Camera Follow and Bounds

A platformer camera needs to track the player smoothly, without jittering or showing empty space past the edges of the level.

using UnityEngine;

public class CameraFollow : MonoBehaviour
{
    public Transform target;
    public float smoothTime = 0.15f;
    public Vector2 minBounds;
    public Vector2 maxBounds;

    Vector3 velocity;

    void LateUpdate()
    {
        Vector3 desired = new Vector3(target.position.x, target.position.y, transform.position.z);
        Vector3 smoothed = Vector3.SmoothDamp(transform.position, desired, ref velocity, smoothTime);

        smoothed.x = Mathf.Clamp(smoothed.x, minBounds.x, maxBounds.x);
        smoothed.y = Mathf.Clamp(smoothed.y, minBounds.y, maxBounds.y);

        transform.position = smoothed;
    }
}

The pieces

• LateUpdate() runs after every Update() this frame, cameras should always follow in LateUpdate, so they track the player's final position for the frame instead of a stale one from before its last movement.
• Vector3.SmoothDamp eases the camera toward a target position over smoothTime seconds, instead of snapping instantly, this is what makes camera movement feel smooth rather than jittery. It needs a ref Vector3 velocity field that it updates internally between calls, don't reset that field yourself.
• Mathf.Clamp on the final x and y keeps the camera from ever showing area outside minBounds/maxBounds, set those to the edges of your level so the camera stops panning once it reaches them.
• The camera's own z position is preserved (transform.position.z) rather than copied from the player, since the player lives on the 2D gameplay plane but the camera needs distance from it to actually render anything.