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The iPhone 15 Pro Max’s camera app has an action mode that stabilizes the most shaky camera movements. Additionally, iPhone’s optical image stabilization hardware eliminates wobble by physically vibrating the sensor in its X, Y, and Z axes. Therefore, since the GoPro brand is synonymous with action cameras, I was curious to see how Apple’s top-of-the-line iPhone would perform compared to his latest GoPro model, the Hero 12 Black. Ta.
To test the two devices, I met with stuntman Matt Igwe to film parkour moves such as running, jumping, and 360 degree rotations in an urban environment. I chose to be a stuntman because I know my limits and there is no risk of getting injured during filming. Watch the video below.
I decided not to use a gimbal on the GoPro or iPhone because I wanted to see how the built-in stabilization software (and hardware) on both devices worked when shooting the action handheld.
I placed it in a Neewer cage to make it safer to handle my iPhone (I was able to crack the screen of my iPhone 14 Pro Max before) and to make it easier to manipulate. I attached my GoPro to the Volta so it’s easier to hold when following the action. Additionally, the Volta’s Bluetooth connectivity allowed me to start and stop recording with a convenient physical button on the handle.
After Matt warmed up, we started with a simple parkour routine. He ran, jumped onto a concrete bench, and jumped through the air to another bench. As I ran after Matt, I held the handle of his Neewer cage for his iPhone in one hand and at the same time held his GoPro with his Volta in the other hand. The GoPro was set to shoot in 4K at his 30fps. On my iPhone, I chose action mode, which limited me to capturing at a small resolution of 2K at 30 fps.
Both the handheld iPhone and GoPro produced gimbal-smooth footage thanks to software stabilization, but the GoPro had the edge when it came to 4K resolution.
When you view a live feed of the action through the display of your iPhone’s camera app while filming, the footage shakes violently. However, this extreme shaking disappears as soon as you view the recorded clip in the Photos app.
Without a gimbal, you run the risk of tilting your camera and shooting unstable horizons. The GoPro has a very useful level adjustment menu option that keeps everything straight when shooting handheld, and the iPhone also produces a horizontal level when shooting in action mode.
The next parkour sequence featured Matt flipping 360 degrees from a concrete bench to the ground. I wanted to add some dynamic camera movement to the sequence by rotating the camera as he somersaults. Because the iPhone was attached to his Neewer cage, he was able to use the handle to rotate his iPhone 180 degrees as Matt flipped in the air.
It would have been a tricky camera move to do this with a GoPro using the stick-like Volta handle. Some gimbals have an Inception mode that allows you to rotate 360 degrees, but it’s difficult to rotate at the same speed as a stuntman. By manually rotating the cage-mounted iPhone, they were able to perfectly time the timing and speed of Matt’s jumps.
However, GoPro had the advantage of being a wearable action camera. I purchased a harness and had Matt wear it with the Hero 12 attached to his chest. GoPro comes with some useful presets, including one called “Chesty.” This sets the camera to shoot wide-angle clips with maximum stability. This is the perfect setup for capturing movement sequences when attached to a chest harness. We were able to capture some impressive POV shots of Matt as he flies through the air.
I didn’t want to risk tying my iPhone to a stuntman’s chest harness in case it broke, and a lighter, smaller GoPro would be more comfortable to wear when Matt does parkour.
Some parkour moves only take a few seconds, so I set both my iPhone and GoPro to shoot in slow motion mode. Both devices used his high frame rate of 120fps, which allowed him to slow things down in the edit while maintaining smooth movement.
Here, the GoPro had the advantage of being able to shoot at a higher resolution of 4K (3840 x 2160), whereas the iPhone’s SloMo mode could only support a smaller HD resolution (1080 x 1930). This meant that the iPhone’s slow-motion sequences looked a little blurry in the 4K project’s timeline compared to the GoPro’s footage.
When I tested both cameras in low light, the iPhone’s footage was bright and vibrant, but the GoPro’s slow-motion clips were very dark. This may be because the iPhone automatically sets the ISO (light sensitivity), while the GoPro’s maximum ISO is limited to 1600.
Shooting with a GoPro at normal frame rates gave me better low-light exposures, but even with auto boost stabilization turned on, my handheld GoPro footage was shot in action mode on my iPhone. It wasn’t as stable (though the iPhone complained about it; there’s not enough light in our place).
verdict
And the winner is…both and neither! Each camera has its own strengths and weaknesses. I had a lot of fun filming parkour sequences with my iPhone 15 Pro Max and GoPro Hero Black 12. Both devices also performed well in bright light when it comes to using in-camera image stabilization to create gimbal-like smooth camera movements. His cage-mounted iPhone’s two handles allowed him to accurately capture complex movements such as 180-degree rolls, but his GoPro was more effective as a harness wearable action camera.
Both were able to keep the horizon level, and the motion was gimbal-like and smooth, but the GoPro is better at slow-motion shooting due to its higher resolution. The iPhone seemed to have an advantage in low light. So for future action shoots, I plan to bring both cameras in my kit bag. Because both cameras have their own strengths that can be used in different shooting scenarios.
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