My very first mobile phone was in 1996. A massive box with a wrist strap that looked like it could knock someone out. I was happy to have one, even if I had to smuggle it in my school bag. Move on a few years and everyone had a small Nokia phone, playing ‘snake’ in the 6th form room. Mobile phones had started to become part of our lives.
Camera technology on the phones weren’t invented until a few years later, the first images were quite pixelated, but still provided an image that that could be recognised.
Back in 2009 I started working for Vodafone, part of my job was to test content on mobile phones and so off I went back and forth on the train with several mobile handsets in my work bag. By then, mobiles had cameras, and I was also witness to some of the first handsets where you could ‘pay by mobile’, something that has now become common in our digital world. Mobile phone technology seems to progress very quickly and if I went to work back in the telecoms industry today my job role probably would have changed dramatically (I was working within the WAP service).
It’s no surprise that the mobile phone would soon become a much-needed item for millions of people. It connects us instantly to family and friends, searches the internet and today smartphones are capable of video up to 4k and 60fps (As well as doing so much more of course).
A year ago, I purchased the iPhone 11, not for making calls but to use it specifically for training estate agents on video production. I use it now for house videos and it’s my first-choice video camera for these types of jobs. I wanted to show people that have no prior knowledge of video cameras how easy it is to shoot with a mobile. Don’t get me wrong, I am very proud that I was trained as a TV camera operator and can use a whole range of cameras, but when it comes to smaller estate agency filming the mobile has certainly made things easier. Not good for everything I agree, I wouldn’t turn up a TV or corporate shoot without my ‘more professional’ camera gear, lights, sounds etc. but for small jobs with no audio and on a good day for optimal weather they can be the perfect device.
Cameras can shoot in full HD and 4k now, great for that detail. They also are lightweight, can cope with shooting a large amount of data and the stabilization with the phones are great. I also have an additional small stabilizer to help me with shots. A few clicks of a button and I’m recording instantly. Of course, there are disadvantages to using one. They don’t cope well in low light, and you can’t change the lens, but for what they offer they make the jobs that much easier. Take a look below at one of my recent video shoots just using the iPhone and stabiliser with no additional equipment. The filming day had a good mix of sunshine and cloud, the rooms were bright, and it was easy to move around the space.
Switch it to photo setting and you can take some amazing close-up shots that work well within your video. As an experienced editor I put together my estate agency videos together in about an hour. The content can be easily lifted from the phone onto a computer and then reuploaded to a video host.
In conclusion my belief is that the mobile phone will continue to be a big player as people’s chosen video camera. Plenty of social media videos are taken every second of every day. More companies may decide to invest money in fancier smartphones, and even training on how to edit the content from them. Because you can also edit straight from your mobile it means an effective video can be made in a short space of time, on the go from any location. It’s only going to get better and easier for video. There’s always going to be a need for professional cameras and this will continue, but we should accept now that the mobile is some people’s choice of video camera and I feel in some circumstances it works really well.