We have great news today! We are thrilled to present you with REC, a video recording app that is a perfect match for Camera+ 2.
Video recording is one of the features that comes up frequently in conversations with our customers. The first design decision we had to address was whether to add it as an additional feature inside Camera+ 2, or make it a separate app. After a lot of consideration, we decided to create a new app, and we believe that’s the best long-term decision for our customers.
We want Camera+ 2 and REC to be the best apps for photo and video capture. Having them separate will allow us to keep a razor-sharp focus on the best features and UI for each task. It prevents bloating. We won’t have to make compromises down the line on certain aspects of the user experience: we’ll just use what’s best for either app. And, while some people do photo and video, many others favor one more than the other, or use them for different purposes. That’s actually the case inside our small team: Jorge is very active in his video shooting, but I’m more of a photography guy. Karl is prolific in both, but he either works in a photo session or a video shooting at any given time, and prefers to keep his media separate. If the App Store taught us something is that small specialized apps are usually better than big ones.
REC is a video shooting app with pro features that can be used by expert videographers and casual shooters alike. We took a lot of care to create a beautiful and thoughtful design with easy access to advanced features when you need them.
REC provides easy access to resolution, format, codec and frame rate, so you can always choose the best technical settings for your project. Focus and exposure can be set automatically, which works great for a wide variety of situations. REC also offers intuitive touch controls as well as a full manual mode that allows you to select the best settings for your scene and style.
REC’s automatic exposure mode is unlike any other, and we call it Cine Exposure. By combining information from the light metering system with the recording frame rate, REC tries to choose a sensible shutter speed that ensures smooth and natural playback of moving subjects. This makes it easy for everyone to achieve pleasing results effortlessly, and prevent unrealistic movement patterns that are sometimes hard to detect while shooting. Cine Mode is enabled by default, and will be active as long as the lighting conditions allow for it.
The following video shows the difference between a scene shot using REC’s automatic Cine Exposure Mode and the wrong manual settings. Note how the movement of the blades feels more natural and pleasing to the eye when the appropriate shutter speed is selected. REC’s Cine Mode takes the guesswork out of it and tries to do the right thing when possible.
Remember: this is just the first version of REC ever. We are proud we were able to pull this one off!
Additional pro-friendly REC features include gain control for external microphones, or the ability to disable the camera stabilizer. One of our favorites is the option to automatically lock exposure and white balance when you start recording, even if you are using automatic or touch exposure. You can set the scene exactly the way you want it and then start shooting with the confidence that no sudden changes will occur during your capture.
Finally, we also wanted to showcase the video browser and player section of the app. It has a very clean design without sacrificing the essential information about your footage. It is intended as a temporary storage area where you can save all the clips produced during your current shooting session, in order to make it easy to select the ones to save or send to your computer. All the videos here can be dragged out of the app if you connect your iPhone to your computer.
Those are the main features we selected for REC 1.0. Of course, we have plenty of additional ideas coming down the pipeline. If you are familiar with our apps you already know that our development style is to make them better and better with each release, and we’d be happy to have you on board during our REC journey. We have no plans for it to stop.
REC will be available for $4.99 on July 16th, but is available for pre-order right now for $3.99, a 20% discount off of the regular price.
We have a very sweet deal for all of our Camera+ 2 customers. On the 16th we are launching a bundle containing Camera+ 2 and REC for just $6.99, 30% off the regular combined price of $9.98. If you already own Camera+ 2, you can complete your bundle and just pay the difference.
Thanks for reading!