K would be nice, but I don't have the capacity to work and edit 4K video on my Mac without burning a hole in my table.

It's an old Mac.

 

[xaanaax]

Does anyone know if that’s the case with iPhone X too?

 

[cynics]

Does anyone know if that’s the case with iPhone X too?

Specifically?

For the most part yes.

 

[xaanaax]

Specifically?

For the most part yes.

I meant if the EIS is disabled at 4k 60fps video in iPhone X as well? And if the video bitrate is the same in iPhone X as in 8 Plus?

 

[kenfcarver]

One of the most significant upgrades on the iPhone 8 Plus is the addition of 4K video recording at 60 fps. This was something I was really looking forward to because I started shooting 4K with the release of the iPhone 7 Plus last year, but I also felt the trade-off between 1080p/60 and 4k/30 was a difficult one. This year, the trade-off is no longer a matter of frame-rate.

I do not wish to debate the merits of 4K video recording itself, because that's a personal choice one has to make depending on their own use case. What I want to do is obsess over the details of the 4K 60 fps shooting mode in particular, making some comments and asking some questions.

ENABLING 4K/60: First of all, Apple does not make this mode obvious, probably because the majority of iPhone users will never use it. To enable it, you need to go into Settings / Camera / Formats and turn on "High Efficiency" mode (which switches the encoding from H.264 to H.265 HEVC). Once you change that, then you can go to the Record Video setting and change it to 4K at 60 fps. When you go back into the camera, you'll see the 4K 60 label when changing to video mode.

LIMITATIONS:

1) Switching Lenses - You cannot switch between the wide and zoom lenses during video recording in 4K 60. So if you start recording with the wide lens and try to zoom in, it will be digital zoom only. If you want to record video with the tele lens, you need to switch to 2x before recording. Just something to be aware of.

2) OIS only - no EIS - Though Optical Image Stabilization continues to work when shooting 4K 60, there is no "cinematic stabilization", which is electronic stabilization that makes recording even more smooth than OIS (though it also can introduce artifacts). So you'll notice that 4K 60 is not as stable as other recording modes, but it will still be decently stable with OIS only.

3) Storage requirements - Shooting in 4K uses a LOT of storage space, but using the "High Efficiency" setting will ease that a bit. You actually cannot shoot in 4K 60 without this turned on, but you can leave it off it you shoot in 4K 30 or lower (though you won't get the saved storage space from the more efficient HEVC codec).

4) HEVC compatibility - If you shoot in 4K 60 (or High Efficiency turned on in other modes), be aware that there's a couple of different ways to deal with compatibility when exporting footage to apps and computers. If you go to Settings / Photos, you'll see a choice between "Automatic" and "Keep Originals" under Transfer to Mac or PC. It is my understanding that if you leave it on Automatic, Apple will try to determine whether your destination device supports H.265 HEVC. If it does, it will keep the videos in that format, but if it does not, it will automatically reencode to H.264, which will use a lot more storage space.

I have tested this a bit on my iMac running the High Sierra update. If I transfer the video to my iMac using Airdrop, it seems to convert to H.264 no matter what. If I transfer using the Image Capture app or the Photos app, it retains the HEVC format.

QUESTIONS:

1) Bitrate - I'm trying to figure out the bitrates for 4K 60 recording. It appears to me that when it records in HEVC, it uses a bitrate of around 55mbps. If you record (or if it transcodes) to H.264, then it seems the bitrate is 100+mbps. I'm not well-versed in HEVC, but I believe that 55mbps for HEVC would be considered a very good bitrate, especially given that HEVC doesn't need as high of a bitrate since it is more efficient in compressing. Is that a good understanding?

2) Recording time - I haven't been able to test this fully yet, but there doesn't appear to be a limit to recording time when shooting 4K 60. Is that true? If so, that's a pretty remarkable feat, given that most Android phones (and even a lot of dedicated cameras) have recording time limitations of 10 minutes of less just when shooting 4K 30, let alone 4K 60.

3) iMovie on Mac - I literally just updated iMovie on my iMac running High Sierra and it says it now supports HEVC. Has anyone tried to do any editing of 4K 60 fps footage yet? Is it significantly more intensive than 4K 30? Are you able to export the video at 4K 60 or does it limited to 4K 30 when exporting?

What kind of experiences have you guys had shooting 4K 60 on your new iPhone? Personally, I am thrilled with it, despite the limitations. I will be using it as my default shooting mode, especially when there's subjects in motion, or when I plan to do quite a bit of panning.

