You can now record the Super Bowl with two iPhone 11 cameras at once using DoubleTakе
The ones we are most interested in, however, are the features that Samsung keeps trademarking and will most likely add to the camera app of the S20 series, and one of those is Director’s View. IT should be doing what it says on the tin, record footage with more than one camera at once, like what Huawei does with Dual View on its flagships.
Samsung says it will allow you to “tap the thumbnails on the left to switch between camera lenses. Tap the ones on the right to jump to a close-up on a subject,” so Director’s View is exactly this. Recording simultaneous footage with multiple cameras at once, however, requires an extreme amount of processing and resources, so the latest rumor is that the S20 series may skip Director’s View in its original intention altogether.
Enter Apple and its A13 chipset that has already taken on the S20 with Snapdragon 865, and beat it in benchmarks. Remember FiLMiC’s demo during the iPhone 11 launch keynote? The guys showed an app that can preview and record with all the iPhone 11 series cameras at once.
Per iOS 13 capabilities, multi-cam video is restricted to the following devices only: iPhone 11 Pro Max, 11 Pro, 11, Xs Max, Xs and Xr. While this app will install and function on all devices supported by iOS 13, all devices outside of this list will be restricted to recording video from on a single camera.
We can see this app being useful in various scenarios like video blogging where you have to comment on something in front of the lens and still want your trademark face expressions to matter, or taking both closeup and wide shots during a sports game. In fact, FiLMiC lists several such scenarios, and even adds shooting modes to help you execute them with minimum hassle:
Multi-cam: Capture two different focal lengths of the same subject at the same time. Use DoubleTake with the Ultra Wide lens (iPhone 11 Pro Max, 11 Pro and 11 only) and the Tele to capture both an establishing shot and a punch-in on your subject simultaneously. Or use any other combination of front and rear lenses for unrivaled multi-cam capture.
PiP or Discreet: The DoubleTake interface allows you to see both cameras of your video capture at the same time through the use of a Picture in Picture (PiP) window. You can move this PiP around the screen, tap to zoom in, or swipe it away if it’s distracting (the second video will continue to record). With DoubleTake you can decide if you want to record your videos as separate discrete files or if you want the video recorded as a composite video that includes the PiP window animated as you see it on the screen.
Split-screen: Doubletake also allows you to use any two cameras to create a 50/50 split-screen effect that is saved as a single video. This is great for capturing engaging interviews, or any scenario where two sides of the story need equal weighting on screen.
Just like Huawei’s dual-view option, you can only record with two of said iPhone cameras at once, although you get a preview on all three or four, including the selfie snapper. FiLMiC’s new app allows you to record 1080p footage only, of course, as a 4K definition would have been too much for the processors to handle. Well, the Super Bowl is nearing so you can take DoubleTake for a spin right then and there – it’s free, after all, unlike FiLMiC’s typically expensive iPhone camera app offerings.