Dark Universe: New shot-on-iPhone video shows off low light camera capabilities

Apple has released a new series of videos, titled as “Experiments“. We’ve seen filmmakers work with various elements to create abstract short videos, and so far, these are some of the most impressive mobile videos I’ve seen under the shot-on-iPhone banner. Now, the latest video recreates another universe—with heavy focus on the “dark” element of things—using magnets, liquids, and various materials, and (of course) the iPhone 12 Pro.

Now, the iPhone 12 Pro features a LiDAR sensor, which provides detailed AR depth mapping. Additionally, LiDAR also gives you faster and more accurate auto-focus, with Apple promising 6 times the speed for autofocusing in low light conditions. That appears to be the focus of Experiments V: Dark Universe, and the results are pretty spooky:

As always, “additional hardware” was used, with a number of mounts and tripods used—although the filmmakers talk about the benefits that the iPhone 12 Pro brings to the table. Most of the work, it appears, went towards creating wacky visuals, with the filmmakers using different forms of liquid and solids to recreate a totally new universe.

It’s a little difficult to describe in words, so spare five minutes for the behind-the-scenes video. Personally, I found it even more interesting than the actual Dark Universe video:

“We wanted to push the iPhone 12 Pro with its Dolby Vision and low-light recording capabilities to the limit.”

The entire video is also shot in portrait orientation (because TikTok… right?), which stays on-trend. As such, you’d be best advised to watch Experiments V: Dark Universe on a mobile phone. Some of the stuff you see in the behind-the-scenes video also come with a warning (“do not attempt”), so you might want to think twice about recreating something similar.

Dark Universe is the fifth instalment in the Experiments series, with earlier episodes (Elements, Full Circle, Cascade, Fire & Ice) also available on YouTube, along with behind-the-scenes videos. According to Apple, the series lets you see what’s possible “given an iPhone, simple materials, and boundless creativity”.

So, what do you think? Planning to try shooting something similar on your iPhone 12 Pro when it finally arrives?