The Devil is in the details - Many people see the iPad as a hobbled Mac more than an exciting tablet. Apple attempted to remedy this last year with the addition of its top-tier industry apps: Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. Whilst Logic has won plaudits Final Cut has struggled due to a lack of compatibility with the Mac version. This year things have changed with the upgraded Final Cut Pro 2.
As well as exciting new features like improved colour grading and multi-cam support, YouTubers everywhere will finally be cheering that they can plug an SSD with their Mac FCP projects on board and continue where they left off. This external project support finally allows professional videographers to add an iPad Pro to their workflow where before it was in a weird standalone twilight zone.
An interesting new feature this year is a new Final Cut Camera app. This application, thankfully not limited to Pro-iDevices (iPhone XS or better!) connects to FCP on the iPad allowing the user to view simultaneous video feeds from up to 4 devices. This for me is the most exciting feature; I have written in the past about using an iPad Pro to capture the footage from experiments, normally using the wide-angle camera to get in the apparatus and the readout. With Live Multicam in Final Cut Pro for iPad, wirelessly connect up to four devices running the Final Cut Camera app to capture video from multiple angles right from your iPad.
Live Multicam uses a wireless point-to-point connection between devices for streaming live multicam video and transferring completed video files from Final Cut Camera devices to Final Cut Pro on iPad. Preview (proxy) files are streamed from Final Cut Camera on each device during recording, so you can monitor the video from each angle in Final Cut Pro and control camera settings for each angle remotely. All Live Multicam devices must have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on and be signed in to an Apple Account, but don't need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network. To connect a device, tap the Connect to Live Multicam button in Final Cut Camera, then follow the instructions to make the device discoverable. When you end the Live Multicam recording session, preview (proxy) files from your recording are synced together as a multicam clip. The files appear automatically in the Final Cut Pro for iPad browser, so you can begin editing immediately.
The Final Cut Camera app allows you to record professional video on your mobile devices with full control. Buried in this week's flurry of Apple announcements for the iPad Pro (2024), M4 chip and Apple Pencil Pro was some fascinating news for video shooters - an updated 'Final Cut Pro for iPad 2' app and an even more intriguing app, for both Apple's tablets and the iPhone, called Final Cut Camera. What's particularly interesting about Final Cut Camera is that it's designed to both work as a standalone app for shooting video, and also in tandem with that clunkily-named new Final Cut Pro editing app. When working with the latter, it introduces multi-cam capabilities when shooting video on iPads and iPhones.
Multi-cam functionality has been around for a little while now, with Blackmagic and LumaFusion paving the way for a new mobile way of filming and editing videos. This has represented a significant shift for the industry and it’s great to see Apple weighing in with their own solution. After using LumaFusion, I’m really looking forward to seeing how Apple’s offering compares - the app is due out "later this spring" (in other words, sometime before the end of June) and will cost $4.99 / £4.99 / AU$7.99 a month.
But it's Apple's free app Final Cut Camera, that's arguably more interesting - particularly as it's separate from the iPhone's standard Camera app. Final Cut Camera delivers pro video controls to iPhones and iPads, letting video shooters take control of fine-tuning settings - and also combining up to four different video feeds from those devices, live-cutting between them. Until now, Apple has left this kind of thing to third-party app makers - but if it can do it for video, there's no reason it might not also do the same for photography, too.
What does Final Cut Camera do? Through this free standalone app, which will also land "later this spring" (sometime by mid-June), it'll be possible to adjust a whole host of pro video settings - and also sync your live video feed to an iPad running the Final Cut Pro 2 app. Those settings include ISO, shutter speed, white balance, focus and more, to help you get professional-grade recording. The interface even lets videographers monitor incoming footage with a zebra stripe pattern tool and audio meter.
