Apple Final Cut Camera 2.4 and Final Cut Pro 12.4 Released – iPhone 18 Pro Aperture Control, Clean SDI Out, Cinematic Refocus in Post

Smartphone FilmmakingSoftware Update

by Nino LeitnerToday

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Apple has released Final Cut Camera 2.4, a ground-up redesign of its free capture app that adds manual control of the iPhone 18 Pro’s variable aperture, plus aperture priority and shutter priority modes. With iOS 27, the app also gains video scopes, a clean SDI output path and a genlock offset, while Final Cut Pro 12.4 on the Mac can now apply Cinematic mode effects to any video shot on the iPhone 18 Pro.

The update touches almost every part of the app. The interface has been rebuilt around quicker access to shutter angle, ISO and white balance, with a tally light during recording and a two-finger tap that hides the controls. Exposure tools now include false color and a clipping indicator with adjustable thresholds, and focus peaking gets a sensitivity setting.

On the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, the iris of the main camera can be set by hand. iOS 27 adds a histogram and an RGB parade, SDI Clean output through an HDMI-to-SDI converter, and a genlock frame delay on the iPhone 17 Pro and later. Regular video shot on the iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone Duo, ProRes and Apple Log included, can also have Cinematic mode effects applied, with focus points and depth of field adjustable later in Final Cut Pro.

Aperture, shutter and ISO on three dials

As we reported in our iPhone 18 Pro launch coverage, the 48MP Fusion Main camera uses a six-blade mechanical iris with settings of f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8 and f/4.0 at a 24mm equivalent focal length. In Final Cut Camera 2.4, switching exposure from Automatic to Manual on these phones brings up an Aperture dial next to Shutter and ISO. According to Apple’s user guide, the aperture controls require an iPhone 18 Pro or later and iOS 27 or later.

There are two semi-automatic modes. In aperture priority, the user sets the f-stop and the app adjusts shutter speed and ISO to hold exposure. In shutter priority, the shutter angle (or speed) stays fixed and the app adjusts aperture and ISO instead. Both keep an EV compensation dial.

For anyone who wants to hold a 180° shutter, shutter priority is the relevant mode, and Apple’s guide itself lists achieving a specific motion blur “without needing to add an ND filter” among the reasons to stop down. The span from f/1.48 to f/4.0 is a little under three stops, so bright exteriors at 180° will still call for ND.

Apple’s documentation does not say whether the dial offers values between the four listed positions, or how an aperture change is handled while the camera is recording. The second point matters most in shutter priority, where the app moves the iris on its own. We raised the same questions when Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.5 added aperture control. Anyone planning to use shutter priority on a take with changing light should establish how their own phone behaves first.

We plan on testing the behaviors of the aperture control once we get our hands on review units of iPhone 18 Pro, and will report back. (All the CineD screenshots from Final Cut Camera 2.4 in this article were made using iPhone 17 Pro.)

What the new scopes do and do not include

Final Cut Camera 2.4 also adds an RGB Parade and a histogram. A luma-only waveform and a vectorscope are not listed (and I couldn’t find them in settings when checking). The histogram is the default; tapping a scope expands it, and a swipe hides it temporarily. Scopes require iOS 27 or iPadOS 27.

The false color overlay maps luminance to colors on a 0 to 100 IRE scale: purple and blue for lost shadow detail, green, pink and gray around middle gray and skin tones, yellow and red for clipping whites. The zebra and clipping overlays have selectable thresholds, and focus peaking offers a choice of color and sensitivity. According to Apple, zebra, clipping and peaking need a device with the A13 Bionic chip or later.

Clean SDI out runs through two adapters

The iPhone has no SDI connector, so the chain is a USB-C to HDMI adapter followed by an HDMI-to-SDI converter. What changes is the signal the app sends. Apple’s guide describes HDMI Clean as preview-quality output suited to live streaming and user LUT monitoring, at either 4K or 1080p regardless of the recording settings. SDI Clean is intended for broadcast-quality video, external recording, metadata output and minimal preview latency.

Apple does not specify which metadata is carried, nor does it list the supported output formats and frame rates. SDI Clean requires an iPhone 17 Pro or later and iOS 27. Clean HDMI Out itself arrived earlier this summer in the Apple Creator Studio update. For both modes, Apple recommends setting the app’s color space to SDR (Rec. 709) for the most accurate image on the external display.

Genlock offset in subframes or microseconds

Genlock came to the iPhone 17 Pro with Final Cut Camera 2.0, with the reference signal arriving through external hardware such as the Blackmagic Camera ProDock. Version 2.4 adds a frame delay, which offsets the moment the shutter is triggered relative to the incoming reference.

The offset is set with a slider while watching the preview, in either subframes (1/100 of a frame’s duration, so the real-time value depends on the frame rate) or microseconds. Apple gives two uses: timing differences with a genlocked display, and latency differences between the iPhone and other genlocked cameras. The first is the LED wall case, where the camera’s exposure has to be phase-aligned with the wall’s refresh to avoid artifacts in the recorded image. Genlock offset requires an iPhone 17 Pro or later and iOS 27.

Final Cut Pro 12.4 refocuses regular iPhone footage

The Mac side of this release is Final Cut Pro 12.4, and its list of new features has a single entry. Cinematic mode effects can now be applied to video recorded with the iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone Duo, whether or not it was shot in Cinematic mode. Apple’s announcement names ProRes and Apple Log footage; ProRes RAW is not mentioned. The feature requires macOS 27, while the app itself runs on macOS 26.6 or later.

According to Apple’s guide, Final Cut Pro downloads an analysis model the first time the feature is used, once, over an internet connection. From there the workflow matches existing Cinematic mode clips: the Cinematic checkbox in the Video inspector, the Cinematic Editor above the clip in the timeline for focus points, and onscreen controls in the viewer for switching subjects. AF Tracking Lock follows a subject, and AF Lock holds focus at a fixed distance. For clips recorded in HDR, the iPhone default, Apple recommends a Wide Gamut HDR (Rec. 2020 HLG) library and project.

In the wider Creator Studio update, Motion gets the same capability and Compressor can convert these clips back to the previous Cinematic mode format. Apple’s Final Cut Camera guide also lists iPadOS 27 as an option for the editing side. On the iPhone 18 Pro, that leaves the main camera with two separate depth of field controls: the optical one from the iris at capture, and the computed one in post.

Price and availability

Final Cut Camera 2.4 is available now as a free update on the App Store. According to Apple, the redesigned interface and exposure overlays come with the app update itself, while the features listed above as requiring iOS 27 only appear once the operating system is updated. Final Cut Pro 12.4 for Mac is also available now.

For more information, please visit the Apple website.

Will manual iris control make Final Cut Camera your default app on the iPhone 18 Pro, or are you staying with Blackmagic Camera? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!