Comparison

Protake vs Blackmagic Camera

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Protake

This app offers professional cinema camera features for mobile devices, enabling advanced video recording and monitoring. It includes features like Wi-Fi video transmission, multiple recording modes, and sophisticated color grading tools.

Highlights
  • Wi-Fi Video Transmission
  • Multiple Recording Modes (AUTO, PRO, DUAL, PORTRAIT)
  • LOG Gamma Curve & Cinematic Looks
  • Advanced Monitoring Tools
  • Composition & Exposure Assistants
  • Frame Rate Normalization
  • Standard File Naming & Metadata
Features
Read full description

Protake brings the filmmaking experience of professional cinema cameras to your mobile devices. No matter you're a daily vlogger, a commercial director, or a well-established filmmaker, you will benefit from Protake's features, including: # [NEW] WI-FI VIDEO TRANSMISSION · In the landscape orientation of AUTO and PRO modes, you can start the brand new Wi-Fi Video Transmission system. · You can transmit the video from 1 "camera" to 4 "monitors" (yes, we're talking about iPhones and iPads). · You can watch up to 4 "cameras" on 1 "monitor". · You can wirelessly start and stop the recording of all "cameras". · You can even monitor HDR and SDR video streams on the same screen. · It's a ground-breaking end-to-end mobile recording and monitoring experience. · It's brought to you by Protake. # MODES · AUTO mode: a mode optimized for vloggers and YouTubers, you can use it single-handedly. · PRO mode: a mode designed for professional filmmakers. All the camera information and control settings are well aligned on the screen. · DUAL mode: recording video with two cameras working at the same time. Recorded in one file as Picture in Picture or two files. · PORTRAIT mode: with iPhone Pro and iPad Pro's LiDAR sensor and the devices' powerful processors, you can record "portrait mode video" with real-time blurred background. # COLOR · LOG: it's not only a genuine LOG gamma curve -- we strictly matched your mobile device's color to the industrial standard - ALEXA Log C. · Cinematic Looks: we provided a dozen of cinematic looks for filmmakers -- the styles are categorized into Neutral Styles, Film Emulation (classic Kodak and Fuji cinema film), Movie Inspired (blockbusters and indie masterpieces), and ALEXA Looks. # ASSISTANTS · Monitoring tools: Waveform, Parade, Histogram, RGB Histogram, Audio Meter. · Composition assistants: Aspect Ratios, Safe Area, Thirds, Crosshairs, and 3-axis Horizon Indicators. · Exposure assistants: Zebra Strips,False Color, Exposure Compensation, Auto Exposure. · Focus assistants: Focus Peaking and Auto Focus. · Recording: Record Beeper, Record Flash, Volume Key Record. · Zooming and Focusing: A-B Point. # DATA · Frame Rate Normalization: Mobile devices don't have perfect frame rate control, therefore, it's easy to get non-standard variable frame rate. Protake solves this problem fundamentally and makes strictly constant FPS of 24, 25, 30, 60, 120, etc. · File-naming: All the video files saved by Protake use the standard naming system: Camera Unit + Reel Number + Clip Count + Date + Suffix. It's something like "A001C00203_200412_IR8J.MOV"... Sounds familiar? · Metadata: Everything including device model, ISO, shutter angel, white balance, lens, connected accessories, location, are all well recorded in the file's metadata. · Time code: We provided both options for you -- Free Run and Record Run. It's compatible with your cinema cameras. # Protake+ · With a Protake+ membership, you can use all the features, including: Pro mode, LOG gamma curve, Protake Cinematic Looks, all the assistant tools, data management, 3rd-party accessories. · Protake+ provides 1-year membership for you to purchase; · Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase; · Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period; · Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period; · The renewal price for 1-year membership is USD 19.99. · You can manage your subscription and switch off the auto-renewal by accessing your Account Settings after purchase; · All personal data is handled under the terms and conditions of Protake’s privacy policy. More details can be found here: https://terms.alicdn.com/legal-agreement/terms/platform_service/20220621172324148/20220621172324148.html https://terms.alicdn.com/legal-agreement/terms/privacy/20220704104156634/20220704104156634.html

About

Blackmagic Camera

Transform your iPhone or iPad into a professional digital film camera. Achieve a cinematic look with Hollywood-grade controls, including frame rate, shutter angle, and ISO adjustments. Record in industry-standard formats directly to cloud storage for seamless global collaboration.

