Pomfort’s portfolio of professional solutions and apps has just grown bigger. PocketControl is an iOS app for remote controlling ARRI cameras from the palm of your hand. Let’s check out the features of this little helper.
Just like the Foolcontrol app for RED cameras, there’s now a solution for ARRI cameras. Pomfort has created a neat solution for remote controlling your favorite camera.
Pomfort PocketControl App
If you are a proud owner/operator/user of an ARRI ALEXA Mini or AMIRA, then this is for you. The PocketControl app itself is currently available for free on the Apple App Store only – no word so far for Android users – but it does require an in-app purchase of $169.99 to unlock the full app. Otherwise you’ll find yourself in demo mode which does offer all the buttons and menus, but only to monitor the settings from the camera. In order to manipulate them, you’ll need to fork over that cash.
Watch the video below to get started with the PocketControl app.
With the PocketControl app and your iPhone/iPad, you can basically monitor and manipulate each and every setting available on the camera itself but from the comfort of your, say, director’s chair. Start/stop the camera, adjusting ISO and shutter angle, playing around with looks, or even dialling in the physical on-board ND filters of the AMIRA is now possible. Neat!
If the camera is sitting on top of a crane or is rigged to a car, this can be extremely helpful.
How does it work?
The Pomfort PocketControl connects via Wi-Fi to your camera and makes use of ARRI’s proprietary Camera Access Protocol (CAP). Once connected, all the camera settings are reflected within the app, and any changes in camera settings will update within the app accordingly. If you’ve purchased the full app, all changes you might make on your iOS device will be transferred to the camera straight away.
Since Pomfort is known for best-in-class color management with their Livegrade Pro suite of tools, and since ARRI is well-known for their superb in-camera color tools, it’s obvious that color management and look creation/tweaking would be a key functionality of the PocketControl app. You can dial in custom looks, tweak them in real time and assess the result immediately (albeit from a monitor, not from within the app).
Pricing and Availability
You’ll need an iPhone/iPad with iOS 9 or newer. The target ARRI camera needs to run on SUP (software update package) 5.1 or newer. As matters now stand, the flagship ALEXA is not supported. We have to wait and see if that’s going to change at some point. The same goes for an Android version of the PocketControl app.
The app itself is free of charge but for the full functionality an in-app purchase ($169.99) is mandatory.
If you want to dig deeper, Pomfort offers some helpful resources on their blog: Getting started – connect to the camera | apply and refine looks from the ARRI look library.
links: Pomfort website | iTunes Store
What do you think? Is the PocketControl worth the price? Let us know in the comments below!
