Another BeReal-Esque Camera Is Here — This Time, It’s In Snapchat
There are so many options!
The picture-in-picture social media phenomenon made popular by BeReal is now seeping into all your apps. On Aug. 29, Snapchat added a Dual Camera function that lets you take a picture from two perspectives (selfie and world-facing) with one tap. Setting it apart from Instagram’s Candid Challenge and Dual Camera, Snapchat’s feature allows you to choose from four different modes. Here’s how to use Snapchat’s Dual Camera in so many ways to take your BeReal vibes to the next level.
In a demo with Elite Daily, Snapchat shared the company has been developing the Dual Camera for “over a year” and conducting testing with an “extremely small group” of Snapchat users in the last few months. It was initially announced on April 28 that Dual Camera would be a part of a creator-focused set of camera and editing tools called Director Mode, launching later in 2022. But people loved it so much that Snapchat is bringing the Dual Camera to the main camera too. It will still live in Director Mode along with Green Screen, Camera Speed, and Jump Cut, which are all new features launching soon.
Snapchatters can have more fun capturing multiple perspectives at the same time — think reactions to a joke or a surprise party and vibe-ing at a music festival with your friends. There won’t be the need to have multiple cameras set up or take double the shots anymore. Dual Camera is about to make every moment twice as memorable.
Where To Find Snapchat’s Dual Camera
Dual camera was added to the main camera toolbar for easy accessibility. When you open your Snapchat, a camera icon will appear as the fifth icon on the top right toolbar. Click on it to open Dual Camera. A pop-up will give you four options:
- Vertical
- Horizontal
- Picture in Picture
- Cutout
Vertical
The default layout of Dual Camera is Vertical, where the front and back camera views are stacked on top of one another.
Horizontal
In Horizontal view, the cameras are side by side in the middle of the screen, and the top and bottom of the screen are blurred out.
Picture in Picture
Picture in Picture has one camera shot fill up the entire screen as the main subject and a small circle on the bottom right corner to show the other camera’s perspective.
Cutout
Cutout works by detecting your face and body in the selfie camera and removing your background. So, you become the cutout on top of the front-facing camera.
How To Take Photos & Videos With Dual Camera
Now that you’ve had a chance to test out the four different layouts, choose one, and you’re ready to start snapping. To flip the perspectives, double-tap the screen. You can flip the cameras in all the settings except for Cutout, which uses Snapchat’s Lens technology to act as a green screen.
Tap the camera to take a photo or press and hold to record a video. You can also lock it by sliding your finger to the left to record hands-free. After you’ve taken your photo and video, it’s time to get creative in post-editing with filters, stickers, music, and text. AR lenses don’t work with Dual Camera at launch, but there are already so many ways to personalize your Snap.
As of the Aug. 29 launch, Dual Camera is only available to Snapchatters with an iPhone model of XS and XR or newer — and it will launch on Android in the coming months. If you don’t see Dual Camera in your Snapchat, make sure you have the latest version of the app. And then once you see the feature, you can get to dual Snapping and let your creativity flow.