Highlights
  • Digital film camera controls
  • Cinematic 'look' for Hollywood films
  • Adjust frame rate, shutter angle, white balance, ISO
  • Record to Blackmagic Cloud
  • Industry standard 10-bit Apple ProRes files up to 4K
  • Interactive Heads Up Display (HUD)
  • Professional audio options
Features
Read full description

Introducing Digital Film for iPhone and iPad! Blackmagic Camera unlocks the power of your iPhone and iPad by adding digital film camera controls and operating systems! Now you can create the same cinematic ‘look’ as Hollywood feature films. You get the same intuitive and user friendly interface as Blackmagic Design’s award winning cameras. So it’s just like using a professional digital film camera! This means you can adjust settings such as frame rate, shutter angle, white balance and ISO all in a single tap. Or record directly to Blackmagic Cloud in industry standard 10-bit Apple ProRes files up to 4K! Recording to Blackmagic Cloud Storage lets you collaborate on DaVinci Resolve projects with editors anywhere in the world, all at the same time! Get the "Hollywood Look" with Digital Film! Blackmagic Camera puts the professional features you need for feature film, television and documentaries in your pocket. Now you can create YouTube and TikTok content with a cinematic look, and broadcast quality ENG! Imagine having a run and gun camera on hand to capture breaking news whenever it happens! Or use Blackmagic Camera as a B Cam to capture angles that are difficult to reach with traditional cameras, while still retaining control of important settings. Best of all, recording to Blackmagic Cloud allows you to get your footage to the newsroom or post production studio in minutes. Interactive Controls for Fast Setup Blackmagic Camera has all the controls you need to quickly setup and start shooting! Everything is interactive, so you can tap any item and instantly change settings without searching through confusing menus! The HUD shows status and record parameters, histogram, focus peaking indicators, levels, frame guides and more. Show or hide the HUD by swiping up or down. You can auto focus by tapping the screen in the area you want to focus. You can shoot in 16:9 or vertical aspect ratios, plus you can shoot 16:9 while holding your phone vertically if you want to shoot unobtrusively. On Screen Heads Up Display The heads up display, or HUD, controls have the most important camera controls such as lens selection, frame rate, shutter angle, timecode, ISO, white balance, gain and audio levels. You can adjust settings such as exposure by touching the ISO indicator, or you can change the audio levels simply by touching the audio meters. Everything is interactive, so if you tap any item you can instantaneously change its settings without having to search through complex menus! Camera Setup Menus The settings tab unlocks the full power of your phone’s camera, with quick access to advanced settings such as monitoring, audio, camera setup, recording and more! The record tab gives you total control over video resolution and recording format including industry standard Apple ProRes or space efficient H.264 and H.265. Plus, you can set anamorphic de-squeeze and lens correction settings. Professional audio options include AAC and PCM format and VU or PPM audio metering. You can even add external microphones! Or add 3D LUTs to recreate film looks! Media The Blackmagic Camera media tab has all the controls you need to browse or scrub clips for quick review, search and sort and view the upload status of your media. Access your media from Blackmagic Camera’s all clips folder by choosing the Media button to see the thumbnails for each clip you have stored. Plus, you can save to the files folder on the phone, send it to Blackmagic Cloud Storage via Blackmagic Cloud or manually choose which clips to upload to a project library. You can even sync media from Blackmagic Camera directly into the DaVinci Resolve project so you’re ready to edit! Live Sync to Blackmagic Cloud Storage When shooting with Blackmagic Camera, the video you capture can be instantly uploaded as a proxy file, followed by the camera originals, and saved to Blackmagic Cloud Storage. This means you can start editing quickly using your proxies, speeding up your workflow.

