User manual
Everything in the app, explained.
This manual covers every page, tool and setting in Parallax Monitor for iPhone and iPad and ZR Ctl for Android. It also explains the cinematography behind each tool, so you know not just what a setting does but when to reach for it.
How to use this manual
Start with Tips and tricks for the habits that save the most time, and check Known issues before a shoot. If you are new to video, read Cinematography basics. It explains exposure, log footage, LUTs, scopes and focus in plain language and points to the tool in the app that handles each one. Everyone else can jump straight to the chapter for the page they are on. Each chapter lists every control on that page with the same structure: what it is called on screen, where it lives, the options it offers, what it does, and when to use it.
Use the search box in the sidebar to find a tool by its on-screen name, for example ZEBRA, MATCH or Rec TC. The glossary at the end defines every term the app and this manual use.
The pages of the app
The app has seven destinations, reached from the page switcher. Each has its own chapter.
| Page | What it is for | Chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Connection | Choose how the phone talks to the camera (USB, Wi-Fi, hotspot, camera Wi-Fi, RED), pair, reconnect, and send logs when something fails. | 05 Connection |
| Live View | The monitor. The camera picture with every exposure, focus, framing and LUT tool, plus record control. | 06 Live View |
| Controls | A grid of camera settings: exposure, white balance, format, codec, focus, audio and timecode, plus the record card. | 11 Controls |
| Playback | Browse the camera card, play clips through a LUT, review photos, cull, and save to the Photos app. | 13 Playback |
| Multicam | Several cameras in one grid with group record, a shared exposure rail and a timecode jam. | 14 Multicam |
| Remote | Turn other phones and tablets into read-only monitors for a director, client or focus puller. | 15 Remote Viewer |
| Advanced | Every app preference: interface, preview quality, scopes, peaking, toolbars, hot corners, LUT library, lens profiles, playback cache and system. | 17 Advanced |
The one rule for every tool
Every tool pill in Live View works the same way. Tap turns the tool on or off. Long-press opens its options. That is true for scopes, zebras, false color, peaking, LUTs, guides, desqueeze, the level, audio meters and the rest. If you remember nothing else from this manual, remember that.
If you prefer a tap to open the options menu instead of toggling, you can change that per tool in Advanced, under the bottom toolbar settings. See Advanced settings.
Chapters
Tips and tricks
The habits that make the app faster and more reliable on set, from connection to battery.
02Known issues
What is broken in the current release, what 2.1 fixes, workarounds, and limitations by design.
03Cinematography basics
Exposure, log and LUTs, scopes, focus, frame rates, codecs, audio and timecode, each tied to the tool that handles it.
04Supported cameras
Which Nikon and RED bodies work, over which connection, and the differences between them.
05Connection
Simple and Pro connect, every transport, the setup guide, pairing, permissions and the advanced tools.
06Live View page
Top bar, bottom toolbar, hot corners, HUD, gestures, presets and iPad layouts.
07Exposure tools
Histogram, waveform, parade, vectorscope, false color, zebras, X-Lights and X-Posts.
08Focus tools
Peaking, touch AF, punch and zoom, focus pull, manual focus drive and lens profiles.
09LUTs and looks
The LUT pill, quick slots, the look browser, wipe, match, the library and why analysis stays under the LUT.
10Framing and guides
Composition grids, frame guides, mattes, anamorphic desqueeze, reference frames and the level.
11Controls page
Every camera setting tile, the record card, audio and timecode, hardware triggers and startup defaults.
12Stills, timelapse, stacking
Photo mode, release modes, bulb and time, photo review, focus stacking and the TIME intervalometer.
13Playback
Gallery, filters, culling, the video player, playback LUTs, save to Photos, cache and delete.
14Multicam
Layouts, adding cameras, group record, the exposure rail, per-camera tools and timecode jam-sync.
15Remote Viewer and HDMI
Cast to other devices, HDMI capture cards, Accsoon SeeMo and Live Activities.
16RED cameras
Connecting KOMODO and V-RAPTOR, the RED tiles, autofocus, LUT handling and limits.
17Advanced settings
Every preference in the Advanced page, section by section, with defaults.
18Troubleshooting and FAQ
The questions support answers most, with the fix for each.
19Glossary
Every term, from aperture to zebras.
Which version this describes
This manual is written against Parallax Monitor 2.1 for iOS, which is the baseline for both apps. Features that arrived in 2.1 are marked New in 2.1. If you are on 2.0 and cannot find one of those, update the app.
ZR Ctl for Android shares the same tools, names and layout. Where Android behaves differently, the chapter says so in an Android note. Features that exist only on one platform are marked with iPad, iOS or Android.
Feature availability also depends on the camera. A control that the camera does not report is hidden or shown as read only, so two bodies can present slightly different Controls grids. The Supported cameras chapter lists the differences.
Getting help
If something does not work, the most useful thing you can do is send logs right after it fails. Open the Connection page and tap Send logs. The email contains a filtered support report from the app, with no photos or video. Add one or two sentences about what you expected and what happened. Feature requests and bug reports can also go through the feedback form.
Setup walk-throughs with camera menu screenshots are on the How-to page, and the video tutorials show the tools in use.
Something missing or wrong on this page? Email mike@itsmadcreative.com with the page name and what you expected to find.