Iphone 17 pro or 17 base for artist, not professional videographer?

I’m not a video professional at all, and I’ve never used LOG before. I do have a Panasonic GH5, and I’ve occasionally made some money shooting photos or videos with it — nothing high-end, just things like product videos for designer friends. I’ve made short videos as personal art projects too, but I’ve never done heavy color grading.

When I was thinking about buying an iPhone, I watched a lot of YouTubers shooting and editing with Apple Log, and honestly the colors and the film-like feel really stuck with me. I personally admire the film God’s Land, which was shot on 35mm, and those Apple Log videos felt really beautiful in a similar way.

So out of pure desire, I bought the iPhone 17 Pro — even though I really don’t like the design. I’ve been using it for a few days now. It also supports RAW photos, but since I’ve been shooting film for a long time, I realized I don’t really like shooting RAW or grading digital photos. I probably won’t use that much. It looks nice and “proper,” but I don’t enjoy the process.

Getting to the point: after actually using it, I realized the only thing I really wanted to try was LOG video. That’s literally it.

Do you think good-looking, well-graded LOG footage is something the regular iPhone 17 can’t realistically replicate at all? The base model is 8-bit, and I’d probably have to use some app that forces a flat or log-ish profile. Is the gap between those two actually huge?

Do you think LOG makes a big difference for someone who’s not a professional but wants to make videos and learn? Or is it mostly just a more complicated workflow, and you can get something similar by shooting 4K on the regular 17 with apps like Blackmagic Camera and applying LUTs? Is LOG mainly relevant for commercial / professional work?

For reference, I could buy V-Log for my GH5 and try it, but it’s heavy and I know I’d never bring it when traveling — that’s one of the reasons I went with the iPhone Pro. Still, it feels a bit mismatched with my current skill level. I’m planning to upgrade my computer, but right now it has low RAM, so I probably can’t handle ProRes files properly without using proxies.

Also, funny enough, I almost never see YouTubers using the regular iPhone 17 as a main or even secondary video camera.

Personally, I want to create art videos with a subtle, film-like feel. Is that realistically possible on the iPhone 17 using apps and some workflow tweaks, or is Apple Log on the Pro genuinely on a different level?