Blackmagic Camera on a Samsung Galaxy: setup and best settings

Blackmagic Camera turns the camera viewfinder on your Galaxy phone into the screen you’d find on a digital film camera, complete with all the different exposure settings just a tap away and the ability to measure shutter in degrees, as you’d see on a cinema camera. Blackmagic Camera is free and comes from Blackmagic Design, the same company that makes DaVinci Resolve and a line of cinema cameras. Before ditching Samsung’s camera app for Blackmagic Camera, it’s worth noting that the Pro video mode on the Galaxy camera app checks a lot of the same boxes, so see which features are available on your phone before making the switch. Our camera apps roundup compares it with the other manual apps for Galaxy phones.

Which Galaxy phones Blackmagic Camera supports

Blackmagic’s tech specs page lists the Galaxy Tab S9, Samsung Galaxy S21 through S25 series phones (including the S25 Ultra) and Galaxy Z Fold series, requiring Android 13 or later.

Bear in mind that not all devices support all features, and that Blackmagic’s list lags somewhat behind reality as the company has rolled out support for newer Samsung phones in app updates.

Blackmagic doesn’t list any Galaxy A phones as supported, but plenty of people search for the app with Galaxy A phones (from A15 to A56). If either the Galaxy Store or Google Play will let you install the app, you may as well give it a try (since it’s free).

Just keep in mind that Blackmagic notes on the app’s store page that availability of certain features is dependent on the phone model, so it would be a good idea to look over the frame rate and codec options before you start planning your shoot.

What the Android version records

Blackmagic’s spec sheet for Android: HEVC (H.265) and H.264 (Samsung APV on select models), colour space options limited to Rec.709, Rec.2020 HLG10 and BT2020 HDR10, four bitrate options (Low to Max), no RAW recording, and the ability to generate 1080p HEVC proxy files alongside full-size files to make the editing process easier. iPhone only: Apple Log and the various ProRes recording formats. See our best video editing apps for Android when you’re ready to make your cuts.

The only hiccup is that although Samsung Log recording is not listed on the app's Android specs page, Blackmagic confirmed in its release notes that LUTs calibrated for Samsung Log were added for some Samsung devices with version 3.1 of the app back in October 2025, with Samsung Log recording support added for the Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 phones in version 3.1.2 of the app.

Freewell Gear posted a video recently (April 2026) showing how to set up the camera app for video recording on the S26 Ultra, and Samsung Log was indeed an option in the colour space menu (Freewell is a phone video filter company, so treat the video as a demo of the menus). Simon Horrocks found Samsung Log and APV on his S26 Ultra (March 2026) but not on his S24 Ultra. If Log is missing in the app on your phone, Samsung's own Pro video may still offer it, and our Samsung Log guide covers that route.

The fastest way to see what codecs and colour spaces your phone offers is to check the Record tab in the app’s Settings screen before recording. The available codecs will be listed, and you can see if APV is one of them; likewise with colour spaces and Samsung Log. Once you’ve chosen a codec and resolution, you can check which frame rates are available, as this will depend on those two settings, and make your selection.

How to set up Blackmagic Camera on a Galaxy

Colour consistency from shot to shot, motion blur appropriate to your frame rate: everything you need to make your footage look like it was shot on a film camera. Here’s how, following the order of the options as they appear in Blackmagic’s own menus.

1. 1

   Install it and allow camera and microphone access

   Download the free Blackmagic Camera app from Google Play or the Galaxy Store (at the time of writing in late October 2026, the Galaxy Store version is 3.5 and asks for ~162MB of storage space). Allow microphone and camera access when prompted, because the app won’t let you record video without these permissions.

2. 2

   Choose the lens first

   Blackmagic says lens selection depends on the model and covers both the front and back cameras. Freewell’s tutorial video for the S26 Ultra shows separate buttons for each of the 0.6x, 1x, 3x and 5x lenses. If you continue to scroll past each lens, you’re digitally cropping in, so it’s best to use different lenses where possible rather than zoom.

3. 3

   Set codec, bitrate and resolution

   Open Settings and the Record tab. Unless you have a ton of free space (or an external SSD) on your S26 Ultra, stick with 4K, HEVC at High bitrate. You can still edit that format on just about anything, and the file sizes won’t be obscenely big like APV.

