- These are the best camera apps for iPhone in 2023.
We've tested all the leading options
and narrowed it down to the top two iPhone camera apps
that we recommend to help you decide
which is the best camera app for you.
And as we go through, let me know down in the comments
what's your go-to camera app and why?
So as you probably know
there are so many camera app options out there
and it's been a really tough call this year
to narrow this down to just two.
But my top two camera apps this year
go to Cinema P3 and Filmic Pro.
Both of these will really give you DSLR like settings
or pro camera settings on your iPhone
and let you dial in your settings,
things like your ISO, your shutter speed,
your white balance,
and help you unlock more control over your recording formats
and style too.
So we're gonna dive into each one
of these so you can see why they're so amazing
and why they're my top picks.
So Cinema P3 Pro Camera, it's got an amazing,
really easy-to-use interface.
It makes it so easy for you to jump in
and to quickly and easily find everything,
really, really fast.
And I absolutely love that you get direct access
to all of your main functions
and things that you'll be using all the time,
easily accessible, right on the main page
or the main dashboard.
You can quickly see things like your video formats
and your settings all up the top at any time
but it's also not just a display.
You can actually tap on each
of those things to bring up the settings,
and to change them which again is super intuitive
and saves you a bunch of time needing to go
and dive into menus and settings and things.
So the app itself is pretty customizable too
with a bunch of settings that you can either enable
or disable for your liking and for your use case.
Things like adjusting the focus loupe size,
you can enable or disable a tilt sensor,
and your guides, but there's also some cool stuff
in there as well like a correction feature
for lens distortion.
So if you're gonna be filming
with a wide angle camera lens,
then it can process that footage
to remove that fisheye look.
And you can even dial in things
like the speed that you're able to zoom at.
One of the features I absolutely love in here
is that you've also got the option
to set it to preserve your camera settings.
So you're able to use the same settings
for each of the different camera modes.
And you've also got the ability to have it automatically
lock your white balance when you hit record, which is great
if you're shooting in a run and gun situation.
You can even control stuff like disabling your phone screen
from automatically dimming or control your display
brightness when you're using the app as well.
So you don't need to be jumping back
and forth between your phone settings
and the app, you can access this stuff right from the app.
Now they've also got hardware support
in here for things like anamorphic lenses too.
In regards to the pricing,
there is a free version of the app
which is good if you want to jump in
and have a play around,
but in order to unlock all of the features,
then you will need the pro version
which is currently selling for $8 99.
But overall it's a great app.
It's got a bunch of features
and controls and stuff in there.
I personally love how easy it is to use
and it's gonna be great for someone
whether you're an absolute beginner,
right through to that sort of intermediate level,
given the amount of features
and controls and stuff that are in there.
But for those of you that are looking
for the most amount of pro-grade features,
and that's where Filmic Pro is going to be the one for you.
So Filmic Pro is kind of like the OG
when it comes to advanced camera apps for smartphones.
It's been around for quite a while now,
and this is something that is getting
some pro-grade usage as well.
There's people that are using these for movies
and documentaries and things
because of the amount of features
and controls that are in here.
But fairly recently Filmic Pro
has actually had a bit of an overhaul,
not just in the app itself, but also on their pricing model.
So previously it was a one-time fee
for lifetime access to the app, but they've now transitioned
over to a subscription model for the new version
the new interface of the app.
So they have, I guess, ruffled a few feathers
with people that paid lifetime access,
now not having access to the newer version,
but I'd essentially treat it
like it is a new app altogether.
Anyone that purchased the previous version
can still download and use the Legacy app.
But if you do want to access the new interface
all the new features
and everything, then that really is a new purchase
on that new subscription model.
And in my experience from looking at the two
it really is a big step up
and a big improvement on the new version
over the old one, with one of the biggest improvements
being the overall interface
and giving you quick access to a lot of the major controls
and things that you would use on a day-to-day basis.
So things like being able to quickly
and easily adjust the audio inputs
and even your volume level
and having the ability to quickly customize things up
like switching between basic audio bars
to pro-level audio levels, literally just by tapping on it.
The settings menu's been overhauled as well.
It's now easier to navigate
without the need to dive into menus
and menus on things to find stuff.
Now it's all pretty logical, and again, fast.
I absolutely love that they have a custom function button,
giving you fast access to one of your most used features.
So you get to choose what happens when you tap this button.
Again, saving you from diving into menus and stuff.
In terms of usability, adjusting the focus
and exposure is easy just by moving the corresponding circle
or square around on the screen.
Or if you want more granular control
then you can dive into the sliders there as well.
I love that you can easily see your recording settings
and formats and everything right at the top
just like you could with Cinema P3 Pro.
And again, this isn't just a readout or information.
These are buttons that link directly
to those settings so that you can adjust it.
So you can see you can easily change things
like the picture profile
or the gamma curve from natural dynamic flat
or even log profile, all here from the main screen.
Filmic Pro's also got great control over things
like your white balance, so there's presets in there
that are available as well, but you also have the ability
to create your own custom presets.
And again, you can also manually set your color temperature
and the tint in here too.
Now, while a lot of apps out there now support
different hardware integrations with gimbals
and lenses and things,
Filmic Pro has the most amount of support,
most amount of interaction,
and it also supports things like Clean HDMI output,
the ability to use anamorphic lenses,
but also save an anamorphic preview version
of your video there as well.
And a feature that I absolutely love is the ability
to apply different overlays of different aspect ratios
or guides to your videos.
And even just having this feature as a preview is amazing
but you also have the ability to crop your video
to those aspect ratios
in Filmic Pro as well, meaning that you can create videos
in different formats like square
or full cinematic wide screen if you want to,
all in Filmic Pro too.
And the other thing I absolutely love
about Filmic Pro is their companion app for remote control.
So the Filmic Remote app.
This is something that I use all the time,
especially if I'm here filming solo by myself
that I can monitor and control Filmic Pro
from another device.
Now, in terms of pricing, as I said,
they overhauled this too, and it's no longer a onetime fee.
It's now a subscription.
Your options are weekly, $2.99,
or there's also a yearly option for 49.99.
Now, while that does put Filmic Pro
as one of the more expensive options out there,
I really think that given what you're getting access to
in there, literally stuff that people are making movies
and documentaries on, the amount of features
and controls, it's a pretty cheap purchase to have access
to that stuff for your content creation,
especially if you're trying to compare it
to a dedicated device that could do all of that stuff.
So overall, in rounding this out,
if you are someone who is more of a beginner,
or someone up to sort of an intermediate level,
then that's where P3 Cinema Pro
could be the best option for you.
But if you're somebody who's looking
for more advanced features
and controls and having access to things
like the Filmic Remote app for remote controlling as well,
but also the largest range of hardware integration
and things, then it's hard to go past Filmic Pro.
So now that you've got your camera app sorted,
if you wanna learn how to get the most
out of your smartphone when you're creating videos,
then check out the link on screen to our free PDF guide,
taking you through the ultimate filming process,
helping you create amazing videos
right from your smartphone,
and also check out the links
down in the description box below.
We've got a bunch of resources
and videos and things down there
designed to help you with your filming and editing too.
I'll see you in there.