Take a look at the following sets of video screenshots. Can you tell which one was taken with iPhone 15 Pro and which one was taken with ARRI ALEXA Mini?
To reveal the answer, the top screenshots of each set are from ARRI ALEXA Mini, and the bottom ones are from iPhone 15 Pro.
As we all know, the difference between an iPhone and an ARRI ALEXA Mini is dozens of BMDs. As for the above screenshots, except for slightly different viewing angles, the rest are quite consistent in terms of texture, color and style, even enough to match in the same movie. How is this done?
Before the iPhone 15 Pro, the imaging channel of Apple phones had unpredictable variables because it used so-called dynamic tone mapping technology, which adjusted the hue of the current scene based on algorithms. The new Apple Log mode of iPhone 15 Pro completely bypasses this algorithm and provides a consistent gamma curve, which makes it possible to accurately apply LUT. In the eyes of many professional film and television workers, Apple’s official LUTs are too “sticky”, oversaturated, and unnatural. So, Australian film and television producers Paul Henri and James Ballard got together and came up with this ONE LUT.
ONE LUT is based on ARRI K1S1 Rec709 LUT, which is ALEXA’s classic 709 mode and can provide realistic and friendly colors, natural skin tones, and is not very offensive. Coupled with Apple Log, which can achieve 12 stops of dynamic range, ONE LUT allows iPhone 15 Pro to achieve a picture style that is very close to ARRI ALEXA.
One LUT can be used only for monitoring, or it can be played directly through the Blackmagic Camera APP. Of course, you can also apply it in video editing software or color correction software as the basis for color correction.
In fact, there were many LUTs on the market earlier that allowed mirrorless cameras to simulate ARRI’s style. For iPhone users, such functions may be more attractive. What they need is to obtain cinematic videos more directly, and ONE LUT has opened up the most convenient way for them.
Of course, ONE LUT is not free. It is priced at US$25 on the official website, which is approximately RMB 180. To put it another way, for only 180, Apple becomes ARRI. Do you think it’s worth it?
Master Class Georges Schwizgebel