May 27, 2023 Image of Pro Camera by Moment Logo

Recipes for Pro Camera by Moment for iPhone.

Powerful presets for incredible images and video.

While Halide rules in iOS still photography and Filmic rules in iOS video, Pro Camera by Moment is probably the best pro-quality app for those who shoot as many stills as video. The added plus is that Pro Camera lets you save presets for various photo and video shooting functions and call them up with two taps. This article is a recipe book for how to create Pro Camera presets. While some are practical, others are wonderfully experimental.

Note: There are a ton of parameters you can set for both photos and video in Pro Camera. If a parameter setting isn’t included in a recipe, you can leave it at the default setting when Pro Camera first opens. If you need to exit the camera app to return to default, draw an arc to the right from the bottom of your screen. This calls up the current apps. Just slide up on Pro Camera to close it.

Index

Photo Recipes

Video Recipes

Built-In Presets

Photo recipes.

Moment saves all still images to your Camera Roll.

DayBlur.

DayBlur simulates a bulb-mode, manual shutter combined with a neutral density filter for long exposures in daylight. What’s actually happening is that your iPhone is taking and merging multiple shots. When used on a tripod you can blur waterfalls and blur-out moving people on crowded streets. It can also be used handheld for blur techniques as in the image above. The beauty here is that the final exposure is adjusted automatically whether you take a few frames or hundreds.

Tap the icon at the bottom right and choose Slow Shutter.
Tap Effect and choose Motion Blur.
Drag the shutter speed slider above it left and choose Bulb.
Tap Preset.
Tap Create a New Preset.
Tap the text field that says My New Preset and name it DayBlur.
Tap Done.
Tap Save.

To use it, tap the shutter button to start and again to stop. While engaged, the ring around the shutter button will pulse blue. This create exposures as long as you like. I’ve made 45 minute exposures with it.

This preset saves the result as a Live photo and includes a video of the blurring process. To export the video from the Photos app: Open the image > Tap the More icon (three dots) > Choose Save as Video. Note that the videos of very long exposures can be massive, even though your iPhone is fooled into thinking they’re small.

NightBlur.

Photo of fireflies made with long exposure

This preset simulates film bulb-mode that leaves the shutter open on a film camera for long, nighttime exposures on a tripod. The difference from the DayBlur setting above is that the highlights are captured at full brightness. It’s useful for light trails from car headlights. The image here is a half-hour “exposure” of fireflies at dusk.

Tap the icon at the bottom right and choose Slow Shutter.
Tap Effect and choose Light Trails.
Drag the shutter speed slider above it left and choose Bulb.
Tap Preset.
Tap Create a New Preset.
Tap the text field that says My New Preset and name it NightBlur.
Tap Done.
Tap Save.

To use it, tap the shutter button to start and again to stop. While engaged, the ring around the shutter button will pulse blue.

Tele.

The iPhone Pro’s built-in Camera app may not always use the Tele camera when you tell it to. When light is too dim or the subject too close, the iPhone will switch to the 1x camera and digitally zoom to get a 2x, 2.5x or 3x image. This preset will always shoot the Tele camera. In low light you’ll likely want to use a monopod or tripod to avoid blur from the longer exposure and the longer lens.

Make sure the Camera icon is showing on the bottom right.
Tap the lens size icon and choose the largest number available.
Tap Preset.
Tap Create a New Preset.
Tap the text field that says My New Preset and name it Tele.
Tap Done.
Tap Save.

Note that the closest the Tele camera can focus is about 18 inches.

Macro.

The Macro mode of iPhone’s built-in Pro cameras can have issues with focus and shifting between the .5x and 1x camera. Build this preset in Pro Camera and you can adust the focus manually.

Make sure the Camera icon is showing on the bottom right.
Tap the lens size icon and choose .5x.
Tap Auto F and drag the slider right to 0.00.
Tap Preset.
Tap Create a New Preset.
Tap the text field that says My New Preset and name it Macro.
Tap Done.
Tap Save.

The preset locks focus at the minimum focus distance, about ¾”. You can move in and out to focus. Or tap Focus and drag the slider to manually adjust focus.

Pop Arazzi

The built-in Camera app on the iPhone have made flash fairly obsolete and it won’t fire except for in situations of extreme darkness. But flash is sometimes used as an effect in daylight. This preset will fire the flash no matter how bright or dim the scene.

Make sure the Camera icon is showing on the bottom right.
Tap the lightning icon.
Choose the middle lightning bolt
Tap EV 0.0.
Drag the slider right until it reads -1.0
Tap Preset.
Tap Create a New Preset.
Tap the text field that says My New Preset and name it Pop Arazzi.
Tap Done.
Tap Save.

This can also be useful in some closeups when the iPhone is causing a shadow.

Highlight protection.

Overexposing the image will result in areas that are burned into pure white and details in these areas will be lost. Underexposing is a trick photographers use to protect highlights and better saturate to color in images.

While Pro Camera has a universal setting that for Highlight Clipping that can help protect against overexposure, you may want to use this preset to add a little more protection to retrieve highlights or enrich colors. The red zebra stripes on your screen shows where you’re at risk of overexposure.

Make sure the Camera icon is showing on the bottom right.
Tap EV and drag the slider right until it says -0.4
Tap Preset.
Tap Create a New Preset.
Tap the text field that says My New Preset and name it -HiLItes.
Tap Done.
Tap Save.

Note that there’s a compromise: Some of the deepest shadows may get burned into pure black and won’t be recoverable. Blue zebra stripes note shadow areas that are at risk.

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Video recipes.

Moment saves videos in your Camera Roll, but saves time-lapses as a series of images that require exporting.

4K Time Lapse.

The iPhone Camera app’s built-in Time Lapse function is convenient, but doesn’t offer the highest resolution, nor control of frame rate. This recipe gives you the best time lapse quality you can get from an iPhone. Note: These time lapses can take up a lot of memory, but give you spectacular quality.

Tap the Camera icon at the bottom right and and choose Time Lapse.
Tap the format button and choose HEIF or JPG.
Tap Resolution and choose 4K.
Tap Frames until it says Interval and choose 1.0s.
Tap 1.0 and choose 0.5.
Tap Preset.
Tap Create a New Preset.
Tap the text field that says My New Preset and name it 4K TimeLapse.
Tap Done.
Tap Save.

To use it, tap the Shutter button to start and again to stop. While actively recording, the blue ring around the button will cycle every second. The Ultra Wide lens gives you the most dramatic movement.

Pro Camera’s time lapse videos need to be exported: Tap the thumbnail of your video > Tap your video > Export > Format: HEVC > Res: 4K > Quality: High > FPS: 60 > Export.

Tips:

Use a tripod.
Set the Ring switch on your iPhone to silent to avoid the clicking sound and possible camera shake.
4K resolution was chosen over Max for this recipe because even with an iPhone 14 Pro, I’ve only been able to export at a maximum of 4K.
Pro Camera can be set to record frames at intervals of up to 61 second.
Export from the FPS Shortcut affects length and motion: 30fps will be twice as long and half as fast as 60fps.
You can choose to export as HEVC or H.246 standard. H.264 is the older standard and compatible with more video apps. HEVC gives you smaller files as well as cleaner compression and smoother motion.
If using an iPhone model other than Pro or an older Pro model, processing ability may require you to reduce quality on export.
You can also use the flash during time lapse to flash each frame, but note that this burns through the battery quickly. It’s recommended that you plug into external power while shooting.

BlurLapse.

This cool effect uses time-lapse video combined with a slow-shutter speed to create uniquely-blurred video.

Tap the mode icon in the lower right corner and choose Time Lapse.
Tap Effect and choose Motion Blur.
Drag the speed slider left to Bulb.
Tap the Photo Format on the top and choose HEIF or JPG.
Tap Resolution on the top and choose 4K.
Tap Frames until it says Interval and drag the slide to 1.0s.
Tap Preset.
Tap Create a New Preset.
Tap the text field that says My New Preset and name it BlurLapse.
Tap Save.

To use it, tap the Shutter button to start and again to stop. While actively recording, the blue ring around the button will cycle every second.

Pro Camera’s time-lapse videos need to be exported: Tap the thumbnail on the bottom left > Tap your video > Export > Format: HEVC > Res: 4K > Quality: High > FPS: 24 > Export.

In the demo video I also slowed playback with my [FPS Shortcut] set to .24. The Shortcut is free.

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Macro Video.

The built-in Camera app on iPhone models won’t engage Macro automatically for video. If your phone has a Macro mode, you can manually engage it in the app by tapping the .5 camera, but I’ve found it to have dodgy results. Instead, create a macro video preset.

Tap the icon in the bottom right corner and choose Video.
Tap the 1x circle and choose .5x.
Tap Auto F and drag the slider right to Focus: 0.00
Tap Preset.
Tap Create a New Preset.
Tap the text field that says My New Preset and name it MacroVid.
Tap Save.

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Built in Presets.

RAW Burst

The built-in Camera app was created around taking amazing JPEGs, so Burst-Mode can only record in JPEG format. By contrast, the RAW Burst preset in Pro Camera can take bursts in ProRAW format.

Cinematic Video

Apple’s Cinematic mode lets you refocus your image and control depth of field during and after shooting for poetic video. Pro Camera’s Cinematic mode gives you control over parameters like manual focus, white balance, manual exposure, ISO and shutter speed.

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My take.

Pro Camera by Moment is the closest thing we have to a programmable still and video camera for iPhone and it’s at a surprisingly reasonable price. Whether you just want settings you can quickly access or like messing with experimental photography and video, Pro Camera has some nice tricks up it’s sleeve.

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