You may not get the results that you desire if you take videos with your iPhone in low light situations. This is true whether you record video at 720p, 1080p, or 4K resolutions. There is an easy way to improve the quality of your video when you are filming in dark environments.
The Camera app detects when the scene is too dark to take photos with any iPhone 11, 12, 13, or 14 series models. If this happens, it will automatically switch to Night mode in order to improve image quality. Portraits can be taken on the iPhone 12 Pro, 13 Pro, and 14 Pro models. However, Night mode will not activate when you shoot videos with iPhone 12 or newer models unless they are time-lapse videos.
The shutter takes one frame every 16.67 seconds to capture 60 frames per second (fps) of light. This means less light can enter the camera. The loss of dynamic range and graininess in dark scenes can be caused by less light. This also makes it more difficult for the codec to work in fast-moving scenes, which can increase the file size. This result is more like a home video than a high-quality recording that you would expect from an iPhone.
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Comparing this to 30 frames per second, where one frame can be captured every 33.33 seconds, and twice as much light is allowed through the shutter, that’s 30 fps. Dark scenes will look better when there is more light. You can drop that to 24 frames per second, and your darkly lit video will look clearer. This applies regardless of whether you are shooting at 4K, 1080p, or 720p resolution.
Although you can change the frame rate manually in the Camera app’s settings, it’s not very practical. You can also use the in app frame rate selector to change the frame rate right away. It’s best not to have to adjust the frame rate by yourself as you might forget in brighter scenes.
Apple offers a setting that automatically reduces frame rates in dark environments. This will improve your video quality. Go to Settings -> Camera > Record Video. Depending on your iPhone model what you do next will depend on the iPhone model.
iPhone 12 Series Models and Newer
Choose the “Auto FPS” option, and set it to 30 fps. You can set Auto FPS to either 30 fps or 60 fps video recording, unlike older models. This means that you don’t need to set Auto FPS to 30 fps if you are using 60 fps mode.
This applies to the following iPhone models that run iOS 14, iOS 15, and iOS 16.
- iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13, 13 minis, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (3rd Gen)
iPhone XR and older models
Turn on “Auto Low Light FPS” to activate it. It can only be enabled in 30fps shooting modes. Select 720p HD @ 30fps, 1080p HD at 30fps, or 4K HD at 30fps. It can be turned on at one resolution to enable Auto Low Light FPS in all three of the 30 fps modes.
This applies to the following iPhone models that run iOS 14, iOS 15, and iOS 16.
- iPhone 6S, 6S Plus
- iPhone 7, 7 Plus
- iPhone 8, 8 Plus
- iPhone X
- iPhone XS Max, XS Max, and XR
- iPhone 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (1st Generation and 2nd Generation).
How it works when shooting
When you record video in the Camera app and iOS detects that the scene is not well lit, it switches to 24 frames per second. If the lighting has changed sufficiently, it can switch to 24 fps before you begin shooting.
The Camera app’s frame rate indicator will not change before you hit the record button or click a volume button. It will still show the selected frame rate, even if it is 24 fps, as seen below. You can tell it started by tapping up in Photos iOS 15 or 16. It will show the recorded frame rate. To see the frame rate, you can use the EXIF analyzer with iOS 14.
It would be flat 24 fps if it was dark all the time. You might see a difference in your footage if the lighting changes during filming. This will depend on the mode you chose, the length of the video, and how frequently it was at 24 FPS versus the other option.
This trick will not work with Slo-Mo photos as they require a higher frame rate in order to create slow-motion effects. This trick won’t work on Cinematic recordings (available for iPhone 13 and 14 series) or when Action Mode (available for iPhone 14 series) is enabled.
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