ProRes Log Video on iPhone: What Is It and Why You Should Use It

Yahoo

01-05-2025

The iPhone 16 Pro packs an incredible camera setup for both still images and for video production -- including its fun 4K slow-motion mode. But to help it capture pro-standard video footage, it also supports shooting in a Log color profile with Apple ProRes encoding, just like the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max did before it. That might sound like a baffling string of jargon (because it is), so in case you're not a professional video producer, what it all really boils down to is that it allows you to shoot professional-looking cinematic video footage using just your iPhone.
But what do the terms Log and ProRes actually mean? How are they better than your phone's regular video? And, crucially, should you actually use them when recording your own videos? Here's everything you should know for getting the best video quality in an iPhone.
Read more: The iPhone 16 Pro's High-Res Slow-Motion Video Is the Best Apple Feature in Years
ProRes is a video codec created by Apple in 2007 that has been widely adopted by video and cinema professionals. Typically found on high-end video cameras costing many thousands of dollars, ProRes files capture more data when shooting, resulting in better quality footage than you'd typically get from a phone or even some dedicated cameras.
Log (short for "logarithmic") is a color profile found on some professional video cameras and which is now also available on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max (along with an increasing number of Android phones, including the Galaxy S25 Ultra). Log footage preserves more image information in the highlights and shadows, allowing for greater flexibility when it comes to editing colors and contrast in post production.
On your iPhone 16 Pro or 15 Pro, go into Settings, then scroll down and tap Camera. Then tap Formats, and within this sub-menu you'll see a section for Video Capture. Toggle Apple ProRes to on and below will be the options for ProRes Encoding. Tapping on it will allow you to switch between HDR, SDR or Log.
Bear in mind that while you can toggle ProRes on or off directly in the Camera app, you have to go back to the Settings app if you want to switch from Log to HDR or vice versa. You can shoot 4K footage at 30 frames per second on the phone, but if you want to shoot at 60 frames per second, you'll need to connect an external SSD drive via USB-C and record directly to that. While you can shoot ProRes footage without Log, you can only shoot Log with ProRes.
Log files straight out of the camera look flat and have low contrast and low saturation. The files are designed to be edited in programs like Adobe Premiere or DaVinci Resolve, where colorists will bring back contrast and color tone according to the look they're trying to achieve, a process called color grading.
Read more: Best iPhone Camera Accessories for Photos and Videos
The low-contrast look of ungraded footage gives colorists the best starting point to tweak the video image however they want. Log footage always needs to be edited and graded before being used.
While Apple has yet to implement specific color editing tools for Log footage on the iPhone (which it should), you can get some of the way there using the exposure tools in the 'Edit' options in the Photos app. However, you'll get your best results by transferring the files to your iPad, Mac or Windows PC and editing in dedicated video production apps.
My favorite is DaVinci Resolve by BlackMagic, which is an industry-standard piece of software used in professional productions and Hollywood films. It's known for its flexibility with editing color, and I loved using it to see what looks I can achieve from video footage from both the iPhone 15 Pro Max and BlackMagic's own Pocket Cinema Camera.
Resolve is available on Macs and PCs but there's also an excellent iPad app version. Best of all, the software is free to use on all platforms, with only some advanced features requiring the paid-for Studio version. But anyone wanting to spice up their footage will find the free version more than capable.
BlackMagic has also launched a color-editing panel designed to be used with the iPad. The Micro Color Panel gives fine grain control over color editing in Resolve and allows you to quickly edit your footage using the same pro hardware used on Hollywood movies.
Apple introduced the ability to shoot with the ProRes codec on the iPhone 12 Pro, but right now only the most recent iPhone 16 Pro, Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max can also shoot in Log.
No, Apple has opened up this feature to third-party apps. My recommendation is the BlackMagic Camera app, which gives the same level of control over settings as you'd find on the company's professional cameras. It's a superb tool for getting the best-looking video out of your phone and, like DaVinci Resolve, it's free.
ProRes footage in Log profile is very specialized. It requires additional time in post production to color grade the footage, and the file sizes are many times larger than regular video files. If you just want to shoot footage of your family gathering or your mates at the beach to upload to Instagram or YouTube, then you don't need to worry about ProRes or Log.
However if you want to use your iPhone 16 Pro as a professional video production tool and you have the time and resources to color grade and edit your footage, then you should absolutely give it a go. The flexibility of recording allows you to get video out of your iPhone that would give dedicated cinema cameras a run for their money, and it makes the iPhone 16 Pro an exceptionally powerful camera for content creators looking to add some professional flair to their videos.
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