Apple has just unveiled the iPhone 17 series, with the premium Pro model featuring a chassis crafted from a single piece of aluminum, a larger battery, a new “vapor chamber” for cooling, and a display that’s three times more scratch resistant, among other improvements.
But as always, the tech giant has focused heavily on boosting the camera specs, with all three rear cameras given a 48-megapixel sensor, and the telephoto camera getting an 8x optical lens (up from 5x). The iPhone 17 Pro also has a new 18-megapixel Center Stage front-facing camera featuring a square sensor with a wider field of view, supporting portrait or landscape selfies while holding the phone vertically.
But Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro launch video also showcased a new genlock feature — supported by Blackmagic’s Camera ProDock and compatible apps — that allows you to precisely synchronize video across multiple cameras to create stunning effects, just like the unforgettable bullet time scene in The Matrix where time appears to freeze as the camera moves around the action in slow motion.
Apple included a striking example in its launch video for the iPhone 17 Pro — you can watch it in the clip that’s teed up and ready to go at the top of this page.
As you can see, the effect requires multiple iPhone 17 Pros capturing the same scene from slightly different angles to create the final effect.
Now, if you’re thinking, “I’m sure Danny Boyle created a similar bullet time effect for a scene in 28 Years Later using a bunch of older iPhone 15 Pro cameras that most definitely do not have the genlock feature,” then give yourself a pat on the back. You’re absolutely right.
The difference here is that Boyle’s scene captured different perspectives in real time but without the cameras being synchronized at the hardware level, leaving the scene to be built by an editor.
The iPhone 17 Pro’s genlock feature allows for precise video synchronization with other cameras by using an external synchronization signal (genlock) to keep the video frames perfectly timed across multiple cameras, eliminating flickering, tearing, or video jump issues.
Simply put, it’s a more professional setup that offers better results. The downside is that you’ll need a lot of iPhone 17 Pros to try it out!