Thank you for your time.

[doublepost=1533824365][/doublepost]

One of the most significant upgrades on the iPhone 8 Plus is the addition of 4K video recording at 60 fps. This was something I was really looking forward to because I started shooting 4K with the release of the iPhone 7 Plus last year, but I also felt the trade-off between 1080p/60 and 4k/30 was a difficult one. This year, the trade-off is no longer a matter of frame-rate.

I do not wish to debate the merits of 4K video recording itself, because that's a personal choice one has to make depending on their own use case. What I want to do is obsess over the details of the 4K 60 fps shooting mode in particular, making some comments and asking some questions.

ENABLING 4K/60: First of all, Apple does not make this mode obvious, probably because the majority of iPhone users will never use it. To enable it, you need to go into Settings / Camera / Formats and turn on "High Efficiency" mode (which switches the encoding from H.264 to H.265 HEVC). Once you change that, then you can go to the Record Video setting and change it to 4K at 60 fps. When you go back into the camera, you'll see the 4K 60 label when changing to video mode.

LIMITATIONS:

1) Switching Lenses - You cannot switch between the wide and zoom lenses during video recording in 4K 60. So if you start recording with the wide lens and try to zoom in, it will be digital zoom only. If you want to record video with the tele lens, you need to switch to 2x before recording. Just something to be aware of.

2) OIS only - no EIS - Though Optical Image Stabilization continues to work when shooting 4K 60, there is no "cinematic stabilization", which is electronic stabilization that makes recording even more smooth than OIS (though it also can introduce artifacts). So you'll notice that 4K 60 is not as stable as other recording modes, but it will still be decently stable with OIS only.

3) Storage requirements - Shooting in 4K uses a LOT of storage space, but using the "High Efficiency" setting will ease that a bit. You actually cannot shoot in 4K 60 without this turned on, but you can leave it off it you shoot in 4K 30 or lower (though you won't get the saved storage space from the more efficient HEVC codec).

4) HEVC compatibility - If you shoot in 4K 60 (or High Efficiency turned on in other modes), be aware that there's a couple of different ways to deal with compatibility when exporting footage to apps and computers. If you go to Settings / Photos, you'll see a choice between "Automatic" and "Keep Originals" under Transfer to Mac or PC. It is my understanding that if you leave it on Automatic, Apple will try to determine whether your destination device supports H.265 HEVC. If it does, it will keep the videos in that format, but if it does not, it will automatically reencode to H.264, which will use a lot more storage space.

I have tested this a bit on my iMac running the High Sierra update. If I transfer the video to my iMac using Airdrop, it seems to convert to H.264 no matter what. If I transfer using the Image Capture app or the Photos app, it retains the HEVC format.

QUESTIONS:

1) Bitrate - I'm trying to figure out the bitrates for 4K 60 recording. It appears to me that when it records in HEVC, it uses a bitrate of around 55mbps. If you record (or if it transcodes) to H.264, then it seems the bitrate is 100+mbps. I'm not well-versed in HEVC, but I believe that 55mbps for HEVC would be considered a very good bitrate, especially given that HEVC doesn't need as high of a bitrate since it is more efficient in compressing. Is that a good understanding?

2) Recording time - I haven't been able to test this fully yet, but there doesn't appear to be a limit to recording time when shooting 4K 60. Is that true? If so, that's a pretty remarkable feat, given that most Android phones (and even a lot of dedicated cameras) have recording time limitations of 10 minutes of less just when shooting 4K 30, let alone 4K 60.

3) iMovie on Mac - I literally just updated iMovie on my iMac running High Sierra and it says it now supports HEVC. Has anyone tried to do any editing of 4K 60 fps footage yet? Is it significantly more intensive than 4K 30? Are you able to export the video at 4K 60 or does it limited to 4K 30 when exporting?

What kind of experiences have you guys had shooting 4K 60 on your new iPhone? Personally, I am thrilled with it, despite the limitations. I will be using it as my default shooting mode, especially when there's subjects in motion, or when I plan to do quite a bit of panning.

Thank you for your time.

[doublepost=1533824506][/doublepost]With Mavis software you can chage the bit rate and you can also switch cameras by double taping the screen during filming in 4k 60

 

[lucy12187]

One of the most significant upgrades on the iPhone 8 Plus is the addition of 4K video recording at 60 fps. This was something I was really looking forward to because I started shooting 4K with the release of the iPhone 7 Plus last year, but I also felt the trade-off between 1080p/60 and 4k/30 was a difficult one. This year, the trade-off is no longer a matter of frame-rate.

