So it was fascinating following the News re-wired conference last week – couldn't be there but amazing following it online. Huge thanks to the bloggers and tweeters who worked very hard to keep us armchair followers up-to-date.

One of the really interesting discussions was Sky's Nick Martin who talked about the possibilities and the opportunities of journalists using iPhones. He specifically talked about the riots last year when camera crews were being attacked and journalists used their iPhones to filmed footage incognito. Here the link to find out more about his talk at News RW http://www.newsrewired.com/2012/02/03/newsrw-three-pieces-of-advice-for-mobile-reporting-from-skys-nick-martin/

Coincidentally another interesting development at the end of last week was the surprise release of Avid Studio for the iPad. A really interesting contender for best editing app and serious competition for iMovie and 1st Film Net editing apps. So far all three do separate things really well – wish they could all be merged into one for the perfect editing app.

With all this talk about mobile video recording and exciting new apps released I thought I'd put together my definitive list of equipment and apps for iPhone filming and editing – please feel free to suggest more!

iRig Microphone £38.99
Budget made for iPhone microphone

Tamrac Tripod - £17-20
Light, cheap, portable and essential for steady shots

Libec TH-650DV- £138

Personally I like a tripod which feels stable – for the build quality this Libec one is cheap as chips but has a good solid feel and importantly a ball head leveller 

XLR converter £39.99
To record a decent interview you MUST have an external microphone attached to you iPhone and this cable enables you to use a decent XLR microphone.

This one has a headphone jack but be aware that (as far as I'm aware - let me know if you've come across one) no filming apps send sound out for monitoring so the headphone only useful for monitoring audio interviews. This enables you to take your pick from a variety of XLR quality microphones. 

The Life is a Prayer blog has a great review of a huge range of microphones for iPhone http://www.lifeisaprayer.com/articles/photography/iphone-4-ipad-external-mic-audio-input

The Owle HD Video Kit £275
Everything you could ask for beautifully packaged - but at a price!

Filming Apps
FILMiC Pro
Great filming app with white balance, exposure, focus control

Editing Apps
iMovie - £2.99 
Couple of great themes and music, perfect for using on iPhone/iPad
 
1st Video Net 
Much more professional level editor – two video tracks and pro features

Avid Studio - £2.99 (iPad)
New app on the block with some interesting 3D montage effects

Effects Apps
Extras for iMovie
Create a better range of titles for iMovie

Tilt-shift Video
Love the tilt shift effect – this incredibly easy app stands out

 iSupr8/8mm/Movie Looks
 Take your pick (I like Red Movie Looks) to transform your footage into well anything you want – B&W, Vintage, Noir etc etc

Transfer
 I use this to transfer video from my iPhone to iPad – just a bit less fiddly to edit on
 
As the capabilities of filming and editing with iPhones gets better and better so more apps and equipment will be brought out it's just a case of tracking them down. I'm still waiting for a filming app to come out which allows you to monitor audio – if you know if one let me know.

It's here and it's even better than I thought.

The camera on the new iPhone 4S is proving to be pretty amazing if the crop of videos which have sprang up on Vimeo are anything to go by – and judging by the huge amounts of comments (mostly positive) most of the viewers are impressed as well.
 
Two videos have caught my attention. The first is by Australian film maker  Benjamin Dowie 

Here are his first impressions “Got an iPhone 4S yesterday and got up this morning to go for a surf. No surf, so thought I'd shoot some stuff to see what the new camera is like on the 4S. Got home, looked at the footage, and couldn't believe it came out of a phone. Was so excited so thought I'd quickly cut a vid to share the goodness.

It's actually amazing. The automatic stabilisation seems to work wonders, and gets rid of most the jello. Depth of field is flipping awesome. Colours are really good straight out the camera, but I did give this footage a slight grade.”

Now it is possible – just to get some depth of field using the FilmicPro app with an iPhone 4 but to get this from the native camera is stunning.

The second film out on video is a direct comparison between the iPhone 4S and a Canon 5D MK II by Robino Films. It's only when you see comparisons like this that you realise what great quality the new iPhone camera is. 

Impressive though they are remember these videos were made by professional film makers so if you are going to shoot video with the iPhone 4S remember

1/ Use a tripod please, please, please
2/ Shoot landscape
3/ Use airplane mode
4/ Invest in a quality microphone for interviews
5/ Use an app like Movie Camera or FilmicPro where you can set white balance, exposure and focus 

Our new 'QuickShoot' iPhone course is being updated - really looking forward to getting used to the iPhone's amazing new camera after seeing these videos.

Exciting times ahead for UK Video Skills Training. We've just signed up to twitter (ukvideoskills) and started our new blog all on the same day - think we'll need a G&T at the end of the day to recover.

Thought we'd start this new blog with a couple of old favorites and some speculative rumors.  According to various media outlets this week the all new iPhone 5 is due very, very soon and UKVS cannot wait to get our hands on it. It will mean some hard work reviewing our popular 'QuickShoot' iPhone filming and editing course but if the leap of video capabilities from the iPhone 3 to the iPhone 4 is anything to go by it should be very exciting.

Remember our 5 top filming with an iPhone tips:
1/ Use airport mode
2/ Film landscape
3/ Use an app like Filmic Pro so you have control over white balance, exposure and you can see the audio levels
4/ Use an external microphone like the iRig or check out www.lifeisaprayer.com for some really detailed audio information and choices
5/ Use a tripod - please!!!!

So to some old favorites. Each week we'll try to bring you a round up of the very best new videos and podcasts out there but to kick us off I've included a couple of my all time great videos.

For it's amazing sound track, dolly filming and great opening sequence  this mountain biking (I know!!!) video is the business. Even if it does make me feel old for not knowing what 'shreading' means.....Nearly one and a half million views on YouTube can't be wrong.

And now for something completely different from the Mast Brothers - it's an advertisement for chocolate but like nothing you've every seen before. Grab a cuppa sit back and enjoy it.

Now don't tell me that you don't want to pick up a camera right now and try shooting something similar - well either that or have a very large bar of chocolate.