Apple Engineering Custom iPhone Camera for Enhanced F1 Photography
mounted a cinema camera on a Formula One race car is no walk in the park. These agile vehicles are designed to strictly adhere to specifications, and obtaining racing footage from a driver's perspective isn't as easy as sticking a GoPro on and labeling it a day done. That's the challenge Apple Computer faced when Joseph Kosinski and Claudio Miranda, the director and cinematographer of the upcoming F1 Apple Original, wanted to incorporate real driver-perspective racing footage in the film.
These days, if you've tuned into a Formula One race, you may have noticed clips resembling an angle from behind the cockpit, featuring a glimpse of the driver's helmet. These clips, captured by onboard cameras embedded in the car, are specifically designed for broadcast and don't exactly fit seamlessly into a film's aesthetic. Apple's engineering team, however, came up with a different solution: they replaced the broadcast module with a camera built from iPhone components.
From a distance, this module wouldn't seem out of place—it's intentionally modeled after a broadcast camera module. Even the weight was matched to prevent any alterations to the car's specifications. Apple even showed us a sneak peek of it during WWDC last week, alongside an F1 car.
On the inside, the module is far from recognizable as an iPhone. At its core lies an iPhone camera sensor fueled by an A-series chip. Apple didn't disclose specifics, but the components were likely from the iPhone 15 Pro, as they were used in a few F1 cars during actual races in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Furthermore, the module also contains an iPhone battery, as well as a neutral density filter over the camera to regulate the amount of light entering the lens, providing editors with more control over exposure.
Given that iPhone cameras don't traditionally perform flawlessly under high speeds and extreme conditions, Apple's engineering team was keenly aware of this factor and subjected the camera module to rigorous testing. They insisted the module could withstand extreme shock, vibrations, and temperature—supposedly surpassing the specifications provided by Formula One.
The module ran on iOS, but it was equipped with custom firmware specifically tailored for the camera. This firmware allowed for footage to be captured in log format using Apple’s ProRes lossless video codec, resulting in a flat visual output that grant film editors greater control over color grading and matching the footage with the rest of the film. As a result, two new features were evident in the iPhone 15 Pro: log encoding and support for the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) color workflow.
Since there are no radios in the module, a custom iPad app was necessary for videographers to make on-the-fly changes to settings such as frame rate, exposure gain, shutter angle, and white balance, as well as to initiate capturing footage. Videographers would connect the iPad via USB-C. The footage captured with the module is sprinkled throughout the F1 film.
- In the midst of technology advancements, newsletters and features might highlight the innovative use of an iPhone camera in capturing Formula One race footage, as Apple Computer replaced the traditional broadcast module with a camera built from iPhone components.
- Artificial intelligence and smartphone technology collaborated to create a camera module that could withstand extreme shock, vibrations, and temperature, surpassing the specifications provided by Formula One, making it suitable for sports coverage.
- The film industry appreciates the addition of the iPhone-based camera module to the gadget list, as editors can now capture footage in log format using Apple’s ProRes lossless video codec, providing greater control over color grading and matching the footage with the rest of the film.
- Sports enthusiasts receiving sports-related newsletters could soon perceive the impact of these revolutionary camera modules on news footage and films, potentially revolutionizing the way on-field action is captured and presented.
