Technologies

ProRes Log Video on iPhone: What Is It and Why You Should Use It

From how to use it to what it actually is, here’s what to know about using Log video on the iPhone 15 Pro and 16 Pro.

The iPhone 16 Pro packs an incredible camera setup for both still images and for video production — including its fun 4K slow-motion mode. But to help it capture pro-standard video footage, it also supports shooting in a Log color profile with Apple ProRes encoding, just like the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max did before it. That might sound like a baffling string of jargon (because it is), so in case you’re not a professional video producer, what it all really boils down to is that it allows you to shoot professional-looking cinematic video footage using just your iPhone.

But what do the terms Log and ProRes actually mean? How are they better than your phone’s regular video? And, crucially, should you actually use them when recording your own videos? Here’s everything you should know for getting the best video quality in an iPhone.

Read more: The iPhone 16 Pro’s High-Res Slow-Motion Video Is the Best Apple Feature in Years

What is ProRes?

ProRes is a video codec created by Apple in 2007 that has been widely adopted by video and cinema professionals. Typically found on high-end video cameras costing many thousands of dollars, ProRes files capture more data when shooting, resulting in better quality footage than you’d typically get from a phone or even some dedicated cameras.

What is Log video?

Log (short for «logarithmic») is a color profile found on some professional video cameras and which is now also available on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max (along with an increasing number of Android phones, including the Galaxy S25 Ultra). Log footage preserves more image information in the highlights and shadows, allowing for greater flexibility when it comes to editing colors and contrast in post production.

How do you turn on ProRes and Log video?

On your iPhone 16 Pro or 15 Pro, go into Settings, then scroll down and tap Camera. Then tap Formats, and within this sub-menu you’ll see a section for Video Capture. Toggle Apple ProRes to on and below will be the options for ProRes Encoding. Tapping on it will allow you to switch between HDR, SDR or Log.

Bear in mind that while you can toggle ProRes on or off directly in the Camera app, you have to go back to the Settings app if you want to switch from Log to HDR or vice versa. You can shoot 4K footage at 30 frames per second on the phone, but if you want to shoot at 60 frames per second, you’ll need to connect an external SSD drive via USB-C and record directly to that. While you can shoot ProRes footage without Log, you can only shoot Log with ProRes.

Why does Log video look gray and washed out?

Log files straight out of the camera look flat and have low contrast and low saturation. The files are designed to be edited in programs like Adobe Premiere or DaVinci Resolve, where colorists will bring back contrast and color tone according to the look they’re trying to achieve, a process called color grading.

Read more: Best iPhone Camera Accessories for Photos and Videos

The low-contrast look of ungraded footage gives colorists the best starting point to tweak the video image however they want. Log footage always needs to be edited and graded before being used.

How do I edit Log video?

While Apple has yet to implement specific color editing tools for Log footage on the iPhone (which it should), you can get some of the way there using the exposure tools in the ‘Edit’ options in the Photos app. However, you’ll get your best results by transferring the files to your iPad, Mac or Windows PC and editing in dedicated video production apps.

My favorite is DaVinci Resolve by BlackMagic, which is an industry-standard piece of software used in professional productions and Hollywood films. It’s known for its flexibility with editing color, and I loved using it to see what looks I can achieve from video footage from both the iPhone 15 Pro Max and BlackMagic’s own Pocket Cinema Camera.

Resolve is available on Macs and PCs but there’s also an excellent iPad app version. Best of all, the software is free to use on all platforms, with only some advanced features requiring the paid-for Studio version. But anyone wanting to spice up their footage will find the free version more than capable.

BlackMagic has also launched a color-editing panel designed to be used with the iPad. The Micro Color Panel gives fine grain control over color editing in Resolve and allows you to quickly edit your footage using the same pro hardware used on Hollywood movies.

Can my phone shoot ProRes Log video?

Apple introduced the ability to shoot with the ProRes codec on the iPhone 12 Pro, but right now only the most recent iPhone 16 Pro, Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max can also shoot in Log.

I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites

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Do you have to use the iPhone camera app to shoot ProRes Log video?

No, Apple has opened up this feature to third-party apps. My recommendation is the BlackMagic Camera app, which gives the same level of control over settings as you’d find on the company’s professional cameras. It’s a superb tool for getting the best-looking video out of your phone and, like DaVinci Resolve, it’s free.

Should I shoot video in ProRes Log?

ProRes footage in Log profile is very specialized. It requires additional time in post production to color grade the footage, and the file sizes are many times larger than regular video files. If you just want to shoot footage of your family gathering or your mates at the beach to upload to Instagram or YouTube, then you don’t need to worry about ProRes or Log.

However if you want to use your iPhone 16 Pro as a professional video production tool and you have the time and resources to color grade and edit your footage, then you should absolutely give it a go. The flexibility of recording allows you to get video out of your iPhone that would give dedicated cinema cameras a run for their money, and it makes the iPhone 16 Pro an exceptionally powerful camera for content creators looking to add some professional flair to their videos.

Technologies

A New Mini Game Boy Collectible That Just Plays Pokemon Music? What a Tease

A surprise collectible on Pokemon Day looks just like a tiny Game Boy and plays music on swappable cartridges. Give us the real Game Boy again, come on.

