Apple iPhone 6s vs DSLR camera: video comparison (4K vs 1080p)

Which one records better video: the new Apple iPhone 6s or a DSLR?

We compare the new 4K video recording on the new iPhone against the Canon Rebel T4i's 1080p video to see the difference. Videos are published with no color grading and the only editing we've done is to stitch them together.

We've chosen the Rebel T4i for a couple of reasons: it's a popular entry-level camera and a good representative of the beginner DSLR class. It's what many people have bought to capture better looking photos and videos. So despite the difference in resolutions, we were curious to see what is the real-world difference in video recording between the Canon DSLR and the Apple iPhone 6s. Our setup on the DSLR included a Tamron 17-50 F2.8 VC lens.

We have also used the automatic recording modes on both devices to see how well they are able to automatically adjust to the scene.

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[shaolin]

I have to laugh at people thinking a phone can compete with a real camera lol

[josh]

do you know how to use a dslr, your ISO is so off😂

[ggt]

I prefer the tone and image on the 650D but prefer the resolution of the iPhone. But that should be pretty obvious though...

[bryantav]

Any camera phone would look better than a dslr at F22 ISO 6400 hundred. The guy behind the dslr obviously had no fucking clue what he was doing

[dANIELhasMDD]

Having owned the 650D for years, I would love to know how these settings were while the video was taken.

manual or automatic,
frame rate,
shutter speed,
white balance,
iso for every scene
"picture style" which importantly includes the levels of, Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation & Color tone.

[montenmoi]

How to compare if not shooting in same time? With or without sunshine in first comparison, is totally wasting the time!

[ineffable]

why didn't you do iphone in 4k vs cannon in 4k or iphone in 1080 and cannon in 1080 not iphone 4k vs cannon 1080?

[pedrothevenard]

Guys hold your horses, I've seen comments on this video saying that a dslrs are not for videos other saying that if you use a 5d mark III the results sepulte be different, come on, I'm a TV commercial producer I've produced half a million dollar production budget commercials that used 5ds mark II let alone III, the simplest dslr with kit lenses will crush an iPhone 6 if you are willing to take the time to know what you are doing, to point and shoot buy a camera from the category point and shoot it is called that for a reason, it will be better than the phone and the dslr, for portability and recording of something just to remember later the phone is perfectly fine and does miles better than what people think it could ever do back in the day, the point is give the phone, a point and shoot and the dslr to my photography director and he will be able to shoot a freaking movie with it that will look like he use a professional equipment that worth hundreds of thousands to someone that have no idea what quality really is, but dslr will be by far the easiest to use even with shit lenses just because it does give you more quality images of you know what you are doing, if you have great lenses it will be even better, the point and shoot will look decent, and the phone too, give the same things to me and the point and shoot will be better sometimes sometimes the dslr, give it to someone that don't know what iso means point and shoot all the way than phone than dslr, phones are great nowadays you can buy small lenses to improve even further the quality but real cameras just do a better job when you learn how to shoot.

[Benjaminn]

Well, one problem is it looks like you have your 650d's ISO and aperture all messed up.

So in this video, the iPhone wins hands down. The one you did with your DSLR is way too over exposed and seems more grainy.

[quanliew]

i am more interested in the background music.. may i know what is the name??

[rollintrollin]

What were the settings used on the dslr? Since it gives u more granular control, if used in manual mode, human error could account for the difference.

[caminante]

Porqué hacen estos vídeos sólo cuando sale el aifon??? y no cuando salieron los demás celulares que tienen 4k mucho antes?

[ashrafalendary]

Is this adslr camera or in iphone 4???!!

[KyleRuggles]

Well being a professional photographer myself, this isn't really much of a comparison. I knew the iPhone would come out on top. But, were you using manual controls on the Canon? what color profile? were you shooting on the kit lens at f/3.5? because that would make for a soft blurry mess. 1080p out of that Canon is more like 720p, maybe compare it to the Sony A7RII or the 5D Mark III

Put Magic Lantern on there and come back with some low light comparisons ;)

[mikegsr]

I've been recording my vlogs with my iPhone.... And it does bad depending on the lighting and at times does well, sometimes indoors when the lighting is well it still does bad. I'm trying to stick with it because I can easily edit and upload but I'm starting to feel I need to make the jump to my DSLR Or at least a I independent dedicated camera. If anyone has any ideas or recommendations please let me know. Thanks

[Camrographer]

I noticed the greater dynamic range in the DSLR. I noticed that the Iphone was doing some real time tweaking to the highlights and shadows, essentially a type of HDR. The white balance seemed to be off on the iphone. It's hard to say what that could be attributed to. Those were challenging lighting conditions. I think the Iphone is a capable camera, but I don't think it fares well under extreme conditions. Perhaps technological progress will alleviate that. It's hard to say if we've hit a hard ceiling with signal to noise ratios and computational processing is supplementing that deficiency. I simply do not have enough knowledge for that.

[jorgeantoniomerino]

Why not iPhone 6s vs Sony RX100 IV? Both are 4k capable...

[londontown]

If you want to see the iPhone's camera get destroyed type this in to the search box 'iPhone vs DSLR EsAndJay'... (Sorry YouTube won't let me link the video...)

[dayflaubert]

it hurts to say that, but Iphone in this video seems way better. ;o

[MandeepGadgetBoy]

To be honest, you may not have not set-up the DSLR to its optimum video settings (picture style, exposure and other settings) and the iPhone is recording in 4k which will resolve more detail regardless.