4. 4

   Pick a colour space

   If you won’t be colour correcting your footage afterwards, then Rec.709 is the best option to use. Where it appears, Samsung Log is Samsung’s flat colour profile, giving the flattest image possible and as a result the most latitude for grading in post-production. Display LUT can then be enabled to show what the graded version will look like (although the actual footage recorded will still be flat). HLG10 is best suited to footage that you plan on editing and delivering in HDR.

5. 5

   Lock frame rate and shutter angle

   In Camera settings, set Flicker Free Shutter to either your local mains frequency or Auto. Depending on your taste you might want to set the frame rate to either 24, 25 or 30fps and then change Shutter Measurement from speed to angle (also in Camera settings) and set the angle to 180 (which works out at twice the frame rate, e.g. 1/50 at 25fps).

6. 6

   Fix white balance and exposure

   Set and lock your white balance (in Kelvin). Turn on Lock White Balance on Record so it doesn’t adjust during your shot. Set your ISO as low as possible (depending on lighting conditions of course). Turn on zebras and set to 100 percent to help judge where highlights may be clipping.

7. 7

   Set stabilisation and where clips go

   We recommend using the Standard stabilisation mode when shooting handheld and turning image stabilisation Off if shooting on a tripod or gimbal to avoid the stabilisation cropping into the frame (in Freewell’s tests Standard cropped noticeably into the frame while Optical kept the full view). We also suggest setting Save Clips to Gallery so that they're saved in the same place as your other videos before saving your settings as a preset. Our stabilisation guide explains how Samsung's own modes compare.

Frame rate and codec by situation

Many indoor lights flicker at double the frequency of the power grid, so flicker-free shutter speeds, per Nikon’s video manuals, are 1/100, 1/50 or 1/25 second in areas where the frequency is 50Hz (Europe, Australia) and 1/125, 1/60 or 1/30 in areas where the frequency is 60Hz (North America). For example, flicker may occur when shooting 24fps at 1/48th of a second indoors in North America, but not when shooting 30fps at 1/60th of a second.

See also our shutter speed guide for a more in-depth explanation of the 180-degree rule. However, in bright daylight a 1/50 shutter will be too long even at the camera’s base ISO. To avoid overexposing, you’ll need to use a neutral density (ND) filter on the lens.

When Samsung's camera app is the better choice

The Blackmagic Camera app tops out at 60fps for slow motion (Samsung’s Slow motion shooting mode goes up to 120 or 240fps and plays back footage at a slower speed) and lacks Samsung’s advanced image stabilisation tech (Super Steady is especially helpful for run-and-gun/walking shots and Horizontal lock is available on Samsung’s S26 series of phones as well as the S25 since One UI 9). Samsung’s image processing can also help when shooting in challenging lighting conditions (e.g. dim and/or mixed lighting) where you might otherwise have to settle for a compromise with manual exposure controls.

With the S26 series Samsung has closed part of the gap by itself (see our video settings guide for what each phone model records with the stock camera app). SamMobile points out that the S26 series of phones supports additional Pro video frame rates (the S26 Ultra can shoot at 25, 48, 50 and 100fps) that aren’t available on the S24/S25 series, even when running One UI 9. The S26 Ultra can also preview a LUT while shooting Log, which the S25 Ultra couldn’t. That said, on an S26, Blackmagic Camera’s shutter angle control and false colour (both useful tools) and its ability to record proxies and maintain settings between clips can still come in handy. If you live in a country that uses a 50Hz power frequency, the ability to record at 25fps with Blackmagic Camera alone might be reason enough to give it a try on an S24/S25. Our cinematic video guide covers getting the same look with the stock app.

Known limits on Galaxy phones

• According to Blackmagic, available frame rates vary depending on phone model and selected codec.
• In Freewell’s video tutorial, Samsung Log footage can’t have a LUT applied and baked into the footage (Record LUT to Clip is unavailable while Samsung Log is selected). Grade this type of footage later.
• According to Simon Horrocks, imported LUTs can be applied for monitoring and/or baked into footage, but he couldn’t export LUTs using the app on either of his Galaxy phones (this is an option when using an iPhone).
• APV files take up a lot of space, so make sure you have enough room on your phone or SSD before shooting (see file sizes in our Log guide and storage/SSD requirements on Samsung’s developer page).