The latest update to the Pearla camera app brings something new to iPhone. Pearla Verana IV shoots 14-bit RAW video and stills to internal storage, a first on the platform. There’s also a new company behind the app now, plus two companion apps on the way.
Internal RAW video
Apple brought ProRes RAW recording to the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, with one catch. You couldn’t record it to the phone. Capturing RAW meant hanging a fast external SSD off the USB-C port, and since Apple’s Camera app doesn’t support RAW recording, you needed Blackmagic Camera or another third-party app to do it.
Pearla Verana IV records RAW straight to internal storage. No SSD, no cable.
14-bit RAW
Pearla gets there with its own format, PearlaRAW, which handles video and stills at 14-bit. That’s a step up on both counts. ProRes RAW recorded externally lands at 12-bit, and Apple’s ProRAW tops out at 10-bit on stills with no video option at all. Internal PearlaRAW video maxes out at 25 fps. If you need pre-capture, the app drops to 14 fps and 12-bit.
New color spaces
Pearla already covered Sony S-Log3, ARRI LogC3, Canon C-Log3, Fujifilm F-Log and F-Log2, Panasonic V-Log, Nikon N-Log plus Blackmagic Film Gen 5. This release adds Apple Log 2, DJI D-Log and Insta360 I-Log. Shoot in the same space as your main camera and the iPhone footage should drop into your timeline without a fight. Pearla threw in two of its own as well, a wide space called Pearla Wide Gamut and RealHUE 2 for fine-tuning.
Other new features
Shutter priority mode is new. Lock the shutter speed and the camera works the ISO to hold exposure, which keeps motion blur where you want it instead of letting the app decide.
The new film emulation engine runs up to 4K 60 fps, adding grain and halation for a film-like look out of camera. Also new: false color for exposure monitoring and a speech-activated teleprompter.
New name and new apps
House of Mars released previous versions of Pearla. The app now belongs to a standalone company called Pearla Mostra, which has two more products lined up. Pearla Joya is a stripped-down camera app promising the same image quality as Verana IV without ever touching a manual control. Revela is a video and photo editor.
What we think
Pearla was already a strong camera app for pros shooting on iPhone. Internal RAW is what separates it from the field. Nothing else on the platform does it, and cutting the external SSD out of the rig is worth more on a run-and-gun shoot than the spec sheet suggests.
Add the log coverage and the case for the iPhone as a B camera gets easier to make. False color helps there too, since matching exposure to your main body is half the battle in post. Verana IV could end up the default app for anyone shooting seriously on iPhone, assuming the release lives up to the announcement.
Pricing and availability
Pearla Mostra is launching Pearla Verana IV in August at $34.99 a year. However, Pearla Joya will also be released in August and is rumored to cost $24.99 a year.
