One of the things that has mostly remained a blindspot in video recording with the native camera app of a smartphone, is the ability to shoot in PAL frame rates, i.e. 25/50fps. The native camera apps of smartphones usually record with a frame rate of 30/60 fps. This is fine for many use cases but it’s not ideal under two circumstances: a) if you have to deliver your video for traditional professional broadcast in a PAL broadcast standard region (Europe, Australia, parts of Africa, Asia, South America etc.) b) If you have a multi-camera shoot with dedicated ‘regular’ cameras that only shoot 25/50fps. Sure, it’s relatively easy to capture in 25fps on your phone by using a 3rd party app like Filmic Pro or Protake but it still would be a welcome addition to any native camera app as long as this silly global frame rate divide (don’t get me started on this!) continues to exist.
There was actually a prominent example of a phone maker that offered 25fps as a recording option in their (quasi)-native camera app very early on: Nokia and later Microsoft on their Lumia phones running Windows Phone / Windows Mobile. But as we all know by now, Windows Phone / Windows Mobile never really stood a chance against Android and iOS (read about its potential here) and has all but disappeared from the smartphone market. When LG introduced its highly advanced manual video mode in the native camera app of the V10, I had high hopes they would include a 25/50fps frame rate option as they were obviously aiming at more ambitious videographers. But no, the years have passed and current offerings from the Korean company like the G8X, V60 and Wing still don’t have it. It’s probably my only major gripe with LG’s otherwise outstanding flagship camera app. It was up to Sony to rekindle the flame, giving us 25fps natively in the pro camera app of the Xperia 1 II earlier this year.
And now, as spotted by BBC multimedia trainer Mark Robertson yesterday, Apple has added the option to record with a frame rate of 25fps in the native camera app on their latest iOS beta 14.3. This is a pretty big deal and I honestly didn’t expect Apple to make that move. But of course this is a more than welcome surprise! Robertson is using a new iPhone 12 Pro Max but his colleague Marc Blank-Settle also confirmed that this feature trickles down to the very old iPhone 6s, that is if you run the latest public beta version of iOS. The iPhone 6 and older models are excluded as they are not able to run iOS 14. While it’s not guaranteed that all new beta features make it to the finish line for the final release, I consider it to be very likely. So how do you set your iPhone’s native camera app to shoot video in 25fps? Go into your iPhone’s general settings, scroll down to “Camera” and then select “Record Video”. Now locate the “Show PAL Formats” toggle switch and activate it, then choose either “1080p HD at 25fps” or “4K at 25fps”. Unfortunately, there’s no 50fps option at this moment, I’m pretty sure it will come at some point in the future though. I recorded several clips with my iPhone SE 2020 and tested the frame rate via the MediaInfo app which revealed a clean 25.000fps and CFR (Constant Frame Rate, smartphones usually record in VFR = Variable Frame Rate). What other implications does this have? Well, many interested in this topic have been complaining about Apple’s own iOS editing app iMovie not supporting 25/50fps export. You can import and edit footage recorded in that frame rates no problem but it will be converted to 30/60fps upon export. I believe that there’s a good chance now that Apple will support 25/50fps export in a future update of iMovie because why bother integrating this into the camera app when you can’t deliver in the same frame rate? Android phone makers in the meantime should pay heed and consider adding 25/50fps video recording to their native camera apps sooner than later. It may not be relevant for the majority of conventional smartphone users but it also doesn’t hurt and you can make certain “special interest” groups very happy!
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My iPhone 12 Pro Max updated to v14.4.2 overnight and the 25fps frame rates disappeared:(
Back to ProCam app.
Seriously? That’s strange. I can’t test with my iPhone which is enrolled in the beta but I just installed 14.4.2 on my iPad 2018 and the 25fps option is still there. Have you looked in the settings? Maybe it got deactivated?
Do you think Samsung will follow with 25fps on their S series phones? I have been crying out for pal video frame rates for years but I hate apple phones, so hoping Samsung will copy apple.
That’s a good question. There have been many features where Samsung or other OEMs followed Apple’s lead, not always for the best but it’s hard to judge if the same happens with PAL frame rates as I think it’s not something that masses of users are asking for. Maybe if enough folks complain about the lack of this option, Samsung will listen. They did listen when people complained about the missing pro video mode in their Android 9 release. On the other hand, you can have PAL frame rates on Samsung phones already via 3rd party apps like FilmicPro, ProTake, mcpro24fps, Open Camera etc. And Sony offers 25fps in their quasi-native video camera app (Cinema Pro) on the Xperia 1 and Xperia 5 series since I think the Mark II models.
I’ve got filmic Pro on my Galaxy s8 for 25fps video but it’s no where near as good as the stock app, hdr doesn’t work and video is noisy in certain conditions, and to top it all, 50hz lights still flicker and the app keeps reverting back to 30fps when re launched.
Why are people not complaining about the lack of 25fps? 3/4 of the world use 25fps on broadcasting TV and 50hz electrical grid, also for that same reason cameras and camcorders are all sold as PAL in those countries, so why can’t phones be? Phone video is so good now, often better than a dedicated camcorder, yet the 30fps rate is not compatible with existing video footage and equipment in PAL countries, yet no one seems to be bothered about this? While the same people want 8k which in my view is unnecessary.
Please Samsung give us a PAL option on your smartphone “camcorders”
OEM like Samsung often don’t make all features of their native camera apps available to 3rd party devs via an API so the lack of HDR is not that surprising – on the other hand Filmic Pro has lots of features the native camera app doesn’t have (LOG profiles, focus peaking, visual audio level meters, 25fps etc.). Regarding the light flicker: Was your shutter speed 1/50? Because when wanting to avoid light flicker 25fps is useless unless you use the right shutter speed! Shutter speed is even more important for this in my opinion. That being said, I absolutely agree that Samsung and all phone makers should implement PAL frame rates. I was my biggest gripe with the otherwise amazing manual video mode on LG’s flagship phones which I have been using over the last years. The reason for the NTSC paradigm on smartphones is probably that all the major phone and chipset makers in this market came from NTSC regions (USA, Korea, Japan, Taiwan etc.). Nonetheless, users from other regions should make their voices heard that this is a matter of some importance!
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