Blackmagic Camera App Exposure Control - Don't Be Confused!

The exposure controls in the Blackmagic Camera app can be confusing, so in the video I explain the different ways to use them.
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[@iPhone-Cinematograhy]

Thank you for this clarification.

[@chrisbogart687]

Yes, weird but you gave me a very useful piece of information and not get waylaid thinking it is something else. Thanks - good explaination.

[@rogeriogomesosorio4755]

I need auto ISO… with shutter speed locked. Otherwise this app is useless to vlog with on the go outside.

[@iphoneographers]

Yeah for run & gun type stuff like that it would be nice.

[@DaveKnowlesFilmmaker]

Although not to do with this I would love your advice about banding in the sky. I am at the moment in India filming mainly on my iPhone 15 Pr Max, a variable ND filter and the BalckMagic camera app. I am using ProRes HQ and Apple LOG. What I am finding is at times I am getting banding in the sky which I find rather odd as ProRes HQ is supposed to be 10 bit which generally I thought should not give banding. I am viewing the rushes on my iPad Pro in DaVinci. Would love your thoughts on this as although I can remove it in DaVinci I would rather not have it there in the first place.

[@iphoneographers]

I’ve not seen much sky banding with ProRes, but it can happen on any camera. And if you’re accidentally shooting too high of ISO due to the VND and/or if you’re crushing the sky too much with ND that can affect it. I’ve had both those inadvertently happen. Blue skies can definitely be tricky. You might try a test shooting without the VND and see if it improves. But you’re right about the 10-bit video aspect, though again it can definitely happen. I’ve actually had it happen with my RED Komodo shooting 16-bit raw.

[@DaveKnowlesFilmmaker]

@@iphoneographers Thank you for getting back so quickly. I am shooting at 100 ISO with ND set to around ND400 (Oh how I wish they would all use the same measurements for ND). I will do a bit more experimenting but it is good to know you have not experienced the problem. DaVinci fortunately seems to remove it OK with the Banding filter on the colour page.

[@davetriesthis]

Traditional exposure compensation works this way. When you change the EC dial/settings you're changing the shutter speed or aperture or ISO depending on what mode you're in. The camera takes the exposure settings you've manually entered, or set on Auto, and it is adjusting one of the three parameters to under or over expose. So let's say you're at ISO 200 and the aperture and shutter speed are fixed manually. In other words, Iso is the only variable that you can change in that mode. If you change the EC down one stop, the ISO switches to ISO 100. Dial the EC to +1 and the ISO goes to 400. Likewise if you have ISO and aperture locked and you are at ISO 100 at f/2.8 at 1/500th of a second, dialing EC down by one stop makes the shutter speed 1/1000th, and up makes it 1/250th. So, this IS exposure compensation, same s on a camera.

[@iphoneographers]

Well, not really. The difference here is you can’t adjust the aperture, only shutter or ISO. So when those are locked there’s nothing else to adjust. And also you can only use exposure compensation when you’re in auto exposure mode.

[@ImaginetMedia]

AT 0:48, how did you get that exposure control in the native app. I have 15 Pro and have never seen that option. In fact the Apple support docs for the camera do not even mention it.

[@iphoneographers]

When your phone is in landscape, look on the left side and you’ll see a small arrow. Click that arrow then on the right side you have some controls that pop up. And also go into your Camera settings in the phone menu and then Preserve Settings and make sure Exposure Adjustment is selected.

[@ImaginetMedia]

@@iphoneographers Preserve Exposure Adjustment setting. THAT was the secret! Thank you so much for pointing this out. As it is off by default, I am sure a lot of users missed this setting as well.

[@dakodawright3107]

Hello! How can I have auto ISO but the shutter stays the same? I shoot real estate and need the auto feature while keeping the shutter 180 degree rule… thanks!!

[@iphoneographers]

Unfortunately you can’t do that. Hopefully they’ll resolve that in the future, but it’s a phone issue as much as anything since the iris is fixed.

[@Bryanegreenlee]

After going through all of the cameras app I have on my iPhone, none of them have the ability to lock SS and allow auto ISO. Please share if you have an app that does this. Thanks in advance!

[@iphoneographers]

It’s my understanding this is an issue with the phone and not an app. Likely to do with phones being fixed aperture. Although seems to me like it’s something that could be implemented, but at this point no one has it that I know of.

[@Bryanegreenlee]

Thank you for responding. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Apple would not allow that feature. 😂

[@tzitzos77]

BlackMagic app works like a camera program. They have to make different modes like shutter priority or iso priority (aperture priority is not possibile because the IRIS is locked on the iPhone ) So to have shutter locked and exposure compensation ( and not ISO control to compensate the exposure ) they have to make a shutter priority mode. Now or you have full auto or you have full manual. There are many request for something like this either to the blackmagic app reviews to the apple store , and some forums. Hope is the feature Blackmagic give us this features because also personally most of the times i shoot with Shutter priority mode with my Sony Camera. The only app that does this Cinema P3 that have this function and many other useful option like max ISO settable , bitrate to any codec that you set for capture etc etc but unfortunately is not so stable like Blackmagic.

[@cliquemediaproductions]

When I did a quick video test last week, I got so confused that I switched back to Cineam P3. I am sure Blackmagic Design will work this out. I am grateful to BMD for giving us so much to work with at no cost.

[@iphoneographers]

@cliquemediaproductions Yeah, I use Filmic Pro a lot still b/c I’m used to it. But BMD is nice especially for a brand new app that’s free, so I’m trying to get used to it.

[@IKanFlyDrones]

Does the app shoot AEB? If not is there an app that you recommend for that?

[@iphoneographers]

Are you talking about bracketing with still photos? If so, this app shoots video only.

[@IKanFlyDrones]

@@iphoneographersyes I’m talking about stills. Okay thank you for letting me know.

[@5XM-Film]

Hey… I have an Iphone 13 Pro und the latest app version. I can‘t figure out how to record 240 fps with the app…. It only shows 60 fps… any help?

[@iphoneographers]

Make sure you’re shooting in HD. In 4K you can only go up to 60fps.

[@5XM-Film]

@@iphoneographers I tried, does not appear in the menue 🤷🏻‍♂️. is it because it‘s an iphone 13 Pro. I have the latest IOS and the latest BM camera app version 🧐 I only have 30 fps in 4k and 60fps in HD to choose from 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@iphoneographers]

Check your codec and make sure you’re on HEVC. ProRes has some limitations.

[@5XM-Film]

@@iphoneographers Thanks👍🏻, Problem solved 🤩

[@SmoothBarberator]

When i click on the +/- icon i get the iso value, not exposure

[@iphoneographers]

That means you have the shutter locked. When the shutter is locked it switches to ISO. When you unlock that it gives overall exposure control.

[@dottorcarlone]

Why you’re using 180 shutter with 24fps? Shouldn’t you use 50?

[@iphoneographers]

This is set to shutter angle, so 180° would be for every frame rate. Same as 24fps = 1/48 or 25fps = 1/50, etc.

[@fabriziof9822]

@@iphoneographers thanks, I thought it was shutter speed

[@bornfree8487]

Not sure this is accurate. When in full manual mode you can choose how to under or over expose your scene😮 yes the aperture is fixed so you can only manipulate speed and iso It works as it should 😊

[@iphoneographers]

You manually expose a shot with ISO and shutter of course, but you can’t under or over expose a shot with “exposure compensation” in manual mode. That only works with auto exposure.

[@Marco-ut6ll]

*Promosm* 😚