A newly found workaround lets iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max homeowners seize ProRes RAW HQ in Open Gate on to inner storage, bypassing Apple’s external-SSD requirement. The tactic is straightforward, but it surely carries severe caveats round storage, warmth, and reliability, and it’s nearly actually unintended habits. So iPhone 17 Professional inner ProRes RAW recording is feasible – let’s dive in how.
Photographer and YouTuber Jason Vong demonstrated that Apple’s newest iPhones can, in particular circumstances, document ProRes RAW HQ Open Gate internally. Apple’s documentation says ProRes RAW have to be recorded to an exterior drive, but Vong exhibits footage writing to the cellphone’s inner storage with settings preserved after a quick setup step.
How the workaround works
Join an exterior SSD, open Last Reduce Digicam (model 2.0 was simply launched, learn up on it right here), select ProRes RAW HQ in Open Gate, then reduce the app. Detach the SSD, reopen Last Reduce Digicam, and begin recording. The cellphone continues capturing with the beforehand chosen settings, writing information internally.
Apple requires exterior recording on iPhone 17 Professional for ProRes RAW. Picture credit score: Jason Wong video / screenshot
Storage and thermal caveats
ProRes RAW HQ Open Gate is data-hungry. In Vong’s assessments, practically 300 GB of footage gathered in a single day utilizing Last Reduce Digicam. Even with as much as 2 TB iPhone configurations, that quantity of information can create workflow bottlenecks and improve the danger of working out of house mid-shoot. Thermal habits stays unclear, since sustained high-rate writes usually generate warmth and the cellphone will not be explicitly designed for this internal-recording mode.
Seemingly a bug, not a characteristic
Apple’s technical specs name for exterior recording for sure ProRes modes, together with ProRes RAW. The truth that this internal-recording pathway exists strongly suggests a software program oversight that may very well be closed in a future replace. Filmmakers mustn’t plan productions round this habits.
We don’t know precisely why ProRes RAW inner recording will not be attainable on iPhone 17 Professional as ProRes 422 HQ has related knowledge charges however that has been attainable to document internally since iPhone 15 Professional. The explanation may be thermal issues, assuming that ProRes RAW encoding requires extra “horsepower” from the processor.
Can I fortunately use my iPhone 17 Professional for inner ProRes RAW recording now?
If you’re experimenting, the trick could be a handy strategy to seize Open Gate ProRes RAW clips with out an SSD dangling from the cellphone. For paid work, proceed with warning. Stick with Apple’s documented external-drive workflow till there may be official assist or clarification that addresses stability, warmth, and data-rate constraints.
That is an intriguing discovery that exhibits how far cell workflows have come, however would you belief an undocumented workaround on a real-world shoot?
