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Cast your mind back a few months to July 2024, the days were long and the sunshine was beautiful. I was very fortunate to have been invited to the annual Tramlines music festival in Sheffield. This was the first time that I had been to a "proper" music festival. Don't get me wrong, I've been to plenty of gigs in my time, but I had never quite savoured the delights of a true outdoor summer music event over 3 days.

By this time, I had my Fuji XH2s for a few months and I was keen to bring it along to document the weekend. Just one problem though, I had left it far too late to get press accreditation in order to be allowed to bring my camera.

On the night before I was due to attend, I had a bit of a panic on, as I didn't want to miss this fantastic opportunity to take some photos and videos of what promised to be a trendy 3 days, mingling with fellow punters and musicians. Then I had a brain wave. Why don't I use my iPhone 15 Pro? After all, it could record in Pro Res Apple Log, and hooked up with my external Samsung hard drive, I could get oodles of footage, especially high frame rate shots in 60 FPS.

So that's exactly what I did....over the course of two days I got as much photo and video material as I could while also trying to enjoy the moment. An external hard drive is a must (combined with a high speed data transfer cable) if you want to use your iPhone to get pro grade footage. I love shooting in 60 FPS and then slowing down the footage to 24 FPS to get the buttery smooth content.

I took the process one step further, in that I used Dehancer, the film emulation plugin to help edit the footage in Final Cut Pro. I wanted a bit of a vintage look to the footage to give it that "hippy" look. Unfortunately, I only had a 2019 21.5 inch Intel i9 iMac at the time which was hopelessly underpowered to handle the plugin (even my current M2 Max Mac Studio struggles at times with it). Nevertheless, the footage came out OK, to say that I'm not really a professional colour grader or colourist.

It's really incredible what can be captured by an iPhone these days, especially now that we can shot in a Log profile, it really does open up a world of possibilities. Now will an iPhone replace my Fuji XH2s anytime soon? Nope. Not a chance. As good as iPhones are, they are no match for the X-Trans CMOS sensor in my Fuji. Combined with the incredible lenses and film simulations and F-LOG2, the Fuji win hands down. Each and every time.

So next time, you're in a pinch for camera equipment, just remember that the iPhone in your pocket is better than you think in a lot of areas. Just don't sell your mirrorless camera for one though.

Until next time......