OverlayPicture
Overlay a picture

Add a camera overlay to a photo

Make any photo look like a camcorder

Viewfinder corners, a red REC dot, a timecode and today's date — and you can change every word.

or drop photos here · paste works too

  • Free
  • No sign-up
  • Photos stay on your device
Before
A view over Rome from a glass table framed by camcorder viewfinder corners, a red REC dot, a battery icon, a timecode and the date+ Camcorder REC
How this page handles your photo

The camcorder viewfinder is on the photo when it opens — corners, focus box, battery, a red REC dot, a timecode and today's date — and every word on it is a text layer you can change.

Open the photo. The viewfinder is drawn in this tab; nothing is uploaded.

The controls arrive with the photo. Nothing here asks you to sign in, and no picture is sent anywhere — the drawing all happens in this tab. The site makes exactly one request of its own, and only if you press for it: the cut-out feature downloads a 6.2 MB model from our model file server, after showing you the size and the licence. No photograph goes with it.

Why this stage opens differently

A camera overlay is mostly words — REC, a timecode, a date — so this stage puts them on as separate text layers instead of baking them into a picture. Change the date, write your own caption in the timecode's place, or delete what you do not want.

The furniture itself — corners, brackets, the battery glyph, scan lines — is drawn as vectors at your photo's own size, so it is crisp in the saved file rather than an enlarged screenshot.

Step by step

  1. Open the photo. A camcorder viewfinder with REC, a timecode and today's date is on it when it opens.
  2. Pick a look. Camcorder REC, Disposable date stamp, VHS tape or Focus points — or single pieces from the Camera shelf.
  3. Change the words. Select REC, the timecode or the date and type anything on the Text tab.
  4. Recolour the lines. The Blend tab has the line colour, the REC dot and the frame number.
  5. Save. Lines and words are drawn again at the saved size.

What it does, and what it does not

Looks
Camcorder REC, Disposable date stamp, VHS tape, Focus points.
Shelf pieces
Camcorder, Viewfinder, Focus points, VHS lines, Frame counter.
Words
Text layers, filled with today's date and time when they land.
Lines
Colour of the lines, the REC dot and the lit focus point.
Saving
PNG, JPG or WebP.
  • The date stamp uses your device's monospace font, so it looks slightly different from one device to another.
  • These are looks, not camera data: nothing is written into the file's date or EXIF.
  • VHS lines darken the photo a little by design; lower Wear or the strength if it is too much.

Questions about camera overlays

Can I change the date on the date stamp?
Yes. The date is an ordinary text layer filled with today's date when it lands. Select it and type any date on the Text tab — or any words at all.
Which font is the date stamp in?
Your device's own monospace face, in orange with a soft glow. It is not a licensed seven-segment camera font; the frame counter's digits are drawn as segments.
Is the overlay a downloaded image?
No. Corners, brackets, the battery glyph, the scan lines and the tracking band are drawn from code in this tab, at the size of your photo.
Can I use only the corners, without REC?
Yes. The Camera shelf has Viewfinder (corners, focus box and battery, no REC dot), Focus points, VHS lines and the frame counter as separate layers. Delete any text layer you do not want.
Will the lines look thin on a big photo?
No. Line widths are shares of the photo's short side, so they keep their weight from a phone snap to a 6000-pixel original.

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