YouTuber and filmmaker Denis Barbas has once again pushed the limits of mobile videography. His latest short film, entirely shot on Apple’s flagship iPhone 17 Pro Max, demonstrates just how far mobile filmmaking has evolved.
Captured in ProRes RAW Open Gate, the video is not just a visual showcase but a statement about the growing capabilities of smartphone cameras in professional environments.
From the opening frame, the footage feels unmistakably cinematic. Barbas uses Apple’s new Open Gate recording mode, which utilizes the entire camera sensor to capture more visual information.
The film takes viewers through dramatic landscapes, soft lighting transitions, and wide-angle scenes that highlight both the scale and dynamic range of the iPhone’s new camera system. What stands out most is how naturally the phone handles exposure shifts and maintains detail in challenging light, from sunlit fields to shadowy interiors.
Barbas shot the entire project in ProRes RAW with the new Log color profile, both introduced with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. These features allow for greater flexibility in color grading, offering filmmakers deeper control over highlights, shadows, and color tones.
The results are rich and filmic, without the heavy processing that often makes smartphone footage look artificial.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max features a triple-lens system with a 48-megapixel main sensor, an ultra-wide, and an advanced telephoto camera. Barbas switches seamlessly between these lenses, creating smooth transitions and varied compositions. The phone’s sensor-shift stabilization keeps shots steady even during handheld movement, producing footage that feels remarkably polished.
Check it out and let us know what you think.
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He did all the right things with lighting and grading (and cinematic music), and the the fog helps with that by softening the subject matter and diffusing the light, but it still feels smartphone-esque to me in its lack of shallow depth of field and lack of bokeh. Some of the motion and stabilization is a bit awkward too. A cheap electronic gimbal would have fixed that. Anyway, it's incredible we can do this with a phone these days, but it still feels like a phone to me. Also, he's trying to make something cinematic looking and doesn't appear to be releasing it in 24fps, which makes me want to pull my hair out.