Nintendo sure does love teasing us with Game Boy things. First, a collectible Lego Game Boy model last year that almost looked like a real Game Boy (but wasn’t). Now, for the 30th anniversary of Pokemon, Nintendo and the Pokemon Group are selling a collectible music player that looks like a tiny Game Boy and plays authentic original Pokemon Red/Blue songs on swappable cartridges, one per song. The Game Boy Jukebox is being sold on the Pokemon Center site later today, for a price that hasn’t yet been listed.

This level of absurdity is standard issue for Nintendo: Just in the last 18 months we’ve had Alarmo, a talking Super Mario flower and a Virtual Boy recreation. This new collectible is so tempting precisely because it looks like a little, even more pocketable Game Boy. Except it isn’t a Game Boy at all. It’s just a music player. Even the dot-matrix «screen» is fake — it’s just an overlay that the cartridges display when they’re slotted in.

The music this thing plays is Game Boy-accurate, down to the little boot-up ping. It just makes my skin itch for a new Game Boy (that isn’t one already made by several other companies).

But come on. Make a real Game Boy collectible, with actual preloaded games on it. You know you want to, Nintendo. It’s only a matter of time.

In the meantime, if you’re desperate for all 45 Pokemon Red and Blue songs on a little Game Boy music player, now’s your chance.

Technologies

Pokemon Winds and Waves: First Mainline Games for the Switch 2 Are Coming in 2027

Following the recent release of Pokemon Legends: Z-A, The Pokemon Company announced its first mainline games exclusively for the latest Nintendo console.

Pokemon Winds and Waves, the first mainline games in the series to come to the Nintendo Switch 2, were launched on Friday, the franchise’s 30th anniversary, on a special Pokemon Presents livestream. They will be released in 2027 exclusively on the Switch 2.

Following the precedent set by Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the new games seem to be set in a fully explorable open world. The new playable region is scattered across multiple islands, with wide swaths of ocean between them.

The distinct split between water and land harkens back to cherished gameplay mechanics from generation-3 Pokemon games Ruby and Sapphire, which were released in 2002.

As tradition dictates, we got our first look at the three new starter Pokemon, which are powerful pals that serve as the player’s first partner in an unfamiliar new place.

The grass-type starter, Browt, is a chickadee with a head that’s bulbous enough to invoke the Brain. The water-type, Gecqua, is a quadrupedal gecko with a cool attitude. And the fire-type starter, Pombon, is a super cute orange kitty with a mane that eclipses its body. (I suspect Pombon will quickly become a fan favorite.)

Fan-favorite Pokemon from previous games were also shown off. So far, we can confirm that Pikachu, Tympole, Wailord, Tropius, Carnivine and Frillish are in the cast of monsters to be caught in the next mainline Pokemon games, among other older creatures. Many of the returning Pokemon seem to fit into the island theme, residing in volcanic caves, marshy swamps and underwater coves.

It’s been four years since the last mainline Pokemon games — Pokemon Scarlet and Violet — were released for the Nintendo Switch.

While those games were lauded by some fans for their open world and more freeform approach to telling a Pokemon story, they were held back by poor performance and game-breaking bugs on Nintendo’s first hybrid console. Nintendo will hope that Pokemon Winds and Waves — games built for, and exclusive to, the more powerful Switch 2 hardware — will fare better when it comes to in-game performance.

Pokemon Winds and Waves may be the first traditional Pokemon games for the Switch 2, but they aren’t the first ventures into the world of pocket monsters in recent years.

The recently released Pokemon Legends: Z-A introduced a whole new battling system, moving away from the turn-based mechanics the franchise has been known for since 1996. Pokemon Pokopia, an Animal Crossing-style game that will be released next month, is also primed to bring pocket monsters to cozy gaming spaces.

Both games will tide fans over until they can dive into the watery world of Pokemon Winds and Waves next year.

Technologies

Dance Like No One’s Watching With the Beats Studio Pro, Now $150 Off in a Best Buy Exclusive Color

This color is only available at Best Buy and you can grab it for just $200 if you’re quick.

Best Buy is offering the Beats Studio Pro in gold and black for $200, knocking $150 off the usual $350 price tag. That’s a significant discount on this stunning pair, so if you’ve had them on your wishlist, now is the time to make the move.

The Beats Studio Pro headphones earned a CNET review score of 8 out of 10, and offer two distinct listening modes: Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode. In his detailed review, our audio expert David Carnoy appreciated the effectiveness of their noise canceling. According to him, the ANC mode comes close to what you’d get from top-tier models from Sony and Bose, while the Transparency mode lets outside sound in naturally.

These play nicely with Apple and Android devices, and one-touch pairing makes it easy to connect within minutes. Battery life lasts up to 40 hours on a single charge and a quick 10-minute top-up gets you an extra four hours of listening time to keep the music going.

Voice calls get a boost, too. The pair comes with voice-filtering mics that cut out background noise, so you won’t just hear clearly; you’ll be heard just as well.

HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK

Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones (Black):

$248 (save $152)
Beats Studio Pro Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Black):

$170 (save $181)
Sony WH-1000XM6 Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-Ear Headphones:

$398 (save $62)
Bose QuietComfort Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Twilight Blue):

$179 (save $170)
Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless ANC Over-Ear Headphones (Black):

$200 (save $250)

Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

Why this deal matters

The Beats Studio Pro are excellent headphones that deliver immersive sound and a comfortable fit. This deal knocks $150 off the regular $350 price, so you can grab them for just $200 today. In our experience, deals this good don’t last long, so it’s best to act fast if you want to snag a pair.