Ocean Reels, Shorts and TikToks with iPhone 16 Pro
Intro
Why would I choose an iPhone to film underwater when I have a professional underwater camera rig collecting dust on the shelf? Why would I choose to spend $800AUD on a housing for my phone and not just use a GoPro, which by the way I have lying on the shelf also. Is it convenience? Laziness? Challenge?
Partly, but mostly it’s just my ADD brain looking for ways to reduce clutter, to minimise, to simplify. In fact, recently I took it as far as just taking a pencil and a waterproof notebook on all of my snorkels for nearly two months. I tried to draw things that sparked my interest; write down behaviours of animals I’ve found unusual. Results? Not good enough— my skills in drawing, let alone drawing underwater, are not sufficient, but it did teach me a lesson. I’ve since sold my big camera setup.
Take an average underwater camera rig—it’s big, it’s bulky, it’s a heavy piece of machinery made from hard abs plastic or aluminium—knobs, buttons and controls are scattered all over it, not unlike the cockpit of an airplane. Often there’s a dome port attached to it that is more buoyant than a life jacket and requires extra weight to counterbalance it. And in this tank piece of machinery is enclosed a tiny mirrorless camera. Yes, it will most likely produce a stunning image, 60 megapixels, full-frame, crispy goodness, but it still doesn’t invite me to drag that thing into the ocean at 5:30 AM.
Luckily, my peculiar tastes have pushed me to look elsewhere. I enjoy things that are small, elegant and don’t take away from the experience of being in the ocean.
Lately, in my pursuit for minimalism, I’ve been using the newest splurge-worthy powerhouse—iPhone 16 Pro—according to Apple it’s the best iPhone yet…
Reels, Shorts and TikToks are the new ‘art’ in this modern world of short attention spans and constant distractions. The iPhone is the best instrument to produce them. So why not take it underwater and make those distractions pretty?
Types of Ocean Shoots
Filming in water deeper than 10 meters.
These sessions require using specialised SCUBA diving gear—it is the most challenging type of underwater shoot. I rarely scuba dive and therefore don’t film at such depths. It is challenging because of rapid color loss with depth. In order to get a good quality picture it is required to have external and powerful sources of light (unless shooting in black and white), specialised housings and lenses, not to mention excellent skills in scuba diving and all the necessary equipment to be safe underwater.
Filming in shallow water
Snorkelling/light free-diving, surf - these underwater shoots are easier to get into. No diving qualifications or excessive gear are needed and it’s possible to get good results with just natural light.
Snorkelling and free-diving are what I love to do most. I’d say most of the videos on this blog and my IG are recorded close to the surface and not deeper than 5M. I am fortunate enough to live on the Southern Great Barrier Reef - a place called Heron Island. It’s a majestic coral cay, a sea turtle and sea bird nesting island and it has captivated me from the first moment I set foot here. This place is where my true love for the ocean was born.
To make ocean art using my phone, all I need is just one piece of equipment—an underwater housing.
Housings
Yes, the newer iPhone models are water resistant, however, I would never take it into the ocean naked. Salt is deadly and merciless to most electronic devices. Even tough cameras like GoPro or Olympus TG series, if used naked in salt water, eventually will fail. The salt will eat into the port seals, no matter how diligently one rinses or soaks the camera in fresh water after use. I’ve ruined a couple of GoPros this way, luckily no iPhone victims yet. I definitely recommend buying a housing if you plan taking your precious iPhone underwater.
For the 16 Pro, the way I see it, there are two serious options on the market right now, depending on your activity.
Option 1 - Aquatech/Joby Seapal
Right now I use a housing which is a collaboration between Aquatech and Joby called Seapal. The housing is sturdy and reliable. In conjunction with a Bluetooth trigger and a dome port it’s a solid choice for most shallow water activities. Not recommended for SCUBA diving.
Positives:
Ergonomic design
Full touchscreen access on the surface
Sturdy build
Rating of up to 10m depth with the dome port attachment.
Great support from the the Aquatech team.
The drawbacks of this housing are three in my mind:
The touch screen membrane only works on the surface. As soon as I dive deeper than a meter it is pushed against the screen by the pressure which renders it useless. Annoying, but that’s why they provide the Bluetooth trigger, which, while adding bulk to the housing, makes the whole thing slightly clunkier than I want. It also means that I have to decide on my settings and lens before I dive to shoot the video. One other funny thing that I’ve noticed and it only happens in the native camera app: as soon as the water pressure pushes on the touchscreen membrane, the settings in the app sometimes change and it can be frustrating when something incredible is happening on a snorkel but I’m stuck in Timelapse mode, unable to change back to my desired setting.
Second drawback relates to the first. Ineffective design of the touchscreen membrane means that this housing is useless for scuba divers.
