FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS & VIDEOGRAPHERS
Clients want motion now. Deliver it without a second app.
Behind-the-scenes clips, reels from a shoot and social cutdowns, without adding another monthly subscription to the stack.
THE PAIN
- Every client brief now says "and a few reels"
- Your editing stack already costs enough per month
- Reformatting a horizontal edit to vertical is dead time
THE WORKFLOW
Import the shoot footage
Cut, caption and grade the highlight
Reframe to 9:16 and hand over the master
FROM YOUR PHONE
Cut a behind-the-scenes clip on the phone between setups, while the shoot is still interesting.
Zella for iPhone →WHEN THIS OUTGROWS THE FREE TIER
Client delivery is where 4K and a custom bitrate stop being preferences, and the multi-aspect queue covers the "and a few reels" line in the brief.
Everything else here is free forever: the complete editor, all the AI, unlimited recording, and watermark-free export up to 2 minutes at 1080p. Pro is $89 once and covers Mac and iPhone on a single purchase. See pricing →
Every client brief now has a line about reels. For photographers that is an awkward add: it is real work, clients rarely price it as such, and the obvious tools want another monthly subscription on top of a stack that already costs plenty.
Zella is a one-time purchase that covers the specific job - a highlight cut, a behind-the-scenes clip, a vertical version for the client's feed - without pretending to replace the editor you use for paid video work. It exports MOV, so it can simply be the fast front end of your existing pipeline.
For the behind-the-scenes layer, the phone version matters most: cut a clip between setups, while the shoot still looks like something.
WHAT YOU ACTUALLY SHIP
A reel from a shoot
Cut to music with Beat Sync, captioned, reframed to 9:16 with tracking rather than a centre crop.
A behind-the-scenes clip
Filmed and cut on the phone between setups, so it goes out while the shoot is still happening.
A client social cutdown
One edit rendered 9:16, 1:1 and 16:9 in a single Pro action, which is usually the exact deliverable.
A portfolio piece with titles
Kinetic titles with gradient fills, stroke and shadow, anchored so a reframe does not move them.
THE HONEST ANSWERS
I already have Lightroom and Premiere.
Keep both. This is not a colour pipeline or an NLE, and the overlap is narrow on purpose: the fast social layer, captions, and reformatting. Export MOV and the file drops into what you already use.
Client deliverables need proper specs.
Pro covers 4K, custom bitrate and 60 fps, and the Mac exports 8K. Transparent export is ProRes 4444 with alpha. If a client needs something outside that, finish in your NLE.
Is the colour grading any good?
It is real but not a colour suite: a colour board, the full looks catalogue with an intensity slider, Color Match between two clips, and scopes. Color Match and scopes sit behind the Advanced Tools switch and are Pro. For social cutdowns it is enough; for a graded commercial it is not.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Can Zella replace Premiere or Final Cut for client work?
For a full professional NLE workflow, no. It is strongest as the fast social layer: cutting, captions, reframing and cleanup, then MOV export into your existing editor.
Does it export 4K and ProRes?
Yes with Pro: 4K on every platform, 8K on Mac, and ProRes 4444 with an alpha channel for transparent export.
Can I deliver several aspect ratios from one edit?
Yes, with the Pro multi-aspect queue, which renders 9:16, 1:1 and 16:9 in one action as three files.
Is there colour grading?
Yes: a colour board, the full looks catalogue with an intensity slider, Color Match and scopes. Color Match and scopes are Pro, behind the Advanced Tools switch.
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