The easiest way to film skate clips on an iPhone is to not record the attempts at all. A buffer camera app keeps the last 10 to 20 seconds of video in memory while the session runs. Nothing is saved until the trick is finally landed, then one tap writes just those seconds to a clip. Forty attempts, one make, one file in the camera roll.
The filmer's problem
A trick that is worth filming usually takes a lot of tries. Twenty, forty, sometimes a whole session for one make. If you record everything, you go home with an hour of near-identical footage: roll up, pop, bail, walk back. Then comes the second job, an evening of scrubbing through clips that look the same for the two seconds that matter, trimming the one that worked, and deleting the rest before your storage fills up.
The other classic approach, starting and stopping the recording for every attempt, is worse. Whoever holds the phone becomes a full-time camera operator, and the one attempt that lands is the one where they got distracted and never pressed record.
The buffer flow: film the session, save the make
A rolling buffer flips the whole thing around:
- Open the app and tap Buffer duration (the clock button). Set 10 to 20 seconds, enough for the roll-up, the trick, and the roll-away.
- Prop the phone against a backpack or a curb, or have a friend hold it and frame the spot. The app keeps the screen awake, so it can sit there all session.
- Skate. Bail as many times as it takes. None of it is being saved, so none of it costs storage.
- The trick lands. Tap once. The clip that gets saved starts before the tap, so the whole make is in it, from push to roll-away.
Your reaction time barely matters. Even if the cheer comes first and the tap comes three seconds late, a 15-second buffer still holds the entire trick.
One tap, one finished clip
Turn on Save Buffer Only in Settings and the app stops and saves by itself right after your tap. There is no second press to end the recording and no trailing footage of the ground to trim later. One tap produces one finished clip, and you are back on the board while the file is already in your camera roll. At the end of the session, the roll contains only makes.
Slow motion for lines: 240 fps
For a stylish line or a close-up of the flick, shoot the buffer at 240 fps and the clip plays back buttery slow. To be honest about the tradeoff: 240 fps works at up to 720p, which is standard definition territory but exactly what slow-mo skate clips have always looked like. If you want maximum sharpness instead, 4K is available at up to 60 fps. You pick the format in Settings, and the choice sticks for the session.
Tap with gloves, or do not tap at all
Cold session, gloves on? A hardware volume button triggers the recording too, no touchscreen needed. There is also an invisible full-screen record button, so a slap anywhere on the display works. And if a friend is filming from the flat while you are on the ramp, an Apple Watch on your wrist can fire the save remotely.
Filming for social
Portrait and landscape are both supported, so you can shoot vertical for Reels and TikTok or horizontal for YouTube without cropping afterwards. If the phone is propped at an odd angle and the orientation guesses wrong, the force-rotate button locks it the way you want. Clips save straight to Photos, or to Files and iCloud Drive if you collect footage from several phones at the spot.
Do this in Video Buffer Action Camera
This workflow is what the app is built for, and skaters are exactly who it was built for: a rolling buffer of 2 to 100 seconds set with Buffer duration, Save Buffer Only for one-tap finished clips, 240 fps slow motion, 4K at up to 60 fps, volume-button and Apple Watch triggers, and saving to Photos, Files, or iCloud Drive. Short buffers are free; longer buffers and all camera formats are part of the premium subscription.
