Manual controls, for when auto costs you the shot
Auto exposure pumps when someone walks past a window. Auto white balance drifts mid-take and your footage changes colour between cuts. ContentCam's manual panel exists for exactly those moments.
The controls
| Control | Range | When you'd use it |
|---|---|---|
| Exposure (EV bias) | Dial around auto | Scene reads too bright or too dark, but you still want auto doing the work. |
| White balance | 2500K – 8000K | Lock colour temperature so mixed lighting (window + lamp) stops shifting between takes. 2700K for warm indoor light, ~5500K for daylight, higher for shade. |
| ISO | Manual wheel, hardware range | Pin sensitivity to control noise instead of letting auto crank it in low light. |
| Shutter speed | Manual wheel, hardware range | Hold the 180° rule (1/60 at 30fps) for natural motion blur, or go faster to freeze action. |
Plus the basics: tap to focus, drag to expose, pinch to zoom, 0.5×/1×/2× lens switching, and torch. All manual settings apply to both output files, portrait and landscape.
Details that matter in practice
Try before you buy
Every dial works live on the free tier. You see exactly what manual white balance does to your scene before paying. The paywall appears only when you record with a manual control engaged.
Settings persist
Your manual settings can survive lens switches and app restarts (a Settings toggle). Set up your look once, keep it across a shoot.
On Android too
Manual white balance (temperature and tint), ISO and shutter are on ContentCam for Android, where the phone's camera hardware exposes them.
Honest about hardware
If a lens or device can't do something (manual sensor control on some front cameras, for example), the app says so instead of pretending.
Questions
Do manual settings affect both output files?
Yes. Exposure, white balance, ISO and shutter apply to the capture itself, so the portrait and landscape files match exactly.
Can I use manual controls with the teleprompter?
Yes, they're independent. Lock your exposure, load your script, record.
What's the 180° shutter rule?
Set shutter speed to roughly double your frame rate (1/60 at 30fps) for the motion blur people expect from film. Full explainer here.
Take over from auto
