Frequently asked questions

MLV (Magic Lantern Video) is an open RAW video container created by the Magic Lantern community. CinemaKit writes un-debayered Bayer sensor data into MLV, together with audio and metadata, in a single file per take. White balance, exposure and highlight decisions stay open for post, and MLV files work in CinemaKit Studio as well as established desktop tools like MLV App.

The difference is when image decisions are made. A RAW take stores one value per pixel, straight from the sensor's Bayer pattern, so demosaicing, white balance and noise reduction all happen later, in post. ProRes and HEVC store an image that has already been demosaiced, with white balance baked in and the codec's own compression applied. You can record them with a Log curve to keep more dynamic range for grading, and high-quality ProRes like 4444 gets very close in latitude, but those baked-in decisions can't be fully undone later. Every CinemaKit recording, whatever the format, starts from the same RAW sensor capture and is debayered by the app itself, not by the phone's standard camera processing. RAW gives the most control, with much larger files; ProRes and HEVC are ready to edit right away.

CinemaKit Studio is a free editor for RAW video that runs in your browser at studio.cinemakit.app. Think of it as Lightroom for video: the same kind of exposure and color controls, curves, noise reduction and LUT import, applied to moving footage. It debayers MLV, CKRAW, MCRAW(MotionCam Raw) and BRAW(Experimentally) files on your computer's GPU using WebGPU, with nothing to install. It also supports HEVC/H264/ProRes/XAVC videos. Files are read locally and never uploaded anywhere. It also includes stabilization and project organization, and exports to CinemaDNG, ProRes or web-native codecs, including batch export.

Yes. The built-in player lets you scrub through MLV and CinemaDNG takes to check focus and exposure while you shoot, and any frame can be saved as a DNG still. The grading panel works on both RAW and recorded video clips, with exposure, contrast, white balance and more detailed controls. On iPhone, graded clips export to ProRes or HEVC. On Android, they export to HEVC or H.264, with 10-bit HEVC on devices whose encoder supports it.

Open Gate records everything the sensor delivers: the widest view and the most room to reframe later, but also the biggest files and the heaviest write load. The 1440p and 1080p crop modes read a smaller area from the center of the sensor, so files are smaller and recording is faster and more stable, with a narrower field of view. Shooting everything Open Gate and cropping later works too, but it takes a lot of storage and adds an extra step in post. For 1080p without the crop, turn on Oversample (RAW Detail > Oversample), which scales down from a larger sensor area. On iPhone, 1440p is always a crop. On Android, 1440p can be oversampled too.

Bit depth sets how much of the sensor's precision is stored in each frame. CinemaKit only offers the bit depths your phone's sensor actually delivers, so the options you see depend on your device. Choosing a lower bit depth than the maximum makes files smaller, at the cost of some grading headroom, mostly in the shadows. Keep in mind that the main advantage of RAW isn't the bit count alone: white balance, demosaicing and noise reduction are all still yours to decide in post.

A lot. Uncompressed RAW is far larger than HEVC or ProRes, and Open Gate at high bit depth is the heaviest combination. Lower bit depths, crop modes and Oversample reduce file size considerably, and converting finished takes to CKRAW roughly halves them. You can also record directly to external storage (see below).

Yes. On iPhone you can record to an external USB-C drive, on Android to a USB-C drive or an SD card. CinemaKit lets you pick where recordings are saved. Make sure the drive or card is fast enough for the mode you're shooting: RAW needs a sustained high write speed, and a slow drive or card can cause frame rate drops, dropped frames or a recording that stops on its own. Try a short test take before an important shoot.

CKRAW is CinemaKit's own lossless RAW format. MLV recordings are uncompressed, so after a shoot you can convert any take to CKRAW from inside the app, whenever you want. The image data stays identical, and files usually shrink to around half their size, depending on the scene. CKRAW opens only in CinemaKit and CinemaKit Studio, so keep the MLV version if you plan to use other tools like MLV App.

Both hold the same kind of RAW frame data. CinemaDNG is saved as a sequence of separate frame files, which is widely supported but awkward to move off a phone, so CinemaKit zips the sequence when you download it. MLV keeps everything, including audio, in one file per take, which is easier to transfer and manage. For most people MLV is the simpler choice.

Turn on Start Server in Settings, then open the address shown in the app (on iPhone, cinemakit.local:8080) in a browser on any computer on the same Wi-Fi network. Keep CinemaKit open during the transfer, since the server only runs while the app is in the foreground. On iPhone, recordings also show up over a cable in the CinemaKit folder under Files in Finder on Mac or the Apple Devices app on Windows. On Android, recording to an external USB-C drive skips the transfer step entirely.

While recording, CinemaKit logs gyroscope and accelerometer data from the same clock as the video and saves it as a Gyroflow-compatible sidecar file next to each take. Load the clip together with its sidecar into Gyroflow on desktop to stabilize in post. Results depend on shutter speed, lens and how much room you leave for cropping.

Phone makers decide which cameras third-party apps are allowed to use. Many Android phones keep some lenses, often the ultrawide, telephoto or macro, available only to their own camera app. CinemaKit checks which cameras your phone actually makes available and shows only those. If a lens is missing, it's usually locked by the manufacturer and can't be unlocked from inside an app.

This is a known issue. On some iPhones, the image processor occasionally refuses to start a RAW recording, and the limitation sits on the hardware and system side rather than in your settings. A fix is being worked on, and updates will improve it over time. Just try close app and reopen or change lens and see if it resolves the issue.

There are thousands of different phone models, and each one handles its cameras a little differently, so it isn't possible to test every device. If you notice something that seems specific to your phone, like wrong colors, a missing mode or unstable recording, email support@cinemakit.app with your phone model and a short description. Reports like these are the main way device-specific problems get found and fixed.

The core is the same: RAW capture to MLV, CKRAW and CinemaDNG, the built-in player, grading, and the Wi-Fi file server. The differences come from the platforms. iPhone offers ProRes but Android has no ProRes, its bit depth depends on the sensor, and it adds recording to external USB-C drives and 1440p oversampling.

CinemaKit is a one-time purchase, with no subscription. You can try every feature for 7 days before buying, with recordings limited to 7 seconds per clip during the trial. The trial never turns into a paid plan on its own. CinemaKit Studio is free.