Comparison

Shot Designer vs Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic

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

Head to head
About

Shot Designer

Create detailed camera diagrams and shot lists quickly. Animate characters and cameras in real-time to visualize scene rhythm. Import storyboards and sync projects with your team.

Highlights
  • Real-time camera and character animation
  • Integrated shot list generation
  • Director's viewfinder and storyboard import
  • Set and lighting design tools
  • Team sharing and syncing
  • Template creation and library
Features
Read full description

WHAT IS SHOT DESIGNER? • CAMERA DIAGRAM - Shot Designer dramatically speeds up the Director's process of making camera diagrams. Create full-blown diagrams in seconds. The software does most of the work. • ANIMATION - Animate your characters and cameras to move around your diagram in real-time. Previsualize the rhythm of a scene by seeing it play out. • SHOT LIST - The integrated Shot List is tied into the diagram and writes itself while you work. Edit shots intuitively in the diagram, not in a confusing spreadsheet. • DIRECTOR'S VIEWFINDER / STORYBOARDS - Bring in lens-accurate camera angles via the integrated Director's Viewfinder or Storyboard Import. • MAC/PC DESKTOP VERSION - An identical Mac/PC Desktop Version is included with the Pro Version (in-app upgrade). • SYNC & TEAM SHARING - Sync your scenes across all your devices. Share scene folders with teams. Control who owns which scene. (Pro Feature) Watch the feature-demo at https://www.hollywoodcamerawork.com/shot-designer-videos.html CAMERA-BLOCKING ON STEROIDS Shot Designer was developed by Per Holmes, the creator of the renowned Hollywood Camera Work training, and has been developed in conjunction with major TV and Film productions. Shot Designer is based on the realization that neither Camera Diagrams, Shot Lists, or Storyboards by themselves give you a satisfying understanding of camera-blocking -- you have to use them *together*. Shot Designer is FAST. The app knows how Directing works and automatically does most of the work for you. Cameras rearrange themselves when you move characters. Animate characters and cameras with simple Walk To and Track To commands. Create sophisticated tracking shots with multiple marks. Shot Designer is fast enough that you can rearrange the diagram with actors waiting. OTHER FEATURES • Integrated Set Designer for building floor plans. • Integrated Lighting Designer for DPs, with lighting symbols provided by Ari Golan of Atomic Imaging Studios Chicago. • Import production drawings as backgrounds and block on top of them. • Factory Templates of pre-made camera setups for any situation. • Make your own templates as starting points for new scenes. • Large and growing prop/furniture library. Email us requests, we'll build them. • Scene Freeze: Experiment easily by taking snapshots you can return to (Pro). • PDF/JPG/Excel export and emailing of Camera Diagrams and Shot Lists (Pro). • Unlimited Folder Structure for organizing scenes (Pro). The Free Version of Shot Designer is full-featured except for Save, Export and Sync/Team. Your current scene is always saved, and you can be fully productive working on one scene at a time. The Pro Version (in-app upgrade) adds File Management, identical Mac/PC Desktop Version, Sync and Team Sharing, PDF/JPG/Excel Export and more.

About

Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic

Control Blackmagic cameras remotely via Bluetooth. Manage multiple cameras simultaneously, adjust settings like white balance, frame rate, and ISO, and even control focus and zoom with external controllers.

Highlights
  • External controller support (Tilta Nucleus)
  • Multi-cam control (up to 12 cameras)
  • Camera grouping and custom settings
  • Remote focus and zoom control
  • Start/stop recording
  • Adjust white balance, ISO, frame rate
  • Digital slate metadata entry
Features
Read full description

