VisionCamera V5 With Marc Rousavy | React Universe On Air

VisionCamera v5 was five years in the making, and in this episode, Marc Rousavy joins Mike Grabowski to explain what changed, why v5 is more than a version bump, and how Nitro reshaped the foundation of one of the most widely used camera libraries in React Native.
They cover the bridge and JSI limitations that pushed VisionCamera toward a new architecture, the move to Nitro Modules, and the API decisions behind v5. The conversation also gets into the new constraints model, output objects, in-memory photo handling, barcode scanning, migration from v4, and the testing work needed to make camera features hold up across real devices.
If you build React Native camera apps, this episode is a detailed look at the engineering behind VisionCamera v5 and the decisions behind making complex camera features easier to ship and maintain.
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Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to React Universe On Air
2:07 What VisionCamera is today
4:51 Barcode scanning and the new Data Scanner library
7:25 How VisionCamera helped shape Nitro
10:55 Frame processors, C++ glue, and the old JSI era
18:56 What is actually new in VisionCamera v5
21:45 The constraints API explained
30:12 Why third-party camera apps still struggle
33:29 The new output system and custom outputs
37:31 Imperative API, hooks, and components
39:01 Migrating from v4 to v5
43:25 AI, agents, and building VisionCamera v5
45:33 Testing, stability, and what comes next
48:25 Advice for teams building camera apps
50:50 Why web support is not on the roadmap