I do not wish to debate the merits of 4K video recording itself, because that's a personal choice one has to make depending on their own use case. What I want to do is obsess over the details of the 4K 60 fps shooting mode in particular, making some comments and asking some questions.

ENABLING 4K/60: First of all, Apple does not make this mode obvious, probably because the majority of iPhone users will never use it. To enable it, you need to go into Settings / Camera / Formats and turn on "High Efficiency" mode (which switches the encoding from H.264 to H.265 HEVC). Once you change that, then you can go to the Record Video setting and change it to 4K at 60 fps. When you go back into the camera, you'll see the 4K 60 label when changing to video mode.

LIMITATIONS:

1) Switching Lenses - You cannot switch between the wide and zoom lenses during video recording in 4K 60. So if you start recording with the wide lens and try to zoom in, it will be digital zoom only. If you want to record video with the tele lens, you need to switch to 2x before recording. Just something to be aware of.

2) OIS only - no EIS - Though Optical Image Stabilization continues to work when shooting 4K 60, there is no "cinematic stabilization", which is electronic stabilization that makes recording even more smooth than OIS (though it also can introduce artifacts). So you'll notice that 4K 60 is not as stable as other recording modes, but it will still be decently stable with OIS only.

3) Storage requirements - Shooting in 4K uses a LOT of storage space, but using the "High Efficiency" setting will ease that a bit. You actually cannot shoot in 4K 60 without this turned on, but you can leave it off it you shoot in 4K 30 or lower (though you won't get the saved storage space from the more efficient HEVC codec).

4) HEVC compatibility - If you shoot in 4K 60 (or High Efficiency turned on in other modes), be aware that there's a couple of different ways to deal with compatibility when exporting footage to apps and computers. If you go to Settings / Photos, you'll see a choice between "Automatic" and "Keep Originals" under Transfer to Mac or PC. It is my understanding that if you leave it on Automatic, Apple will try to determine whether your destination device supports H.265 HEVC. If it does, it will keep the videos in that format, but if it does not, it will automatically reencode to H.264, which will use a lot more storage space.

I have tested this a bit on my iMac running the High Sierra update. If I transfer the video to my iMac using Airdrop, it seems to convert to H.264 no matter what. If I transfer using the Image Capture app or the Photos app, it retains the HEVC format.

QUESTIONS:

1) Bitrate - I'm trying to figure out the bitrates for 4K 60 recording. It appears to me that when it records in HEVC, it uses a bitrate of around 55mbps. If you record (or if it transcodes) to H.264, then it seems the bitrate is 100+mbps. I'm not well-versed in HEVC, but I believe that 55mbps for HEVC would be considered a very good bitrate, especially given that HEVC doesn't need as high of a bitrate since it is more efficient in compressing. Is that a good understanding?

2) Recording time - I haven't been able to test this fully yet, but there doesn't appear to be a limit to recording time when shooting 4K 60. Is that true? If so, that's a pretty remarkable feat, given that most Android phones (and even a lot of dedicated cameras) have recording time limitations of 10 minutes of less just when shooting 4K 30, let alone 4K 60.

3) iMovie on Mac - I literally just updated iMovie on my iMac running High Sierra and it says it now supports HEVC. Has anyone tried to do any editing of 4K 60 fps footage yet? Is it significantly more intensive than 4K 30? Are you able to export the video at 4K 60 or does it limited to 4K 30 when exporting?

What kind of experiences have you guys had shooting 4K 60 on your new iPhone? Personally, I am thrilled with it, despite the limitations. I will be using it as my default shooting mode, especially when there's subjects in motion, or when I plan to do quite a bit of panning.

Thank you for your time.

[doublepost=1561294968][/doublepost]I realize this OP is a couple of years old. This weekend with my iPhone 8+ I wanted to use it to record some selections from concerts I would be attending. I've been recording with 4p 60 fps. Maybe a time or 2 before I had this issue, but forgot about it. I was up close to the musicians... a couple feet away. I pushed record and it recorded a few seconds and just stopped.... i kept thinking maybe it really was recording even though the seconds weren't ticking by, so i kept holding it like it was recording - wishful thinking. It would start back and stop. Finally i stopped the recording and and tried again. several times. Then just gave up. The other things I recorded that evening were fine, although i was several feet away - 8 or so. I searched and searched on google for what could cause this. The composer of the piece said after the show 'i was up too close' and i though surely not. It worked fine for several other concerts during the festival.

