While Moment is more known for its custom lens attachments for smartphones, it also has a Pro Camera app for when you’re shooting manual photos and videos. But now the manufacturer has decided to discontinue the app because they cannot keep up with the constant software changes from both the OEMs and Android itself. The good news is that the app will remain available on the Google Play Store but eventually they will be removing it and will encourage you to use other apps to match your lenses.
Moment co-founder Marc Barros said in an email to users that while they love Android, they don’t have the engineering bandwidth to keep up with all the changes on the platform. It’s been difficult to have various “flavors” of Android on each of the smartphone brands, not to mention the yearly major update on the Android platform itself. This has led to the decision to eventually discontinue the Pro Camera app although it’s still available in the “foreseeable future”.
The lenses actually work well with stock camera apps of various Android phones. What the Pro Camera app was useful for was with its anamorphic lens. Android Police shares that the particular lens has a cinema-style 2.40:1 aspect ratio that stretches the camera input. You need some other software to “de-squeeze” that so it can become viewable and that’s where the Pro Camera app comes in.
They are recommending the Filmic Pro app as an alternative, although that will cost you $15. Also, that app doesn’t seem to support the anamorphic lens for now. You can also use the Handbrake desktop app for free if you need to de-squeeze the footage. For now though, you can still use the Pro Camera app although until when that will be available is still under consideration.
There’s also news that the app may eventually be turned into a community project so those that are invested in the app and have developer knowledge can help with continuing the app down the line. Those who may be interested can contact Moment at hello@shopmoment.com.
