Review Insights · App Store
Kino - Pro Video Camera
Lux Optics Incorporated · 1,858 ratings · ★ 4.7
4.7
★★★★★
1,858 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 41 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"camera"
7 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Please add White Balance Tint, Camera Button & fix shutter!. Please fix the issue where “Instant Grade” is enabled, it default to HEVC recording only and can’t record in ProRes422HQ!! Now that I’ve gotten the chance to use and play with the app for a long time, I noticed the shutter manual control o…" - 𝖈𝖆𝖓𝖛𝖆𝖘
2
"luts"
7 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Run of the mill. Been trying to use this app as a serious video recording device since it was first released, but after using it for the while that I have, it just does not or has ever truly worked properly. The LUTS are “pretty” and on the topical layer, e…" - chegaro
3
"iphone"
7 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Keeps crashing. Not able to take videos anymore. Really enjoyed the app, but not anymore. iPhone 14" - I is for IE
4
"doesn"
6 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Horrible, Ruined Footage, Unrecoverable. I used to love this app always used it. However today I tried to record some clips and one of them just says error over it and is basically corrupted and doesn’t play. The other clips all have insane audio latency issues but it’s not recove…" - zeroalexzero
5
"video"
6 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Horrible, Ruined Footage, Unrecoverable. I used to love this app always used it. However today I tried to record some clips and one of them just says error over it and is basically corrupted and doesn’t play. The other clips all have insane audio latency issues but it’s not recove…" - zeroalexzero
6
"been"
6 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Run of the mill. Been trying to use this app as a serious video recording device since it was first released, but after using it for the while that I have, it just does not or has ever truly worked properly. The LUTS are “pretty” and on the topical layer, e…" - chegaro
7
"work"
6 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Run of the mill. Been trying to use this app as a serious video recording device since it was first released, but after using it for the while that I have, it just does not or has ever truly worked properly. The LUTS are “pretty” and on the topical layer, e…" - chegaro
8
"videos"
6 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Keeps crashing. Not able to take videos anymore. Really enjoyed the app, but not anymore. iPhone 14" - I is for IE
9
"change"
6 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Crash. App crashes each time I try to change the color space. Just bought and can’t even use it." - Tbd98453
10
"review"
5 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Please add White Balance Tint, Camera Button & fix shutter!. Please fix the issue where “Instant Grade” is enabled, it default to HEVC recording only and can’t record in ProRes422HQ!! Now that I’ve gotten the chance to use and play with the app for a long time, I noticed the shutter manual control o…" - 𝖈𝖆𝖓𝖛𝖆𝖘
11
"money"
5 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Run of the mill. Been trying to use this app as a serious video recording device since it was first released, but after using it for the while that I have, it just does not or has ever truly worked properly. The LUTS are “pretty” and on the topical layer, e…" - chegaro
12
"crashes"
5 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Crash. App crashes each time I try to change the color space. Just bought and can’t even use it." - Tbd98453
📋 All 41 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Smh
New updates suck!!!
Horrible, Ruined Footage, Unrecoverable
I used to love this app always used it. However today I tried to record some clips and one of them just says error over it and is basically corrupted and doesn’t play. The other clips all have insane audio latency issues but it’s not recoverable as the video at random moments slows down and speeds up so I can’t even take the video into a editor and try to resync it it literally loses sync every few seconds. Horrible no idea what they’re doing to this app but these bugs made me lose an entire day of shooting and now I can’t rely on it. I paid for the in app purchase already but I will be uninstalling it and recommending others to use alternatives.
greedy
blackmagic blows you out of the water and it is free. apple has done all the heavy lifting for you exposing their libraries.
No apple log 2
So much time have passed and no integration of apple log 2
Feels like a scam
Terrible app… won’t recommend this at all… a scam if you ask me
Please add White Balance Tint, Camera Button & fix shutter!
Please fix the issue where “Instant Grade” is enabled, it default to HEVC recording only and can’t record in ProRes422HQ!!
Now that I’ve gotten the chance to use and play with the app for a long time, I noticed the shutter manual control option is non responsive. Tapping on 180 and 360 involves multiple taps to register. And tapping on the 45 and 90 is non responsive. I’ve reached out to support but their response time is extremely slow. Last response I’ve gotten has taken over a month. Please fix this issue!
Original review:
So far, loving this app over the BlackMagic camera app and the Moment app I used to use. My only request to make this app perfect is to please add a White Balance Tint option. It would seriously be amazing to have that feature. Also, a lock screen and camera control button option would be amazing for launching the app on the lock screen or by pressing the camera control button.
Now that I’ve gotten the chance to use and play with the app for a long time, I noticed the shutter manual control option is non responsive. Tapping on 180 and 360 involves multiple taps to register. And tapping on the 45 and 90 is non responsive. I’ve reached out to support but their response time is extremely slow. Last response I’ve gotten has taken over a month. Please fix this issue!
