Getting the best results from Camo

At Reincubate Towers, we’ve been using Camo since before it was launched on all our internal calls and meetings, so between us, we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves. We’ve gathered up our best tips here, to let you get the most out of using your iPhone as a webcam.

1. Use a mount to bring your phone to eye level

If you’re already using Camo, you’ve probably concocted a method for propping your iPhone up somewhere near your screen. If you can’t shake the feeling that there’s a better option for you out there, check out our mount guide, where we round up the best options and put them to the test. For a mount to work well, you’ll want to find something that can do the following:

• Hold your iPhone as close as possible to where you’ll be looking
• Hold your phone securely, but not be too fiddly to get your phone in and out of (particularly important if you’re using your primary phone for Camo).
• Be fairly compact. You don’t want your mount to take up half of your desk.

You can buy various mounts that will do the job perfectly for under $20, or you can cut a slot in a disposable coffee cup or cardboard box and stack it on some books to create a temporary solution.

2. Use Do Not Disturb and Airplane Mode to keep your calls undisturbed

If you’re using your phone as your webcam, it can be distracting to receive notifications and calls while Camo’s running, but it’s not always easy to remember to set your iPhone to ‘Do Not Disturb’ and Airplane Mode for calls, and then turn these settings off later.

Luckily, shortcuts in iOS 14 let you trigger these settings on and off automatically when running or closing Camo. You can even use the back tap feature to launch Camo, making it more streamlined to get ready for calls. We walk through the process step by step here.

If this sounds too difficult, consider buying a secondhand iPhone to use as a dedicated webcam (make sure it’s an iPhone 6 or later). While that might sound extravagant, you can find suitable models for sale online for less than $100, which is cheaper than the market-leading webcam and will give you much better image quality.

3. Don’t use a USB hub

Most connection issues are caused by USB hubs. The fact is that the vast majority of USB hubs just aren’t powerful enough to run video through, even if they’re marketed as being high speed. USB hubs can also cause slow video, and not provide enough power to keep your phone charged whilst in use, so check that you’re gaining a charge while you use Camo.

If you need to use an adapter, simple solutions like this don’t tend to cause issues. The best bet, however, is to plug your iPhone into your computer directly and save your hub for devices that don’t need a consistent connection.

4. Don’t use a (much) higher resolution than your video services can use

For example, if you’re using Zoom, there’s no point in setting your video resolution higher than 720p, as that’s the maximum Zoom output. Using a higher resolution will lead to your video service downscaling the picture quality by itself, and this can cause your video to look worse than it otherwise would, and cause your picture to lag.

Webcam marketing has led us to believe that good image quality can be reduced to the number of pixels in an image, but the truth is that good camera hardware will have a much more noticeable impact on picture quality than a higher number of pixels. Take a look at the size and depth of the camera lens on the back of your iPhone, and compare it to the size of a built-in webcam lens on a laptop. Laptop cameras are designed to be compact and flush with a thin screen, while the iPhone lens juts out from the phone, allowing it to process light better, and produce a higher-quality image.

You can see the difference when switching between the two lenses. The video below shows the difference in image quality between an iPhone camera and a built-in webcam, both of which are set at 720p. If your video service limits image resolution, the best way to get an amazing picture is to maximise camera quality.

5. Make sure you’re well lit

If you take out your phone and open your camera as if to take a selfie, then move around the room you’re in, you’ll see how much of a difference good lighting can make. If you can, move your setup so it’s optimised for the best lighting for your calls using light from a window. Otherwise, add a light to your desk; even a simple table lamp will make a huge difference to your calls. Photographer Jeff Carlson wrote about getting good lighting with Camo here.

Professional photographers use a three-point lighting system to ensure their subject is well lit, using the strongest light source near the camera, a fill light on the other side of the camera, and a backlight behind the subject. You can use any lights to do this, including desk lights lamps, and sunlight from windows.

In the above image, notice how the subject’s face is well-lit, but not two dimensional. Using two lights on either side of your face will allow slight shadows, which creates depth. The backlight adds further dimension to the picture, by adding depth to the background.

6. Use the rear camera(s)

The cameras on the back of your iPhone are much more powerful than the selfie camera. An iPhone X, for example, can take 1080p 30fps video using the front camera, or 4K 60fps, and even 1080p at 240fps using the back camera. If you look at your iPhone, you can see that the selfie camera is smaller, and flush with the screen, while the back camera is raised, and the lens bigger, which means that the back camera can produce a better quality picture than the front one.

There’s no need to see your iPhone screen when you’re using Camo, as all the controls are accessed from your computer, so make use of the back camera to get the best possible picture.

7. Try "portrait mode" and zoom for professional calls

We get it, you’re working from home, in your tiny studio, and you don’t want your boss to know whether or not you made your bed this morning. Be that as it may, superimposing yourself into a tropical island can look unprofessional and reduce trust. You can use Camo to eliminate the need for those backgrounds by using smart zoom - if you don’t want your laundry basket in your picture, just use the zoom function to crop it out.

You can also use portrait mode to blur the background of your image slightly, ensuring that you remain the focal point of the image.

8. Make adjustments in Camo

Wherever possible, make image adjustments in Camo Studio, rather than using other software. The iPhone’s dedicated graphics processor powers Camo, which means that any alterations you make within Camo won’t slow your computer down. Using image adjustments from other software can cause your image to lag, or your audio and video to become out of sync.

9. Upgrade your audio

Great audio is a wonderful compliment to a crisp picture, leveling up your entire video call experience. If you’re relying on your computer’s built-in audio for your calls, consider upgrading to a headset, or even a professional standalone microphone, like a Blue Yeti.