Reducing minor flicker from Apple iPhone 4K UHD 60fps footage on 50fps 4KUHD Premiere sequence.

[JonesVid]

I was wondering if anyone had any specific experience of using latest iPhone 4KUHD 60fps footage on 50 fps timelines

I'm editing prpjects with 50fps timeline/sequences and unfortunately, Apple in their wisdom do not support 50fps as an option on iPhone 15 Pro ...or other devices as far as I know.

As I'm doing travel videos I prefer to use higher frame rates particularly when motion is a factor.

I'm not interested in using 24 fps or slower rates to give 'cinematic feel' unless I need it.

I use 4K media sources from my mirrorless Panasonic camera and DJI Pocket 3 - all support 50fps of course.

Dropping 60 fps footage from iPhone onto a Premiere Pro 50fps  timeline works of course and I've used Optical Flow in Time interpolation to improve/smooth the transition.

Its not bad,  but not great. If you have even quite a slow panning shot  - say, with trees in the background you can get slight flicker/minor strobe effect  due to dropped frames.

I think I read Apple do not record with a totally constant frame rate either.

I also use Topaz Video Ai from time to time for improving video footage.

I've tried this to alter the frame rate to 50fps from 60fps  and comparing Premiere Pro with the Topaz method I see very little difference in overall result.

Has anyone any tips /experience in improving this and reducing 60 to 50fps  flicker as much as possible -  as I can't see Apple suddenly adding 50fps capability just because I requested it the other day 🙂

[JonesVid]

I am still facing this issue  - anybody any experience of this please using Premiere Pro ?

Seems very difficult to get smooth panning and reduce the slight flicker when  frame interpolation from 60 to 50 fps.

I think Apple may now be doing constant frame rate - need to double check.

[Ann Bens]

I use Procam on my IPhone which gives me 50 fps in UDH (unfortunately still in VFR)

I usually try to avoid panning. Tilting is not so bad, though.

Try Shutter Encoder.

[JonesVid]

Hi @Ann Bens many thanks for your response.

Well yes,  I agree panned shots should be used with care

I'm thinking more about video recording from a moving vehicle with trees passing etc - in 50 fps from my DJi Pocket 3 in 4K UHD I get superb results. Pocket 3 gives CBR as well.

If I use the iPhone in 60fps then drop to 50fps in Premiere result is nowhere near as good.

The iPhone has the advantage of better optics though.

I'll give shutter encoder a try, but then it is another process to have to go through, which, if Apple had done their homework would not be necessary.

I've put in a Feedback form to Apple. I'm not holding my breath on this though. Other users have raised this according to Apple.

ProCam - can you let us know which version of ProCam App you use as there seems to be a number of different versions on the App store. Thanks.

[AndyCollins]

You could always play the 60fps footage at 50fps. Right click on the 60fps in the Project window, Modify/Interpret Footage... Assume this frame rate: 50. Obviosuly this will make your footage slower so it can't be used for sync, but can work well for things like GVs. Your pans will be silky smooth again. 

[JonesVid]

Thanks , but yes I have done this and it does not always result in smooth footage - particularly even with a slow panned shot and moving objects because you are 'throwing away' frames. I've also used Topaz Video Ai  Frame Interpolation and this still doesn't give the best result as if you filmed in 50 fps.

Its an oversight by Apple not to include 50 fps because whoever spec'd the video functions didn't seem to look at what most video cameras support. Every Video Camera I have ever owned supports 50 fps.

VFR - I just checked now using Media Info tool from Puget Systems on the footage I recently took on iOS 18.3 and they still use Variable Frame rate as well. Why not a CBR option?

Why is space such an issue if you have a 512GB or external 1TB NVMe drive ???

Anyone who wants to get these features on iPhone 15/16 Pro should complete their feedback form : 

https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone/

The more requests they have the better

[AndyCollins]

No, you are not throwing away frames, that's the point. Any of the other methods you mention attempt to reduce the number of frames from 60 to 50 every second, but re-interpretting doesn't do that. It takes the first 50 frames from the 60 and plays them at 50fps - no frames lost. It then takes the final 10 frames from that second and 40 from the next and plays that for a second.

[JonesVid]

Ok Thanks. I'm trying to get my head around that one as you have a certain amount of data at 60 fps and you are cramming it into only 50 frames - literally squeezing same information into a smaller number of frames?.

What does it do to audio sync though  ?...particularly lip sync?

I'll give the Interpret footage test a try with some tests and report back.

Still doesn't let Apple off the hook though for not following normal industry practice.

[JonesVid]

So doing a bit of reading on this - convertig 60 fps to 50 fps will play 83% of original speed. That means everything I record is at 83% of original speed using Interpret Footage

Don't think this is going to work for me.

Think using one of the third party apps on the iPhone is the only way to get true 50fps for now until Apple do something about it..... if ever?

[AndyCollins]

Correct which is why I originally said "Obviosuly this will make your footage slower so it can't be used for sync". But it can work really well for GVs and the like. As you've already worked out the only way to have perfect pictures is to shoot at your desired frame rate to start with, any other process will have issues one way or another. 

[JonesVid]

Hi @AndyCollins 

Apologies, that's what happens when you read stuff too quickly.

The interpret footage method may be ok for some clips as the slight speed decrease might not be significant.

I will pursue my crusade with Apple to get 50 FPS, in the meantime will try out the ProCam app.