I came into a couple of iPhones and pretty much thought I had won the lotto. Did a bunch of shooting, editing in Premiere and was set to take on the world with my first serious short (approached 100% like a feature, trust me my credit card can still attest).
A week before we began principal shooting (as opposed to test shoots) I rented a Canon 5D MKIII and an "L" series lens (key), shot some test footage, brought it into Premiere and then promptly left the room to change my underwear. Not only the instantly glaringly obvious quality, resolution, depth of field and low-light capability - but also how the footage reacted to color correction/grading. The difference was sort of like playing an Atari 2600 vs a Triple-A title on my Alien PC.
Prior to hitting borrowlenses.com on a gut feeling (though seemingly satisfied I just kept feeling there was something separating my work from even the crappiest of low budget content available on streaming networks) I was kind of in my own bubble and thought everything was great, but when I injested the MKIII footage it was like realizing you were previously living in a Philip Dick novel. I promptly hit B&H and purchased a body (I still just rent "L" lenses as needed, makes way more financial sense for me). Oh and I only purchased because I am true indie mixed with perfectionist auteur (a fate worse than most terminal diseases) so I was my own DP and insisted on learning, practicing and sleeping with the camera to be used on set. Barring this psychosis it is ridiculously affordable to rent these cameras/lenses if one is half way serious about any given project.
I am in perhaps a unique situation to have seen both iPhone footage and MKIII footage on a 40' screen in personal tests. It is literally and quantifiably comparing apples to Triton... moon of Neptune.
Still in debt over this, but zero remorse, there was no contest. And I am confident I would not have been accepted to any of the film fests our humble project has celebrated. I can also confirm no iPhone footage has been present at any of the festivals we've attended.
Now PLEASE note film fest was and still is not the intention of our project (it just keeps happening because my producer keeps submitting, ugh). Our project is a proof of concept to entice investors/funding for a feature in the same vein - but rest assured everything I mentioned is equally if not even more important when considering that goal. Also worth mentioning, I am an old school sympathizer constantly after film emulation, locking 90% of my shots and striving for an idyllic period of cult/cool film which also plays a part in why iPhones couldn't hang. Remember when you were a kid with that gun from KB that shot yellow plastic balls, and then one day your dad took you to an actual gun store and bought you a pellet gun?
If you have no interest or intention to do the film fest circuit, get funding for your indie film talents, or show your film on any sort of a critical (beyond family and friends) public platform in an effort to say "I am filmmaker hear me roar" - then an iPhone is probably perfect. It was for me for a second, until I went kooky and tried a... well... tried a camera. And before I stuck my first impression d!ck out there for the world (and investors) to see, thank goodness.
On the other, if you are just wanting to flesh out some ideas privately, practice your framing and in general hone your craft, then a phone may be iIdeal.