It’s not cheap. Housing only—299AUD, Dome Port—259AUD, Bluetooth Shutter Grip—199AUD.
Option 2 - Divevolk
The second major option on the market is a housing by Divevolk. The advantages of this housing are the following:
The touchscreen membrane design is miles above the Aquatech/Joby and is fully functional up to depths of 60M, which makes it a viable option for those who scuba dive.
Multiple lens ports options, wide angle correctional wet lens, macro wet lens, a 6” dome port and even a tray with light options are available as add-ons.
Works out cheaper than Aquatech, because no shutter grip is required. Housing only—350AUD, Dome Port—199AUD
Now disadvantages:
No Bluetooth trigger available - not the best choice for surf? Not a problem when diving or snorkelling.
Flimsy port connections, in my experience hard to adjust underwater.
Dome port only rated to 3M depth, which doesn’t instil much confidence.
Long delivery times
Customer support is tricky.
Top loading design makes it hard to clean inside the housing.
The double layer membrane design, even though functional at depths is trickier to use—actions like swiping and scrolling are hard to achieve.
Despite all the minor drawbacks (really I’m just nitpicking), both of these housings are solid options. There are other housings on the market, but these two don’t rely on using special apps or Bluetooth control. Simple plug and play operation. I like simplicity.
I’ve chosen the Aquatech/Joby option, because I’m more confident with their build quality and design, I like that they have offices in Australia with easy customer support. For my personal shooting style the housing is more than adequate. The only thing I’m bummed about is the touchscreen membrane not being functional below 1M depth. Hopefully this can be addressed in the next version of the housing.
Video Settings
Now for the exciting part: why did I get the new iPhone 16 PRO? At first I was enticed by the 48 Mega Pixel PRO RAW and the new 5x telephoto lens, however both of these things turned out to be more marketing gimmicks than anything else. What does matter though is that the sensors on the 1x and 0.5x are now bigger which is definitely noticeable to me coming from the 13 Pro Max.
The real reason though why I was so excited to try the 16 Pro is the ability to shoot PRO RES LOG. A 10-bit 4:2:2 video that’s only lightly compressed and no baked-in oversaturated over-sharpened Apple look. If you are not a technical person, essentially, what it means is that it’s possible to shoot video with a flat, minimally compressed profile which allows for a lot of flexibility in the editing stage. It’s not for people who don’t like to edit their videos. Finally, we have the ability to have a blank slate—full control over the contrast, saturation and sharpening. This is why my savings account is now 2500 AUD lighter.
So why shoot this PRO RES? After all, it will chew through the space on a hard drive faster than a raccoon chewing through garbage. To be precise at 4K 60 FPS it’s 220mb/sec of footage or a whopping 13.2GB for a minute of video. That’s nuts. So in reality, I only use it for my ‘important’ wildlife shots, where quality is paramount, because it translates into more artistic freedom when editing. On most days I find myself shooting verticals at PRO RES LOG HD 60 Frames Per Second—I rarely crop underwater videos anyway.
One thing to keep in mind is that native camera app will not allow you to shoot 4K 60fps PRO RES LOG without an external hard drive, but theirs is a workaround with a third party app. Why do I need the bloody 60fps, isn’t it just better to shoot 24 or 30? Less frames, more light, better image, right? Unfortunately with my shaky hands underwater, 60fps is kind of essential for a bit of smoothness, but of course in certain situations 30 fps can and will look better.
The third party app I’m talking about is Moment, it is free to download I believe and I’m growing to love using it. It really is as intuitive as the native app.
Storage
What’s the best way to manage such humongous files? For me the answer is - cloud. Luckily normally I only shoot clips of about 5-10 sec which are manageable. If you are not a fan of the cloud, ssd drives should do just as well.
Editing
In the video below I use an app called CapCut. On the day that I write this I find out that it is no longer free. Great app nonetheless. I’m not aware of other apps that allow such precise control over contrast and color for iPhone(let me know if you do).
As I’ve mentioned before, my usual go-to format on the 16 PRO is HD 60 FPS PRO RES LOG. I find that it gives me a sweet spot between editing flexibility and storage.
Here’s a screen recording of me editing an underwater clip(if you have the attention span for a 3-minute video):
Generally, with LOG I find myself pushing the contrast and color a lot more, but I love to have control rather than being stuck with the baked-in Apple look. Another thing that I love is that I’m now able to push the colors a lot further before any visible banding appears.
Who is this for?
I understand that for most people taking their precious phone underwater can seem like a dumb idea. So who is this kind of set up for? I’d say enthusiasts who like to get a decent image and push their technology to its limits. It’s for people who like minimal, small setups, for people who maybe need a second camera on the shoot or to just simply record the moments of a great ocean holiday.
We carry these incredible technologies in our pockets, it’s a shame that so few of us realise their true potential.
You can find more of my videos and say hello on my instagram.
