Lost in the negative press coverage of the iPhone 4’s “AntennaGate” and “People-TrackGate” is the fact that the device sports a class of HD camera lens on par with the impressive but stand-alone HD video devices from Flip and Kodak.
- HD Video shot on iPhone 4 is now accepted in Candidio service
As a longtime still-camera snob, I was taught from an early age that the size of the lens makes all the difference in image quality; the bigger the better. So when I saw the microscopic size of the lenses on the Flip, iPhone and other Smartphones – I scoffed. The problem with scoffing is that while you’re out feeling all superior and what not — you might be missing out. I realized this when I saw some of the footage 12 Stars’ Candidio captured. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of ludicrously good stuff and 12 Stars is now accepting HD video shot on the iPhone 4 to their Candidio service.
Let’s consider where we were just 5 years ago. Modest 30-inch HD TVs were $2000 and clunky HD video cameras cost more than $1000. TV stations were buying $25,000 industrial-strength HD cameras to capture the news but to also shoot remotes of the weatherman at the new donut shop.
Video engineers behind the iPhone HD cams figured out how to get good looking stuff through a tiny lens. But the real reason HD-in-your-pocket is a game changer is that the person BEHIND the lens is thinking differently, and is a different person. Maybe they are a CEO, a journalist, Marketing Director or Administrative Assistant? Any of these people are going to bring different talents, convictions . . . and footage.
The Candidio service provides an umbrella of creativity that removes the barriers of equipment access and the formality of a traditional video shoot. It’s not about capturing a broadcast studio look in a small package – it’s about capturing life outside the studio – authenticity as it happens – in the car, at a restaurant or in a hospital.
Holding a camera in your hand at a table while someone describes how to lead a company through a tough economy, is far more intimate than what one would capture after slinging a big camera on a tripod in a studio miles away. It is literally right here right now – Candidio removes the apprehension of non-experts and brings filmmaking to the masses. Without the distractions of the unfamiliar, the photographer thinks differently and asks new questions.
The iPhone 4 and other Smartphones are devouring the still-popular stand-alone devices. Cisco, Flip’s Parent Company is winding down production. Why? HD in the Flips are now on a device that also stores your ’80s music collection, the best three Star Wars movies, and 1000 images of your toddler smearing birthday cake on his face.
If you want to learn more, check out 12 Stars’ online video editing service. Heck, just by going to the site you’re halfway there!