Screenshots

Protake4 screens
Blackmagic Camera4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Blackmagic Camera at none against Protake's 4. Blackmagic Camera also leads on review sentiment (68% vs 41%) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). Protake's advantage is iOS requirement (14.1 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Protake sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per year. Blackmagic Camera asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Blackmagic Camera holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Blackmagic Camera has 23K ratings behind it against 1.3K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 41% of Protake's written reviews are positive against 68% of Blackmagic Camera's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Protake ships an update every 2 months, Blackmagic Camera monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Protake versus Blackmagic Camera: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterProtakeBlackmagic Camera
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (1.3K ratings)4.8 (23K ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.7% of reviews68.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.3K23K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
Best chart rank—#33 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS14.1 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size75 MB203 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBeijing Lingguang Zaixian Information Technology LimitedBlackmagic Design Inc

Customer experience

Protake

All ratings1,337 ratings
Positive86.9%
Neutral4.2%
Negative8.9%
Written reviews410 reviews
Positive40.7%
Neutral17.6%
Negative41.7%

Blackmagic Camera

All ratings23,466 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews1,155 reviews
Positive68.2%
Neutral9.5%
Negative22.3%

User reviews

Protake

From 1.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great image stabilization
  • 👍 Excellent UI and easy to use
  • 🎨 Impressive color grading and LOG profiles
  • 📹 Supports 1.33 anamorphic lenses
  • 🔍 Powerful manual controls (focus, zoom, exposure, ISO)

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches (crashes, audio issues, frame rate drops)
  • 🔒 Subscription-based model, no one-time purchase option
  • 🔍 Lack of advanced manual controls (no auto ISO, bitrate control)
  • 🔌 Requires internet connection to use pro features
  • 🤖 Limited support for accessories (gimbals, external mics)

Blackmagic Camera

From 23K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful camera controls
  • 👍 Intuitive and well-designed UI
  • 🎥 Cinematic video quality
  • 💰 Free app with professional features
  • 🔗 Integration with Blackmagic ecosystem

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Stability issues and crashes
  • 🔍 Inaccurate storage indicator
  • 🔀 Orientation issues when switching cameras
  • 🔊 Audio input issues
  • 🔒 Lack of remote control/monitoring options

Bugs and requests

Protake

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Videos not saving properly
  • Subscription not working as expected
  • Stabilization issues in 4K Pro mode
  • Unexpected errors and crashes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add 4K 60fps video recording
  • Implement remote camera monitoring and control
  • Allow manual microphone selection
  • Provide more flexible stabilization options
  • Add support for more gimbal and accessory integrations

Blackmagic Camera

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Stabilization issues in certain recording modes
  • Exposure and focus settings not staying locked
  • Timelapse mode not clearly indicated
  • HDMI output not working reliably
  • Audio source randomly switching to 'None'

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add log/flat color profiles
  • Implement waveform and vectorscope monitors
  • Allow locking shutter speed with auto ISO
  • Provide preset options for common settings
  • Add support for external accessories (e.g., gimbals)
Show 1 more
  • Integrate Apple Watch remote control

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Protake

Subscriptions1
  • Protake+ (1 Year)1 Year trial$19.991 Year
One-time3
  • Protake Cloud: 60 Minutes$4.99
  • Protake Cloud: 180 Minutes$9.99
  • Protake Cloud: 480 Minutes$19.99
None

Blackmagic Camera

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Protake free?
Protake is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Blackmagic Camera free?
Blackmagic Camera is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Protake or Blackmagic Camera?
Blackmagic Camera is rated higher. Protake averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.3K ratings, while Blackmagic Camera averages 4.8 from 23K ratings.
Do Protake or Blackmagic Camera have ads?
Neither Protake nor Blackmagic Camera shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Protake or Blackmagic Camera?
Protake ships an update every 2 months, and Blackmagic Camera monthly. Most recently, Protake was updated on October 14, 2026 and Blackmagic Camera on October 15, 2026.

Other comparisons