It seems that Blackmagic Design team silently listens to users, as it improves their app against the competition. Both the iOS and Android versions available (including the recent support for more Android devices) and near-parity on features, it looks like now is the time for a new major update. It’s clear that iOS is the primary platform, as they release new features first due to near standardization of the hardware; the big change with the new 2.0 release is native iPad support of the app and multi-camera recording.
It was one of my wishful requests on the day when Apple released Final Cut Camera for iPadOS/iOS (check out my Threads embed below). I wonder if this is their way of throwing shade at Apple (you need to have a subscription to Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 to use the multi-camera feature with the Final Cut Camera app).
Post by @yassermasoodView on Threads
Multi-camera setup with iPhone/iPad
While it’s quite a positive change to see a native iPad version of the app (requires iPadOS 17 running on A12 Bionic or higher chipset), it’s likely going to be the best served as a controller when using it for multi-camera setups.
One thing to highlight is that the multi-camera view is not restricted to just the iPad version – you can even use the iPhone as a controller and monitor (though users may prefer the iPad due to the larger visual display area). As for how many smartphones can be connected to it, it’s still TBD but I hope it’s more than 4 smartphones/tablets – compared to 4 devices with Final Cut Camera can be used.
Monitoring multiple cameras can be done either in full-screen (swipe across to each device) or in one unified view showing previews in one area. You’ll also be able to customize the app’s features like zoom, focus, white balance, frame rate, and more for the linked smartphones; pair all this with synchronized to start and stop recording.
There are a host of other tweaks/features, so I’ve managed to copy the release notes from the update itself:
- Supports controlling multiple phones with Blackmagic Camera
- Monitor multiple phone captures remotely
- Blackmagic Camera app is now available for iPad
- HD captures are now possible at 100fps on iPhone 15 Pro
- New select all option when selecting multiple clips
- General performance and stability improvements
While the method to connect more than one device as a camera looks to use wireless methods and a device passcode, it also opens the questiion – could cross-platform smartphones easily be used for multiple cameras (i.e. mix of Android and iPhones connecting to an iPad)?
Just like what Blackmagic Design does, it’s free and you can download it from the App Store.
