Tools built around how a camera crew actually works
Film and video production runs on decisions made quickly, on location, under time pressure. Which lens. Where the camera goes. What the frame will hold, and what it will leave out. Most of those decisions are made long before a camera is on the truck, and getting them wrong is expensive.
Crooster builds software for that part of the process — prep, scouting and planning. Our work is aimed at the people doing the job rather than at a general consumer audience: directors of photography, directors, camera assistants, location managers and the students and independent filmmakers coming up behind them.
We care about accuracy. Measurements in our products come from manufacturer specifications rather than estimates, because a viewfinder that is approximately right is worse than no viewfinder at all.
Cinevisor — a director's viewfinder for iOS
Cinevisor turns an iPhone into an accurate preview of what a given camera and lens will actually see. You choose a camera body, a sensor mode, a lens series and a focal length, and the phone's camera feed is cropped and scaled so that the frame on screen matches the real field of view of that combination.
What it does
- Rig selection. Camera make and model, sensor mode including open gate and cropped modes, lens series and individual focal lengths, with favourites and recent rigs kept close at hand.
- Accurate field of view. Horizontal and vertical angle of view calculated from the active sensor area for the selected mode, then matched to the phone's real optics rather than to assumed values.
- Anamorphic support. Common squeeze factors, viewed desqueezed or as recorded.
- Frame guides. Multiple simultaneous framelines, custom aspect ratios, centre marks, thirds, and action and title safe areas, saved as presets per production.
- Capture with context. Stills saved together with the camera, sensor mode, lens, focal length, aperture, framelines, location, heading and time of day.
- Shot lists and lookbooks. Shots organised by production and scene, exportable as PDF for the rest of the crew.
Who it is for
Cinematographers and directors working out coverage on a scout. Camera assistants checking sensor modes and frame guides. Location managers documenting a space with real lens context rather than phone snapshots. Students and independent filmmakers who need to plan carefully because they cannot afford to improvise on the day.
Availability
Cinevisor is in active development for iOS and is not yet released, and we have not announced a release date. If you would like to hear when a test build is available, write to us at david@crooster.ca and we will let you know.
Ekipo
Ekipo is a software-as-a-service utility for film and video production — a hosted tool used in the browser rather than an application you install.
It is at an early stage and we are not describing it in detail yet. If you work in production and want to hear about it when there is something to show, write to david@crooster.ca and we will add you to the list.
About Crooster Inc.
Crooster Inc. is a Canadian software company incorporated federally under the Canada Business Corporations Act and registered to carry on business in Ontario. Our registered office is in Toronto.
The company was founded and is directed by David Estrada. We are small and intend to stay focused: we would rather make a few tools that professionals trust than a catalogue of things that almost work.
- Legal name
- Crooster Inc.
- Corporation number
- 1803083-9 (Corporations Canada)
- Jurisdiction
- Canada, federal — Canada Business Corporations Act
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Director
- David Enrique Estrada Seow
Get in touch
For product questions, press, partnership enquiries or anything else, email us directly. We read everything and reply to messages that need a reply, normally within two business days.
For help with one of our products, see the support page. For how we handle personal information, see our privacy policy.