Set it once. Film it right.
Seven quick taps about your phone, your light and where the video’s going. Get a settings card with the exact settings, why each one matters and where to find it on your phone.
What do you film with? guessed
Where are you? guessed
Not sure?
60 Hz: the US, Canada, Mexico, most of Central America, Brazil, Colombia, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia. 50 Hz: the UK, Europe, Australia, India, China and most of Africa and Asia. Japan is split: east (Tokyo) 50 Hz, west (Osaka) 60 Hz.
What’s your light? guessed
What’s moving? guessed
Where will it go? guessed
What look? guessed
Any slow motion? guessed
Defaults, not laws. When a setting and your eyes disagree, film both, watch them on a phone and trust the test.
Before you press record
Fixes and calculators
Flicker fixer
Rolling dark bands under lamps or LEDs? Check your frame rate against your power.
Test it: film a plain wall under the light for five seconds and watch for bands. Buy lights sold as flicker-free for anything you film often.
Slow-motion calculator
How slow a clip plays, and how much more light it needs.
How much can you film?
With your settings above. Find free space in your phone’s settings, under Storage.
How it works
Each answer changes the card. Your power decides the frame rate and shutter that keep lights from flickering. Your light decides the resolution, the white balance and the advice. What’s moving decides whether to lock focus or let it follow. Your platform decides how to hold the phone and what to export.
Every setting comes with the reason for it, so you know when to break it. The steps for your phone are a starting point: menus move between models and updates, so if a step doesn’t match, check your phone’s settings screen.
The four that matter most
Wipe the lens. Lock focus and exposure. Keep one frame rate for the whole video. Use the 1x lens and the zoom buttons, never a pinch. Those four fix most phone footage that looks cheap.
Common questions
What frame rate should I film short videos in?
30 fps is a convenient default where power is 60 Hz (like the US and Canada), and 25 fps where it’s 50 Hz (like the UK, Europe and much of the world). 24 fps if you want a film look, 60 or more for fast action or slow motion. None is a rule. Pick one and use it for every clip in a video.
Should I film in 4K or 1080p?
Film in 4K if your phone and storage can handle it, then export at 1080 × 1920. 4K gives you room to crop and reframe. In very low light, or if your phone overheats, 1080p is the better choice.
Why does my video have rolling dark bands?
Some lights flicker too fast for your eyes but not for the camera. Match your frame rate to your power (30 or 60 fps at 60 Hz, 25 or 50 fps at 50 Hz), set the shutter to match if you can, and buy lights sold as flicker-free for anything you film often.
What does locking focus and exposure do?
Phones keep adjusting focus and brightness, which is great for photos and bad for video: focus hunts and brightness jumps. On most phones, tap and hold on your subject until a lock shows, and both stay put.
Is anything I pick saved or sent anywhere?
Your answers are saved only on your device, in My Studio. Nothing is sent to a server.
Chapter 28 of Worth Watching covers light: hard and soft, direction, color and flicker. Chapter 29 covers your phone as a camera, from frame rates to export settings, and which defaults to break.
Read the free sample →