by Apple just announced, ‘Cinematic Mode’, their all-new feature that allows users to change the aperture or the depth-of-field post-shooting your video. It also allows you to change the focus, both during and after shooting. This is mind-boggling, especially considering tech like this has never been available until today, not even to the best Hollywood film crews.
If you’re anything like me, you might still be thinking that it just isn’t possible, but if you take a look into how it works, it starts seeming more reasonable than before. The iPhone 13 and 13 Pro models use the stereo disparity(which is just a fancy word that means ‘the difference of similar points in two differently positioned lenses), to create a depth map. The software will later use this depth map to do all the fancy changes you might need(like altering the focus or changing the f-stop) when you edit the clips.
Image Credit: Apple
That’s mostly it for the ‘after shoot’ side on things, but Apple has tried creating artificial algorithms, that will intelligently focus on the subject, to begin with. Also, shifting focus is much easier than you might think it is, all you have to do is tap the object you would like to be focused and viola, there will be a magical shift in the focus.
But this comes to our biggest question. Will this change cinematography as we know it? The answer to this question remains to be discovered, as Apple is yet to release its ‘Cinematic Mode, no comments about its quality can be made. However, the mere fact that a discovery like this is coming to a smartphone blows my mind and if ‘Cinematic Mode’ is anything like apple claims, it might just light that spark for a new era of mobile photography.
