An iPhone with an iPro Lens System from Schneider Optics can be a useful part of a documentary filmmaker’s kit, according to Sebastian Lindstrom, co-founder of production company What Took You So Long.
For a documentary about women with obstetric fistula, the team took two Canon 5Ds to Liberia, plus a 7D and an iPhone to capture slow motion and extreme close-up footage. “We shot with the iPhone 5s — mostly in 720p at 120fps — and iPro Super Wide and Macro lenses,” said Lindstrom. “The Macro captures the same details as a $1000 lens would. It’s amazing how close you can get with it — so close, we were able to position it just inches from a person’s iris.”
“In retrospect, we should have left the 7D at home, because the daylight footage we caught with the iPhone and iPro lenses was superior.”
He could quickly position the iPhone for shots that a DSLR would require a jib for, “and you could never get smooth travelling shots by holding your DSLR outside of a car window with your hand like we did with the iPhone. We believe that the iPro Lens System used in conjunction with the iPhone 5s for slow motion filming has the potential to become an important, value-added component for any type of documentary work.”
What Took You So Long has worked in more than 70 developing countries, some of which don’t take kindly to visiting filmmakers, “so it’s very beneficial to be able to shoot with the iPhone – now with professional-grade lenses that are easy to conceal.” The iPro lenses are now available for the Samsung Galaxy S4, as well as the iPhone (4/4S and 5/5S) and iPad (Mini, Air, and iPad 2+).
