Nobody could imagine that the new iPhone would be powerful enough to record video quality good enough for the big screen but Benjamin Dowie gladly showed us what was possible only 14 days with the release of his homemade HD video.

These were his words:
Holy cow. Time to throw my 7D in the bin* Got an iPhone 4S yesterday and got up this morning to go for a surf. No surf, so thought I’d shoot some stuff to see what the new camera is like on the 4S. Got home, looked at the footage, and couldn’t believe it came out of a phone. Was so excited so thought I’d quickly cut a vid to share the goodness.

It’s actually amazing. The automatic stabilisation seems to work wonders, and gets rid of most the jello. Depth of field is flipping awesome. Colours are really good straight out the camera, but I did give this footage a slight grade with the 3-way colour wheel in Final Cut. Music: ‘Blach’ by ‘Elks of Envy’

I think you’ll agree that the footage above is fantastic, especially when you consider that it came from a handheld smartphone. For many, myself included, the iPhone 4S will negate the need for a dedicated video camera when shooting home movies anymore. It already has made my digital camera pointless.

What do you think of the video quality from the iPhone 4S? Would you use it to record your next child’s birth?