-- NEW External Controllers -- Connect Tilta Nucleus Nano & Nucleus-M to control Focus, Iris and Zoom, as well as Start & Stop Recording. Zoom and Focus control supported on Pocket 4K only. This is part of the new Pro feature set, which also includes Multi-Cam mode. -- MULTI-CAM MODE -- Multi-Cam Mode is now part of the Pro feature set, and includes these fantastic features: • Control up to 12 Blackmagic cameras at once • Create up to 3 distinct Control Groups, to give you fine-grain control over different settings for different cameras • You can choose to have changes made on one camera automatically update all the other cameras in its Control Group, or control everything straight from Bluetooth+ • Give your cameras Nicknames to quick, easy control Multi-Cam gives you control over the following features synced across an entire Group: • Start/Stop Recording • White Balance + Tint • Project frame rate (off-speed frame rates not supported) • Shutter Angle/Speed • ISO • Overlays • Slate • Trigger Auto-focus You can still control all other settings on a camera-by-camera basis, including: • Trigger stills capture • Iris control • Focus + Zoom (on supported lenses) • Codec + Resolution • Playback control • You can also set ISO specifically, rather than by camera group And of course, everyone has access to all of these amazing features: • Follow Focus (limited support for EF Mount cameras). See below for more info • Zoom Control on supported lenses • Trigger Stills capture • Record Start/Stop • White Balance + Tint, including 5 helpful presets and Auto White Balance • Audio Controls • Trigger Autofocus (for supported electronic lenses with autofocus enabled on lens) • Off-speed frame rates • Aperture (for supported electronic lenses) • Shutter Angle • ISO • Auto-Exposure Control • Active Card • Power On/Off • Monitor Overlays • Codec & Resolution • Enter metadata in the Digital Slate (including location data from your iPhone or iPad if you give permission) • Control Lock - locks critical controls while recording, preventing accidental settings changes during takes -- Follow Focus -- You can now pull focus wirelessly right from your iPhone or iPad. There are some limitations outlined below. • Currently only fully supports Pocket 4K, but as of v1.4 we now have limited support for EF mount cameras - Pocket 6K, Ursa Mini Pro G1 & G2 • The camera does not supply the app with any information on the lenses current focus distance, so the app will not update in real time if you pull focus manually on the lens • Due to the nature of bluetooth, focus pulls may not be 100% smooth. It works well for nice slow pulls, but fast pulls my not feel entirely natural and organic. Unfortunately this is a limitation of the available technology. • On EF mount cameras, we can only offset focus from its current position, with no broader knowledge of where the lens is in its focus range. This means that focus marks are not possible. In addition, focus pulls on EF mount cameras can be quite jerky depending on the lens in use. -- Playback Control -- With Bluetooth+ you can control the playback of clips right from your iOS device. There are some notable limitations at this point. Currently you can: • Start playing a clip, either forwards or backwards • Navigate between clips, either forwards or backwards For now, you will not be able to: • Pause a clip that is already playing • Change the speed of a clip that is already playing • Control clip looping -- Zoom Control -- Control the zoom level on supported lenses. For the most part, this will only work on MFT lenses with electronic zoom. We are currently unaware of EF lenses that support this feature -- Slate-Only Mode -- As the name suggests, this feature locks the app into Slate-Only mode, without the ability to change critical camera settings or start/stop recording. This means you can let an assistant keep metadata up to date without the fear of interfering with important camera settings.

Screenshots

Shot Designer3 screens
Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Shot Designer at Free against Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic's $5.99. Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 3.8) and ratings volume (1.2K vs 10). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Shot Designer is free to download; Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic costs $5.99 up front. Shot Designer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic has 1.2K ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 68% of Shot Designer's written reviews are positive against 60% of Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shot Designer ships an update monthly, Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Shot Designer versus Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShot DesignerBluetooth+ for Blackmagic
PriceFree — better$5.99
Rating3.8 (10 ratings)4.7 (1.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.0% of reviews — better60.2% of reviews
Number of ratings101.2K — better
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#92 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size82 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHollywood Camera Work SRLWe Are Empire PTY LTD

Customer experience

Shot Designer

All ratings10 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews175 reviews
Positive68.0%
Neutral9.1%
Negative22.9%

Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic

All ratings1,155 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral2.5%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews266 reviews
Positive60.2%
Neutral14.7%
Negative25.2%

User reviews

Shot Designer

From 10 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Intuitive and easy-to-use interface
  • 🎬 Excellent tool for shot planning and blocking
  • 📱 Seamless cross-device sync (iPad, iPhone, Mac, PC)
  • 🎨 Useful for visualizing camera movements and lighting setups
  • 📊 Ability to export to PDF and share with crew

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and white screen issues
  • 😞 App feels outdated and abandoned
  • 🔐 Login and account synchronization problems
  • 📱 Poor optimization for modern devices and screen sizes
  • ⚠️ Limited props and lighting equipment library

Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic

From 1.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Seamless camera control
  • 👍 Intuitive and responsive interface
  • 🔒 Reliable Bluetooth connectivity
  • 💡 Useful focus pulling feature
  • 👍 Efficient workflow for remote operation

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional disconnection issues
  • 🔒 Limited Bluetooth range
  • 🐛 Buggy behavior with certain camera models
  • 🔒 Paywall for some key features
  • 👎 Lack of live video monitoring

Bugs and requests

Shot Designer

Reported bugs

17 issues
  • White screen of death on app launch
  • App crashes when adding image props
  • Login not working on iPhone devices
  • Cannot register due to UI form scrolling errors
  • Keyboard overlay blocking sign-in form
Show 12 more
  • Sync deletes user work unexpectedly
  • Pro version purchase not recognized after updates
  • Cannot save designs to phone
  • App doesn't fill entire screen on modern devices
  • Lag when renaming scenes
  • Keyboard doesn't appear when naming files
  • Difficulty selecting objects when grouped closely together
  • App crashes on iPhone 6s and newer devices
  • Incompatibility with iOS 10.2 and later
  • Director's viewfinder doesn't save metadata to photo gallery
  • Cross-device sync losing work
  • Account login issues between iOS and desktop versions

Requested features

25 requests
  • Apple Pencil integration for iPad
  • Import custom designs and elements
  • Drag-and-drop file import from Files app
  • More lighting instruments and props
  • PDF export functionality
Show 20 more
  • Ability to import background images from Files app (not just Photos)
  • Copy and paste functionality
  • Assignable character names for multiple scenes
  • Moveable background images
  • Scene metadata for automatic camera labeling
  • Ability to reorder shots in Mac version
  • Undo functionality
  • iCloud sync support
  • Google Drive integration
  • Full-screen mode for modern iPhones
  • French language support
  • Spanish language support
  • Scene duplication feature
  • More than 5 pages available
  • Storyboard animation export
  • Audio/soundtrack integration
  • Script import capability
  • Hide individual objects instead of entire categories
  • Retina Display support for Mac
  • Real-time sync between devices

Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Recording issues with high frame rates
  • Incorrect codec/resolution display for some cameras
  • Focus control not working with certain lenses
  • App freezes during playback

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add ability to take photos remotely
  • Implement live video feed from camera
  • Allow custom focus preset points
  • Improve focus control sensitivity and UI
  • Add support for more camera models
Show 1 more
  • Integrate Apple Watch remote control

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Shot Designer

One-time1
  • Pro Version Upgrade$19.99
2 purchases

Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic

One-time2
  • Multi-Cam Control$9.99
  • Pro$9.99

Questions

Is Shot Designer free?
Shot Designer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic free?
Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic costs $5.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Shot Designer or Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic?
Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic is rated higher. Shot Designer averages 3.8 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic averages 4.7 from 1.2K ratings.
Do Shot Designer or Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic have ads?
Neither Shot Designer nor Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Shot Designer or Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic?
Shot Designer ships an update monthly, and Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic every 6 weeks. Most recently, Shot Designer was updated on October 14, 2026 and Bluetooth+ for Blackmagic on October 18, 2026.

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