Original review:
So far, loving this app over the BlackMagic camera app and the Moment app I used to use. My only request to make this app perfect is to please add a White Balance Tint option. It would seriously be amazing to have that feature. Also, a lock screen and camera control button option would be amazing for launching the app on the lock screen or by pressing the camera control button.
Typical Halide Devs 😒
What else could you expect from Halide devs?
Unlike the Blackmagic Camera app, this one doesn’t remember your last-used capture settings.
Also doesn't let you save media to chosen/customized folders in Files app.
ISO needs work. A more accurate slider or locked gain (20, 40, 60, 100, 200, 400, 800, etc.)
I’d also love to see customizable bitrate settings, A-B-C focus and zoom transitions with adjustable speeds, and the ability to save at least two manual presets. And above all, the app needs to remember your last-used settings to be truly usable in fast-paced or professional shoots.
Unlike the Blackmagic Camera app, this one doesn’t remember your last-used capture settings.
Also doesn't let you save media to chosen/customized folders in Files app.
ISO needs work. A more accurate slider or locked gain (20, 40, 60, 100, 200, 400, 800, etc.)
I’d also love to see customizable bitrate settings, A-B-C focus and zoom transitions with adjustable speeds, and the ability to save at least two manual presets. And above all, the app needs to remember your last-used settings to be truly usable in fast-paced or professional shoots.
Not a fan
Don’t spend the $10 just get black magic cam app. This app is worse than final cut pro cam. Trust me, and they do not allow refunds! The luts are cool, but functionality wise this ain’t it.
Devs are hostile to users
Once I saw a threatening FAQ in the LUX Discord stating, “if you ask questions in the Discord that are contained in the FAQ, you could be banned from the discord.” I had never even posted in the said Discord, but I left immediately.
I’ve never heard a more hateful, user hostile statement from a dev shop. We, your loyal customers, have made you both millionaires doing something you love, and you’re offended by questions from your most passionate customers.
Deleted forever. You’ve been banned from my iPhone jerks!
I’ve never heard a more hateful, user hostile statement from a dev shop. We, your loyal customers, have made you both millionaires doing something you love, and you’re offended by questions from your most passionate customers.
Deleted forever. You’ve been banned from my iPhone jerks!
Crash
App crashes each time I try to change the color space. Just bought and can’t even use it.
Was GREAT until they removed all the good LUTs
When I originally bought this app, the pre loaded LUTs were great. Specifically the ANJIN LUT. They still advertise this LUT on the main photos of the app in the App Store- but it doesn’t exist. Then a month later they updated the app, removed them all, and didn’t replace them with anything else. Now the only LUTs on there are super bright and white and wash everything out like a mediocre wedding photographer. None of the rich, colorful or deep toned LUTs exist anymore. Just washed out mess. It’s actually foul. I’ve complained and asked a million times why they would do that and they just ignore me and don’t respond. Such a waste of money. Don’t buy it.
Do not purchase
Idk where to start. The filter and camera quality are good. Camera stability is so trash and the filters are way over saturated. Even when you lower your iso and f stop, it looks like trash. I wish I could get a refund for this. The camera stability is the biggest issue for me smh.
Cropped and zoomed
The app screen aka viewfinder shows one framed scene but actually shoots it cropped or zoomed in. Makes it unusable.
Be careful…deletes videos
This app deleted videos that had nothing to do with the app when I deleted the app…🤷♂️😢
Completely inferior to me
Idk if I’m missing something and I’ll happily change my review if so, but this video app is remarkably bad relative to the default app. The focus on zoom functionality is blurry. I can’t change the zoom while filming. It’s mind blowing to me that I paid $10 for this …
Why do they insist on Mic access and full photo access?
Why do they insist on Mic access and Full access to all of my photos? Very suspicious
Ain’t all that
Yea not worth the money.
Stop asking me to review
Every god dang time I open the app
Now I feel I got scammed.
even recording with 720p, I'd tried every settings but it still taking tons of storage. I can't find a way to change aspect ratio within the app. And worst of all, didn't give me a refund. Thanks for scammed me for $10.
Very inconsistent
Crashes a lot not able to use music playing in the background doesn’t read external memory
Waist my money 😭
I didn’t like it at all
Let me use it before inundating me with review requests.
I may or may not return to change my rating.
Totally unreliable
On a shoot for 10 mins and the app crashed. Couldn’t open it again. Deleted and reinstalled. Ran for a few takes and crashed again, unable to open. Running on a 1TB 15 Pro. I love everything about the app, it’s just not reliable for real work yet. Be warned.
