iPhones have the best video capabilities of almost any smartphone. So although I don’t use my iPhone to click pictures often, I do use it to shoot videos. But while iPhones support frame rates of 24, 30 and 60 FPS for videos, none of them are suitable for shooting under artificial light in countries like India. Fortunately, you can now save videos in PAL format on iPhones, which solves this problem exactly. Here is the way to record video in PAL format with iOS 14.3.
How to Record Video in PAL Format on iOS 14.3 on iPhone
In this article, we will discuss the PAL format first. We will tell you what it is and why you want to use this format. If you already know these, you can use the table of contents below to jump straight to the tutorial.
What is PAL Format in Videos?
First of all, you may be wondering what the PAL format means. PAL stands for Phase Alternating Line and is a broadcast standard used in many countries in Europe and Asia, including India. On the other hand, there are other formats such as NTSC which is used in countries like USA and SECAM which is used in many countries.
Why Do You Want to Shoot in PAL?
Without going into too much detail about frame rates and power grids, let me explain the main reason for shooting PAL videos. If you’re in the US and you’re shooting video on your iPhone, you’ll probably be shooting at 30 or 60fps. This works perfectly because the power grid in the USA has a frequency of 60Hz. You probably read this at school too, remember?
However, the frequency of the electricity grid in India is 50 Hz. This means that if you shoot a video in artificial light at 60fps, or even 30fps, you will notice flickering around the light sources. This is because the video records 60 frames per second and the AC current in the light source changes 50 times per second. This does not match and causes weird flickering issues.
With support for PAL formats on iPhone, you can access video recording at 25fps. When shooting video at 25fps, you will no longer see any flickering with 50Hz light sources. So you can shoot better videos in artificial lighting.
If you can’t understand what I’m talking about, take a look at the videos below that show the same light source recorded at 1080p60 and 1080p25 on my iPhone XR.
How to Record Videos in PAL Format on iPhone
- Go to Settings -> Camera -> Record Video
- Enable the ‘Show PAL Formats’ toggle. You will now see two new recording options on your iPhone as shown below.
- Activate one of them and go to the camera to shoot in PAL format on your iPhone.
- Obviously, you can instantly switch by tapping the frame rate counter in the camera app to change resolutions and frame rates as needed.
Easily Record PAL Videos on Your iPhone
Adding support for the PAL format is great for anyone living in countries with 50 Hz networks. It is also useful for anyone when they go on vacation to a PAL standard country. With PAL support on iPhone, your holiday videos will no longer have flickering lights, which is obviously an improvement. So, are you going to start using PAL formats on your iPhone to record videos? Let us know in the comments.