RAW Video on a Smartphone

[Andrew Reid]

Still playing around with it.

It's got some mojo.

[mercer]

Looks great. I was about to do some research on this. Any advice on the best, cheaper phone for this? Are there any phones with bigger sensors? I don't know much about android phones.

[PannySVHS]

Would love, if the Lumix CM1 phone was able to pull some binned HD off. But it has 2gig of ram only, so below the required specs of the motion app. @Andrew Reid Do you still have a CM1 to test? That would be super kewl!

[Andrew Reid]

Mi 10 is the cheap alternative. Usually on eBay for under $300

It shoots near identical video specs to the Mi 11 Ultra including 8K but the sensor is a bit smaller and lacks the periscope 5x folding optics.

Sensor still massive compared to an iPhone though.

I've been very impressed with it in 10bit 6K LOG and 8K H.265. The mc24 app is a good place to start for high bitrate video.

Not tested the RAW app with it yet but will do soon.

[Andrew Reid]

54 minutes ago, PannySVHS said:

Would love, if the Lumix CM1 phone was able to pull some binned HD off. But it has 2gig of ram only, so below the required specs of the motion app. @Andrew Reid Do you still have a CM1 to test? That would be super kewl!

CM1 is outdated now because of Android 4.0, so very little will work. Although it has the 1.0 type sensor and uses all of it, it's quite an old sensor in video terms with no 4K at normal frame rates. It maxes out at 15fps. So the slow sensor and slow processor, and lack of computational imaging, frame merging, or advanced HDR capabilities really hold it back. In some instances an iPhone from 2 or 3 years ago will beat it for stills, and certainly for video. So take a look at the latest Xiaomi and OnePlus stuff instead 🙂

[Andrew Reid]

Went out to test a few shots in low light

This one is ISO 1400:

Didn't do any grading other than slight contrast bump in Adobe Camera Raw

For a smartphone tis good

ISOs over 1250 used to be completely unusable in stills mode let alone 4K video!!

Going to see if 4K/120fps RAW works next.

[Emanuel]

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

For a smartphone tis good

ISOs over 1250 used to be completely unusable in stills mode let alone 4K video!!

Yeah, it's simply amazing! : )

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

Going to see if 4K/120fps RAW works next.

I tried on mine (OnePlus 9 Pro), where says unsupported, even though it does a classy job with the stock camera, no idea why goes only up to 30fps and not 120fps then. Eagering to see your attempt :- )

[Emanuel]

18 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

File sizes are around 3.8-4MB per frame though, so make sure you try this on a phone with a lot of built in storage 🙂

Hidden on the photo submenu you have how to set it up:

 

And there's also through the whole camera lenses range an useful overlay clipping feature ready for easy monitoring as well a manual tap-to-focus alternative to AF, both able to be locked:

[Andrew Reid]

Do you know if the raw compression real-time or applied to the DNG when you convert in-app?

RAW12 = 12bit?

[Emanuel]

I didn't arrive there yet. Only a tablet with me where I am now. And I was still unable to install the PC tools available from his source. No PC capable of much these days. As soon as I will have the new Apple to come, well, hands-on, more tests to follow under the radar then : ) But for his disclaimer, I infer exactly the same as you, yeah, I think so. If not, why such 10 - 12 - 16 nomenclature?

It's applied to the DNG, I guess.

[Ingerson]

Where do you guys find info on supported phones? Looked at github and google app store, but can't find any list.

But then again, I've always been an Apple guy, never had anything else besides a Nokia 3310 😉

Not unhappy with the iPhone 13 Pro, but I like to play around with tech 🙂

[Emanuel]

Look for Snapdragon 888 or not far, it should work :- )

[PannySVHS]

19 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Mi 10 is the cheap alternative. Usually on eBay for under $300

It shoots near identical video specs to the Mi 11 Ultra including 8K but the sensor is a bit smaller and lacks the periscope 5x folding optics.

Great advice! Thanks, Andrew! Some of the newer footage looks indeed like from a BMPCC in 4K. Possibly, from what I read, other budget options could be LG G8s and LGv50. I am wondering if the android driven MFT camera would do- the Yongnuo YN455. It has a Snapdragon 660 in it. So, don´t know if that would work or not.

 

[Andrew Reid]

There's an android powered Samsung APS-C camera with NX mount, would be interesting if the developer could support that - probably only in 1080p but worth a go surely 🙂

I think the old Android versions lack the recent API that supports raw even in stills mode though, so that might hold the older stuff back. LG V50 should be ok, but I think for same price you can get a better main sensor.

[PannySVHS]

The Yongnuo YN455 has Android 10. The snapdragon processor is the 660 version though. Does not look too good even compared to the 855 which the LG V50 has. How about the Poco X3?

https://nanoreview.net/en/soc-compare/qualcomm-snapdragon-855-vs-qualcomm-snapdragon-660

[Emanuel]

I believe Poco aka Redmi for certain models can be a good experiment route indeed and I'd dare to give it a try...

But you have here a safer harbour already tested and fine bet (BTW, I love my OnePlus, my best mobile phone ever : )

2 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

 

You find it refurbished in your country (I've just checked, Marty!) for €350-€250 ;- )

[PannySVHS]

From what I got from you, Andrew and Emanuel, and from what I found on youtube, these are some low budget options:

-One Plus 7t Pro (video below- Thanks Emanuel for poiniting out- I didnt get that info at first sight)

 

-Mi 10 (Thanks Andrew, looks like a kewl device even without RAW video)

-LG G8s

-LGv50

-IQOO 5

-Poco X3 (this one would be a guess, from the other five phones above is footage floating around with supposely Raw clips recorded with the Motoion Cam App)

So friends, go ahead and research this interesting field. Cannot wait to see some footage. One thing I recognize, the first testers show some enjoyable footage, just like the pioneers back then with their first GH1, 5D2 footage. Some great little clips from these enthusiasts!

 

 

[Andrew Reid]

It would also be good if the dev could enable RAW on the secondary cam modules.

Would love to see the 5x periscope on P40 Pro spring into life.

Would be like having a S16mm turret again.

[kye]

That graveyard video looks fantastic...  if it didn't have the clumsy gimbal movement it would look like clips from a feature film!

[Emanuel]

11 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

From what I got from you, Andrew and Emanuel, and from what I found on youtube, these are some low budget options:

-One Plus 7t Pro (video below- Thanks Emanuel for poiniting out- I didnt get that info at first sight)

 

-Mi 10 (Thanks Andrew, looks like a kewl device even without RAW video)

-LG G8s

-LGv50

-IQOO 5

-Poco X3 (this one would be a guess, from the other five phones above is footage floating around with supposely Raw clips recorded with the Motoion Cam App)

So friends, go ahead and research this interesting field. Cannot wait to see some footage. One thing I recognize, the first testers show some enjoyable footage, just like the pioneers back then with their first GH1, 5D2 footage. Some great little clips from these enthusiasts!

 

 

And once outcome is actually a combo for sure, we also have the Xiaomi 11 Lite option to look like another cheapest fine one (in the range of 250 euros) from this couple of samples: