Camera: Recording Video
As mentioned earlier, every iPhone since the iPhone 3GS not only has the ability to take great photos but to also capture video. With the advent of the iPhone 4, high-definition (HD) video can be captured at 720p resolution. That means that the video is captured at a resolution of 1280x720 pixels and that your iPhone's video capabilities are remarkably good. Several filmmakers have taken advantage of this fact to film advertisements and even short movies using nothing but a handheld iPhone 4.
Capturing video on your iPhone isn't that much different from taking photos. For both activities, you use the Camera app. On the Camera toolbar is a small toggle switch with two icons next to it: a camera and a stylized movie camera. To prepare to shoot video, slide the switch button to the movie camera icon.
Before capturing video, make sure that you've moved the toggle switch (upper right) to the video capture setting. You'll know that you're in video mode when the camera button turns into a red LED light button (right center). Toggles to switch between cameras (upper left) and set the LED light settings (lower left) to visible.
When the Camera app is in video capture mode, you won't be able to use the digital zoom feature that we discussed earlier in the article. However, the icons for the LED flash and the toggle between forward- and back-facing cameras still appear. As with taking still photos, you can also tap the screen to get an initial focus on your subject before you start to film.
What does the LED flash do when you're filming video? The app simply turns the light on, and it serves as a small camera-attached studio light for your video work. Just make sure that your subject is properly lit by the diminutive light, or move to a better location. Sometimes the light can be too bright, in which case you may want to turn off the light and just use natural lighting.
To start capturing video, tap the Camera button. In video capture mode, it features a simulated red LED light rather than a camera icon. When filming is taking place, the light (known as a tally light in the videography business) flashes on and off, and an elapsed time counter is displayed on the screen.
Although the length of the video you capture is limited only by the amount of memory in your iPhone, there are practical limits. If you're planning on sharing your video via e-mail or MMS messaging, keep your masterpiece short. If the movie is going to be any more than about 45 seconds long, any attempt to share your video from the iPhone is met with an unhappy message.
TIP: When recording video using an iPhone, move the camera slowly when panning or tilting to keep your subject in view. Moving too quickly tends to blur the video and make it difficult to watch.
When filming is completed, tap the Camera button one more time to stop the recording. The segment you just captured is stored on the iPhone in the Photos app.
Trimming Your Video
The best home videos and movies aren't composed of one long, unending shot. Instead, they're made of many shorter shots that are spliced together. Within the Photos app, Apple provides a way for you to do a first-cut edit of your video.
Tapping any video segment in Photos. At the bottom of the image are the familiar buttons for sharing or deleting the video, but there are three other buttons as well. The triangular play button in the center of the toolbar is used to begin playing the video clip. It turns into a pause button while the video is playing, and tapping it again pauses the video at once. There are also left and right arrows. Those are used to navigate to the video or photo immediately before (left) and after (right) the existing video clip. If you're currently perusing the last item in your photo library, there won't be a right arrow.
To view your cinematic masterpiece, tap the play button or the larger play button that appears on the video clip itself. A video timeline at the top of the image displays a "scrubber button" that moves from left to right as the video plays. To view an earlier part of the current scene, drag the scrubber button to the left; to "fast-forward" through the rest of the scene, drag the scrubber to the right.
You can be extremely accurate with your placement of the scrubber button. Tapping the button and dragging down zooms into the timeline, showing only a small portion of the total video segment instead of the whole segment from start to end.
This fine control of the scrubber button comes in handy when you're trimming your video. Let's say that someone coughed at the beginning of a video shoot, and you want to cut three or four seconds from the start. Tapping one of the handles at either end of the timeline enables a Trim button, and the timeline border turns bright yellow.
Drag the left handle to the right slowly to begin editing. You'll see an image of the video at any point in the timeline, and the image will jump by a few seconds as you drag the handle progressively further to the left. If you need more control over the trim point, use the trick we described earlier and drag down toward the toolbar. This gives you even more control over the start and end points.
When you're ready to trim, press the Trim button. Some buttons appear on the iPhone screen.
If you're sure that you've picked the proper start and end points and you want to get rid of the offending material that is about to be left on the cutting room floor, tap the Trim Original button. However, if you're concerned that you might be cutting out something that would have significance or value at some future point, tap Save as New Clip. It retains your old video clip and produces a new, trimmed clip as well.
Sharing Your Video
Most iPhone owners make video clips for one reason. They want to share them with others. As with photographs, your iPhone provides a variety of ways to share your videos.
Tapping the Share button at the bottom of any video brings up a short list of sharing options. There are buttons that e-mail the video, send it as an MMS message, send it to MobileMe, or send it to YouTube.
Let's see what these buttons do:
- Email Video:
Tapping this button inserts the video into a blank, unaddressed e-mail for sending. Note that you won't be able to e-mail any videos that are more than about 45 seconds in length because of file size restrictions. - MMS:
As expected, tapping the MMS button inserts the video into a blank and unaddressed MMS message. The same length and size restrictions that apply for e-mailing videos also apply here. - Send to MobileMe:
If you have MobileMe subscription, you can easily share your iPhone videos by sending them to your MobileMe account. If you've already set up MobileMe syncing or e-mail, the app knows where to send your video file. Unlike e-mail and MMS, videos sent to MobileMe can be as long as you like, provided that you have sufficient storage space for the video file. - Send to YouTube:
YouTube is probably one of the most widely recognized video-sharing sites on the planet. To post a video to YouTube, you'll need to have an account set up (visit http://youtube.com to create an account). With a tap to this button, your video is compressed and uploaded to your YouTube account. YouTube videos can be up to 15 minutes in length, which is perfect for short vacation movies.