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Halo effect warning. I own/use some other Blackmagic camera, controls, and software; they’re industrial strength. I was irrationally avoiding them for reasons I can’t even recall now. Probably some BS “Who are they? They can’t possibly be any good.” So I’m excited to try this out, but my knee jerk reaction is: FINALLY! Blackmagic’s products IMO have so much attention to things pros need, that even if this is only so-so, it could easily evolve into making Android phones a semi-proper video camera competitor to iOS ProRes.
Yeah, that doesn’t really answer your question, but hopefully adds some context to something something cinnamon toast crunch.
If the hardware is still great, how about installing LineageOS? Here’s the direct link to LineageOS for the Pixel 4a: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/sunfish/. I’ve been using LineageOS on all the old devices which are supported, mostly OnePlus and Nexus devices. Lightweight, and does everything I need.
Okay, I just recorded some h.265 footage with a Pixel 7a. I haven’t had a chance to pull the video into Resolve (another Blackmagic product). Using Camera 2 is intuitive* and powerful. Quick, intuitive controls for focus, exposure, and white balance locks. Easy focus and exposure, easy access to the controls I need on the fly. I didn’t see a RAW video option, but the gamut looks reasonable enough to be able to apply a LUT and still get the final effect I want. YMMV, however I think this results in video that I can use when I’m shooting in situations where I don’t want to use my bigger video camera. This is now my go-to for quick shoots and conditions when I don’t want to use the bigger, more expensive cameras.
So, thanks OP for this post!
*Gawd, I hate that word for software, but it fits here.