How to record uncropped 4:3 video using QuickTake after iphone 15

for iPhone 16, 17, 18… and their Pro?

Blackmagic Camera App User Guide

On newer models QuickTake effectively behaves like the normal video pipeline, i.e. 16:9 framing with a tighter crop, and people are still complaining about the 0.5× crop on iPhone 17 Pro/Pro Max.

The app you want: Blackmagic Camera

If your goal is true 4:3 capture (full-sensor / “open gate”) and the most competent in-app handling of ultra-wide geometry, the cleanest answer is Blackmagic Camera.

Why:

• It supports Open Gate recording, including 1920×1440 Open Gate (≈4:3) with Apple Log, per its App Store version history.
• It also explicitly includes lens correction settings (i.e., barrel-distortion correction) in the app itself.

Blackmagic Camera is the native-ish, least-janky way to get actual 4:3 video and the best built-in distortion correction options on iPhone 17 Pro.

How to set it up (so it actually does what you think it does)

Open Blackmagic Camera.

Go to Record settings → choose Open Gate (4:3).

Enable Lens Correction.

Select the Ultra Wide (0.5×) lens

Let’s take a closer look at how to set it up.

• LUT Look-Up Table indicator. It means a monitoring LUT is enabled/available (used to preview a graded look while shooting, especially when recording Log). Tapping it typically lets you toggle/select LUTs.

• OG 4:3 OG = Open Gate. This means the app is recording (or set to record) Open Gate in a 4:3 frame, i.e., using the sensor readout mode that preserves a taller frame than standard 16:9 video.

• 00:00:00:24 Timecode / clip duration counter shown as HH:MM:SS:FF (hours, minutes, seconds, frames). So this is 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds, and 24 frames into the take (or the current timecode position, depending on settings).

• On an iPhone, “lenses” are a mix of:
• Different physical camera modules (different real lenses + sensors)
• Virtual focal lengths (the app crops the sensor readout to mimic a longer lens)
• The mm numbers are 35mm-equivalent focal lengths. They’re a standardized way to describe field of view (how wide the scene looks), regardless of sensor size.

the “many types” aren’t a gimmick. They’re a menu of trade-offs: angle of view vs distortion, low-light performance, and zoom quality.

What each one typically implies

13mm: Ultra-wide module (≈0.5×). Very wide field of view. Great for tight spaces and dramatic landscapes. Also the champion of “why does my face look like it’s being pulled into another dimension?” if you shoot close.

Field of view is controlled by focal length. Shorter focal length (13mm) = wider view.

Perspective distortion (big nose, stretched edges) is not “lens distortion.” It’s distance. If you shoot a face close-up at 13mm, the nose is much closer to the camera than the ears, so it looks bigger. No app can “correct” that without inventing pixels and mangling the frame.

Lens distortion (bendy straight lines) is an optical artifact (barrel distortion on ultra-wide). Apps can correct that via a geometric warp, but warps often require some edge trimming to keep a clean rectangle.

Tight interiors / “I physically can’t step back”: use 13mm, but keep subjects centered and avoid close-up portraits.

On the iPhone 17 Pro, 24mm and 48mm are not two separate physical rear lenses in the “main” range. The 48mm option is Apple’s “optical-quality 2× Telephoto” made by cropping the 48MP 24mm main camera, not switching to the 4×/8× tele module. Apple describes it exactly that way: 24mm main and it “also enables” 48mm 2× with the same ƒ/1.78 and sensor-shift OIS.

1. Field of view (composition)

48mm is ~2× tighter than 24mm. Same position, you capture a narrower slice of the scene.

If you want the same framing of a person at 48mm vs 24mm, you typically step about 2× farther back, which changes the look of faces (in a good way).

2. Perspective (the “distortion” people hate)

The unflattering “0.5× face warp” vibe is mostly perspective, not lens distortion. Perspective depends on camera-to-subject distance.

Using 48mm usually makes people back up, which reduces perspective exaggeration (noses stop looking like they filed for independence).

3. Sensor usage and low-light performance

24mm uses the whole main sensor.

48mm uses roughly the center quarter of the sensor area (2× crop in each dimension → ~4× less area). In practice, that often means ~2 stops less light-gathering for the same shutter speed, so in dim light you’ll see more noise / less dynamic range than 24mm.

4. Edge geometry and “bendy lines”

Ultra-wide lenses are the worst for barrel distortion; the main 24mm is much better already.

Still, the 48mm crop avoids the edges of the 24mm image circle, so you typically get straighter edges and less stretching near the frame boundaries than 24mm, even before software correction.

When to pick which (pragmatic rules)

24mm (1×): general shooting, low light, action, anything where you want maximum image quality and stability from the main camera.

48mm (2× “optical-quality”): people, portraits, products, detail shots, compositions where you want cleaner geometry and less “wide” look.

24mm: Main wide module (≈1×). The most “normal” look and usually the best overall image quality (sharpness + low light).

48mm: Often a crop mode from the main sensor (≈2× look). Better for people and general framing without getting too far away. Usually cleaner than heavy digital zoom.

People / faces: use 48mm (or longer), and step back. This minimizes the unflattering wide-angle perspective effect.

On iPhone 17 Pro, those “100mm” and “200mm” options are 35mm-equivalent focal lengths for the telephoto system, corresponding to 4× and 8× respectively.

Field of view (the only difference that never lies)

200mm is 2× tighter than 100mm. If you frame a subject at 100mm and then switch to 200mm without moving, you capture roughly half the width and half the height of the scene, i.e. about ¼ the area (2× per dimension).

Far subjects: use 100–200mm only when you have plenty of light and a stable hold. Otherwise it turns into noisy, shaky soup.

100mm / 200mm: Tele look (often heavy crop/digital, depending on the phone’s hardware). Narrow field of view for distant subjects. Also where quality falls off fastest: more noise, more shake sensitivity, more “why does this look mushy?” unless you’re in bright light and steady.

Front: Selfie camera. Different sensor, different optics, generally weaker in low light.

Wide: A rear-camera “wide set” shortcut (basically “use the rear system” rather than the front). The mm buttons are the precise focal-length choices within that rear system.

Apple lists a 48MP Fusion Telephoto camera with 100/200mm (4×/8×). In practice, 100mm is the “native” telephoto view, and 200mm is typically produced by a center crop + computational pipeline from that same high-resolution tele sensor (Apple’s whole “optical-quality” crop argument).

Two inconvenient physics notes (because reality loves ruining clean requirements)

1. “No cropping” and “distortion correction” are in tension. Distortion correction is a geometric warp. Warping creates “missing” pixels at the edges unless you either:

• accept curved borders, or
• crop/scale slightly to keep a rectangular frame. The practical win of Open Gate is that you start with extra vertical/edge headroom, so any necessary trimming hurts less.

1. Most of what people call “0.5× distortion” is perspective, not lens error. Lens correction can reduce barrel distortion (bendy straight lines). It cannot undo the “big nose / stretched edges” look on faces, because that’s caused by being too close with a wide field-of-view. The only real fix is distance (step back) or longer focal length (1×/2×).