Crashes hard on iPhone 13 mini
Great simple interface and the LUTs look promising but doesn’t work on my iPhone 13 mini. Was going to make a video with it today under time sensitive conditions and it crashed hard as soon as I hit record, crashing so hard it killed Springboard and forced a soft reboot.
Needless to say the Apple camera app fired right up and had no issues. Have no idea how this was bungled so hard. Please dogfood on devices other than the latest and greatest.
Needless to say the Apple camera app fired right up and had no issues. Have no idea how this was bungled so hard. Please dogfood on devices other than the latest and greatest.
One star for now
Had to delete and reinstall because app stopped opening on second run - otherwise a great app
Capture issues; no response after writing in
Encountered some audio capture issues when using this and wrote in to support. No response after I followed up with requested info so I can’t use this.
Won't launch after closing
Downloaded and opened fine. Quit the app. Tried to relaunch. Will not relaunch Tap it, screen blinks, grey's, and nothing opens. Only way to relaunch is to uninstall and download again... Please advise. Will change once bug fixes
Version 1.1 crashes after a few seconds
Version 1.1 crashes within a few seconds of opening the app every time on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. Version 1.0 opened fine.
Freeze my iphone Xs
Big dissapointment. Don't waste your money!!!
annoying bug with videos
The app is pretty great but randomly out of nowhere I’ve been noticing that all of my videos captured, the last couple of seconds added at the end are just stills of the last captured frame, making all of the videos I captured essentially useless. Also, I tried importing numerous LUTs and most of them always gives an error saying something like “There was an error importing your LUT - We failed to parse line 3 of the file” for instance.
Doesn’t work as marketed
I wish I could leave a better review. Bottom line - for $20 I expected better customer support. It’s been several weeks since I contacted support and have only received one response asking me more questions that were already in my ticket. The app advertises that it will write to a thumb drive or hard drive but it will not stop writing to my phone even though it detects the drive. The LUTs also only work with HEVC and not with ProRes which is disappointing if you want to bake in one of their looks. To be honest though, I would never use any of these LUTs professionally as they all look stock and none feel appropriate for any content. I hope this app improves over time but I don’t recommend the purchase in its current form. Stick to the camera app on iPhone, this doesn’t go above and beyond.
audio missing
was loving the app for my first few uses, but after i decided to trust it for recording a longish musical improvisation i discovered that my videos had no audio!
Audio is missing?
I already emailed their support but I figure given the $20 price tag, this needs to be highlighted. Recorded a bunch of videos today and most of them either have no audio or the audio cuts out after 2~ seconds. Tried exporting the videos to my Mac and the audio is simply gone. Inexcusable for an app that costs this much especially when there are free alternatives out there.
Run of the mill
Been trying to use this app as a serious video recording device since it was first released, but after using it for the while that I have, it just does not or has ever truly worked properly. The LUTS are “pretty” and on the topical layer, everything seems to work just fine, if not extremely laggy and buggy, but it just leaves something to be seriously desired. Will stick to my go to app, Cinema P3, the king of the heavy hitters. Wish I could get my money back.
Keeps crashing
Not able to take videos anymore. Really enjoyed the app, but not anymore.
iPhone 14
iPhone 14
Good but not close to potential at all
This is a great camera app. Lemme get that out the way. With that being said, with what I pay to use this app I expect/expected there would be more innovation but it seems that the team behind Kino and Halide have became complacent and stagnant. It’s been months since there was great changes and tweaks to the app and there’s still a number of features that are missing to this day such as lack of camera control ambiguity, intuitive gestures, improved haptics, more LUTS, and even more but I guess if this team really wants change I’d send the list over. But as it stands, this app is cool but very underwhelming after a few uses. I hope this serves as motivation to the devs especially since they are already asking for $10 a year to use their goddamn apps. If I’m paying ANNUAL, then there should be more consistent major updates smh
Not a photo camera
Mistakingly bought it thinking it could do photos as well as videos. Which is a shame, the video stuff looks good. But I wanted a regular photo app.
Tried getting a refund through Apple but it was refused and wouldn’t say why.
Tried getting a refund through Apple but it was refused and wouldn’t say why.
Useless without zoom
Nothing else to say
Cant Open app
Been trying to open the app for a few days, tried reinstalling but still not working; its totally unusable on my phone
Buggy and crashes a lot
I was looking for a good video app and found kino now I have halide and specter and they both work great and I thought kino would too but sometimes it refuses to open or crashes and the only way to fix it is to delete the app and redownload it causing me to lose footage if this is fixed I think it would be a great app but for the time being just wait
I don’t get it
Apparently all these grades built in but I can only see 8 of them when I press the hexagon rainbow button. I’m using an iPhone pro max 15.
Sentiment summary
93%
Positive (4-5★)
2%
Neutral (3★)
5%
Negative (1-2★)