So last night I was all set to record this really loud pipe organ piece. It did the same thing. Even though I have plenty of space on my iphone, I went in and changed the setting to 4p 30 fps. And it recorded.
The next piece I put it back to the 60 fps and the same thing happened. So I just put it back to the 60 for the rest of the evening.

I keep my phone updated. it has plenty of space for large files.
Is this a bug?
Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening?

 

[Elitegate]

One of the most significant upgrades on the iPhone 8 Plus is the addition of 4K video recording at 60 fps. This was something I was really looking forward to because I started shooting 4K with the release of the iPhone 7 Plus last year, but I also felt the trade-off between 1080p/60 and 4k/30 was a difficult one. This year, the trade-off is no longer a matter of frame-rate.

I do not wish to debate the merits of 4K video recording itself, because that's a personal choice one has to make depending on their own use case. What I want to do is obsess over the details of the 4K 60 fps shooting mode in particular, making some comments and asking some questions.

ENABLING 4K/60: First of all, Apple does not make this mode obvious, probably because the majority of iPhone users will never use it. To enable it, you need to go into Settings / Camera / Formats and turn on "High Efficiency" mode (which switches the encoding from H.264 to H.265 HEVC). Once you change that, then you can go to the Record Video setting and change it to 4K at 60 fps. When you go back into the camera, you'll see the 4K 60 label when changing to video mode.

LIMITATIONS:

1) Switching Lenses - You cannot switch between the wide and zoom lenses during video recording in 4K 60. So if you start recording with the wide lens and try to zoom in, it will be digital zoom only. If you want to record video with the tele lens, you need to switch to 2x before recording. Just something to be aware of.

2) OIS only - no EIS - Though Optical Image Stabilization continues to work when shooting 4K 60, there is no "cinematic stabilization", which is electronic stabilization that makes recording even more smooth than OIS (though it also can introduce artifacts). So you'll notice that 4K 60 is not as stable as other recording modes, but it will still be decently stable with OIS only.

3) Storage requirements - Shooting in 4K uses a LOT of storage space, but using the "High Efficiency" setting will ease that a bit. You actually cannot shoot in 4K 60 without this turned on, but you can leave it off it you shoot in 4K 30 or lower (though you won't get the saved storage space from the more efficient HEVC codec).

4) HEVC compatibility - If you shoot in 4K 60 (or High Efficiency turned on in other modes), be aware that there's a couple of different ways to deal with compatibility when exporting footage to apps and computers. If you go to Settings / Photos, you'll see a choice between "Automatic" and "Keep Originals" under Transfer to Mac or PC. It is my understanding that if you leave it on Automatic, Apple will try to determine whether your destination device supports H.265 HEVC. If it does, it will keep the videos in that format, but if it does not, it will automatically reencode to H.264, which will use a lot more storage space.

I have tested this a bit on my iMac running the High Sierra update. If I transfer the video to my iMac using Airdrop, it seems to convert to H.264 no matter what. If I transfer using the Image Capture app or the Photos app, it retains the HEVC format.

QUESTIONS:

1) Bitrate - I'm trying to figure out the bitrates for 4K 60 recording. It appears to me that when it records in HEVC, it uses a bitrate of around 55mbps. If you record (or if it transcodes) to H.264, then it seems the bitrate is 100+mbps. I'm not well-versed in HEVC, but I believe that 55mbps for HEVC would be considered a very good bitrate, especially given that HEVC doesn't need as high of a bitrate since it is more efficient in compressing. Is that a good understanding?

2) Recording time - I haven't been able to test this fully yet, but there doesn't appear to be a limit to recording time when shooting 4K 60. Is that true? If so, that's a pretty remarkable feat, given that most Android phones (and even a lot of dedicated cameras) have recording time limitations of 10 minutes of less just when shooting 4K 30, let alone 4K 60.

3) iMovie on Mac - I literally just updated iMovie on my iMac running High Sierra and it says it now supports HEVC. Has anyone tried to do any editing of 4K 60 fps footage yet? Is it significantly more intensive than 4K 30? Are you able to export the video at 4K 60 or does it limited to 4K 30 when exporting?

What kind of experiences have you guys had shooting 4K 60 on your new iPhone? Personally, I am thrilled with it, despite the limitations. I will be using it as my default shooting mode, especially when there's subjects in motion, or when I plan to do quite a bit of panning.

Thank you for your time.

Learned a lot, thank you. I love to shoot with 4K 60 but man that filesize...