The multi-cam feature, which you get when using Final Cut Camera in tandem with the Final Cut Pro 2, instantly turns a group of Apple devices into a mini production studio. This makes it possible for any iPhone user to take ultimate control of their video capture and for more complex setups to all be controlled from a single device. Everything is, of course, wireless, which makes for a super straightforward setup on the ground. The seamless syncing of both video and audio also dramatically streamlines editing workflows and allows videographers to turn projects around in a fraction of the time.
The Blackmagic Camera app offers very similar functionality to the Final Cut Camera app. Looking at the two apps side by side, it’s clear how similar they are in terms of functionality. Both offer manual control over the lens but Blackmagic provides a much greater level of audio data as well as an RGB histogram. The Final Cut Camera App follows all of Apple's design rules, which looks great but I can’t help but feel that providing a little more data to users would have been helpful. Perhaps it's filling a gap in between the stock Camera app and a truly pro option like the Blackmagic Camera app.
Will Apple make a pro photo app? It's a shame that Apple's new Final Cut Camera app doesn't also include photography controls or functionality. But I hope this means we'll also see a photo-leaning equivalent of the app, maybe even around WWDC 2024. The default Apple Camera app has been substandard, for keen shooters at least, for a long time now and many have turned to the likes of Halide for more pro control over their photos. But a free alternative would be a nice partner to the Final Cut Camera app.
Not everyone would need it - for most iPhone users, the point-and-shoot experience of the stock Camera app is fine. But being given full access to ISO and shutter speed settings, plus visualization tools like a histogram or zebra stripes are all very handy if you're looking to shoot in raw and maximize image quality. If Apple does decide to do something on those lines, it'd that be another app to go alongside Final Cut Camera. Final Cut has always been video-focused and Apple has been loathe to clutter its stock Camera app with new controls, even within a sub-menu. For now, the release of multi-cam functionality and a dedicated video camera app is a great step forward. It puts Apple on a par with LumaFusion and BlackMagic and makes for a very exciting and competitive video space on iPhones and iPads.
Final Cut Camera goes above and beyond the regular Camera app. It delivers incredible manual control over your iPhone’s camera system and is totally free on the App Store. Final Cut Camera requires iOS 17.4, which Apple released on March 5, 2024. Set resolution, codec and more right in the camera. When using Final Cut Camera, you will see details about the quality of video you’re shooting near the Dynamic Island on your iPhone. Tap on this area to expand it and make adjustments. You can zoom in and out between your iPhone’s different rear cameras or its front-facing camera. Access manual controls for exposure, focus, color temperature and orientation. The light bulb and sun button adjusts the color temperature - whether whites are tinted bluer or yellower. Slide on the level to adjust. The plus/minus button adjusts exposure - how bright the image looks.
Final Cut Camera keeps a separate library of media apart from your personal photo library. Videos you shoot in Final Cut Camera don’t get saved to your iCloud Photos library. Tap the preview in the corner to see recorded media. The green indicates which parts are in focus; the red indicates which parts are overexposed. The Settings button in Final Cut Camera brings up a panel with the same controls over video format and resolution as before. Note: None of these effects will show up in the final recording. Live Multicam lets an iPad with Final Cut Pro use one or more iPhones as remote cameras. Footage shot from each iPhone records directly into the timeline live. With multiple iPhones, the iPad lets you become a director, switching between them with the tap of a button.
In summary, Final Cut Camera expands the capabilities of iPhone and iPad for professional video capture, enabling multi-angle live recording and seamless transfer into Final Cut Pro on iPad. It does not inherently make photos its primary function, but it provides robust control and workflow enhancements for video mentorship and field shoots. The integration with Final Cut Pro 2 is what unlocks the true multi-device, live-cutting experience across Apple devices, aligning mobile shooting with desktop editing power.
How to use Final Cut Camera
For photographers seeking more pro-oriented controls in stills, the article notes that a dedicated pro photo app could appear, but currently the emphasis remains on video capabilities and workflow efficiency within Apple’s ecosystem. The evolving suite signals Apple's push to unify mobile and desktop production into a cohesive, camera-agnostic workflow.