Using DockKit–compatible stands for iPhone videos
Apple’s new API can control motorized tripods and stands for subject tracking
HOW IT WORKS
YOU WILL LEARN How DockKit can be used for action videos and photography
KEY FACT
Most recent iPads have Ultra Wide cameras that provide 122° field of view (FOV). The Center Stage feature can follow you around within that 122° viewing angle, but will lose sight of you if you move beyond that. In contrast, DockKit is designed to rotate a motorized stand through a full 360° horizontally, and also to tilt the camera through 90° vertically as well.
Image rights: Apple Inc, Belkin.
A FEW YEARS ago, Apple came up with a feature called Center Stage, which allows FaceTime and other video apps to follow your movements and keep your face in focus if you need to move around during video calls. This is useful if you need to give a presentation or demonstration during a video call, for teachers giving lectures, or for content creators, such as fitness instructors producing workout videos.
Center Stage does have some limitations, though. At the moment, Center Stage only works with the Ultra Wide front–facing camera that’s built into certain iPad models, as well as the webcam that is built into Apple’s Studio Display. There is a workaround for the iPhone that involves using it with the Continuity Camera feature in macOS Ventura, but the iPhone doesn’t currently have full support for Center Stage as the iPad does. And while that camera may have a very wide field of vision, it is still fixed in place, so it will eventually lose sight of you if you move too far to one side.