How to Shoot Open-Gate RAW Video on Any iPhone (No SSD Required)
How to Shoot Open-Gate RAW Video on Any iPhone (No SSD Required)
This tutorial explains how to record true CinemaDNG RAW video on any model of iPhone using the RAW Cam: Open Gate DNG Video app. It demonstrates how RAW Cam enables internal CinemaDNG recording on iPhone while completely bypassing Apple’s image signal processing. The result is genuine RAW sensor data, full access to Camera RAW controls in DaVinci Resolve, and image quality that can rival — and in some cases surpass — ProRes RAW on the latest iPhone Pro models.
The video covers:
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What RAW video actually is and why it matters
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How RAW Cam works on iPhone using Open Gate CinemaDNG
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Supported iPhone models, including iPhone 11, 12, 13, 14, and newer
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Internal versus external recording, and why SSDs are not required
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Exposure, ISO, focus, and clipping indicators explained
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Converting MCRAW to CinemaDNG on both Mac and Windows
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A complete DaVinci Resolve RAW grading workflow
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Side-by-side comparisons with the native iPhone camera
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Key limitations that must be understood before shooting RAW on iPhone
Unlike Apple Log or ProRes RAW, RAW Cam removes Apple’s ISP entirely, delivering minimally processed Bayer sensor data. This allows for improved highlight recovery, no baked-in sharpening, cleaner colour, and the flexibility to convert footage to ARRI LogC, Blackmagic Film Gen 5, or other professional colour spaces — even on older iPhones such as the iPhone 11. The app effectively transforms older iPhone models into capable pocket cinema cameras.
Because RAW video on iPhone is extremely demanding, the tutorial also addresses dropped frames, recording-time limits, the absence of stabilisation, focus limitations, very large file sizes, and why RAW is not always the most practical choice.
For filmmakers seeking the maximum possible image quality from an iPhone — particularly models that do not support Apple Log — this app offers a way to achieve true RAW capture and a genuinely cinematic workflow on iOS.
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: joanne@theappwhisperer.com
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