Camo – the Webcam app – Members Review
What is Camo?
In our first of (hopefully many future) articles, I’m are going to review one of the most talked-about Webcam Apps,
Camo.
In a time where we have all spent more time at home than we ever would have planned and when jumping to your next business meeting means joining a Zoom window. Finding the best way to look great may be the answer….“Camo use your phone as a webcam to look amazing on video calls, Access the incredible cameras on your phone with Camo and get powerful effects and adjustments for Zoom, Meet, and more” It just works? A famous Apple quote right there! Well, that fact of the matter is it does! Camo just works and it’s far easier to set up than most. You will be up and running in minutes.
- Download the App to your iPhone or iPad
- Connect your phone to your Mac via the lighting or USB-C cable
- Install the Free Camo studio app
- Select your camera source as “Camo Studio” in video meeting apps of choice and your good to go!
Look your best with the Tech you have?
The Camo App allows you to use the amazing quality camera of your IOS device, Cam is not limited to your Front-facing/FaceTime lens it allows 1080p camera quality. It’s one of few apps to allow more than 720p.
How many of us have a spare iPhone at home lying around in a draw since your last upgrade, well now is the time to put that spare device to work! Grab a connection cable and get started. There is no need to go and buy a new Webcam when you have one right by your side.
Let me just fix my make-up?
Camo is not only a better quality webcam app for your Mac or Pc, but it also allows you to fine-tune your Image!
Firstly being able to choose which of the multiple lenses that have on your iPhone, from the wide-angle to portrait. You can now also pick and choose how much our background that you would like to share with our viewers at our next meeting, As the Desktop app allows you to Zoom, crop, and even focus, as well as making you look your best before that next important meeting. The supporting Camo studio desktop app, allows you to make both basic and more advanced edits to your image from light adjustments, white balance to Brightness, Hue and sharpness.
But I don’t use Zoom?
Camo is not just limited to Zoom, the iPhone/iPad application works with all the most commonly know video conferencing or video meeting apps, even those of you that (have to) use Windows, Camo will be listed in your meeting app of choice as a webcam and work with Google Hangouts, Skype, Slack, GoToMeeting, Teams, WebEx and well as many others. I was pleased to that that the list of compatible programs goes on and on. if I was to list them all you would get fed-up with this blog post so therefore I recommend that you download the Free app for your Desktop and give it a look. Yes! If you’re like me and like to explore some of the more experimental or home-brew aspects of the future video connections, The Gamer and YouTuber community will be pleased to know that it works well with OBS and Virtual Cams.
But there is more and more to this app…
Including Bokeh “Portrait mode”,Full Dark Mode support. Global pause & resume. Audio support, allowing you to choose between the iPhones built in audio or pair it nicely with a high quality Microphone so now not only do you get a better picture but also audio too! Custom watermarks. “Optimised for Apple Silicon” yes it’s ready and waiting for those of you that have recently updated to the News generation of Chips from Apple, I don’t know about you but I hate Apps with adverts and Camo is an Add-free Zone!!
Where does it stack up?
So I mentioned that I’ve used many Camera apps in the past and there are a few competitors to this product. One to consider or not is EpocCam, Let’s make it clear from the start EpocCam doesn’t come close to the power of Camo! Yes, EpocCam offers Wireless Freedom! (or so it says!) I’ve never managed to get any form of good quality video connection wirelessly out of the app and if you are not tech-savvy, I don’t recommend this app. As for us Mac users also know for being rather troublesome and unreliable, I’ve know Gamers install Virtual machines just to get the app to work. Don’t waste your time or money! And invest in an app that just works! With Camo! Camo was easy to install, set up and get up and running in minutes, and has worked every time I’ve opened up the app.
Pricing
- 1 month Subscription £4.39
- 12 month Subscription £34.99
- Lifetime Subscription £69.98
The Pro Version allows you too.
- Unlock all features
- Remove the watermark
- Use the app on up to 2 computers
If you work for a non-profit or in education Camo also offers a discount*
I hear you! WOW! £69.98 may seem a little high to ask for the app?
At first, I thought the same, but let’s explain why it’s worth every penny!
Where are can you find a 1080p Webcam with customisable features and continuous updates to the features? Some of the most best-recommended Webcams on the market still produce poor quality images and that’s a huge failing for what they are designed to do!.
Below is a comparison of some of the best webcams currently on the market. I think the images speak for themselves!
Taken with- iPhone 11Pro
Taken with – c920Webcam
Where to find it?
Camo can be found in the Apple App store here
What does it work with?
Camo is compatible with any iOS device running iOS 12 or above, so you could run it on an iPod Touch just as well as your new iPhone 12 Pro or the iPad Pro.
It’ll run on any Mac with macOS 10.13 or newer, and on any PC with Windows 7 64-bit or newer. Camo is compatible with iOS 14 and macOS 11. It is optimised for Apple Silicon.
How has the app helped me?
Firstly Camo saved me endless amounts of time! In which I no longer have to set up an expensive mirrorless fully frame camera on a stand, play around in camera to get the best settings, making sure that the battery is fully charged or insuring that that battery does not run out on an important meeting, not having to worry about the ring light (I can just use the iPhones built-in flash) are just a few reasons!
I’ve also gained my desk space back! I no longer have to have a tripod with a huge camera to set up. I can just clip my phone into an inexpensive clip mount and get started, My personal favourite is that within the studio app you can resize and rotate the iPhone’s image, I’m sure that I’m not the first to set up the iPhone in its holder ready to go then find it’s out of focus or worse upside down, this app is an embarrassment saver there too.
Future updates? The Camo story doesn’t end there! Aidan Fitzpatrick and the wonderful team behind the app are hard at work adding more feature with every update: Below is just a few that are going to be added in the very near future.
- 4K resolutions
- Wi-Fi pairing
- Translations
- Reduced power use on the iOS device, both when active and idle
- Green-screen / chroma-keying
All of these features will be made available for free to users with existing licenses.
Final thoughts…
Camo is by far the best Webcam App that I have used, and I have tested just about every camera-related app for IOS since the first iPhone you can think of. If you would like to test it out for yourself I suggest that you download the free app today, or if you would like to see those results why not join us for our next meeting where members of the team are happily using the app for their webcams at our next meeting…
I look forward to seeing the updates soon….
Until next time,
Best regards Craig.