# spool camera — 4×5 film ritual > 4×5 film ritual (iPhone/iPad app by Zeeshan Khan.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spool-camera/id6788787305 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Zeeshan Khan](https://appshunter.io/developer/6788787307) - Category: Photo & Video - Price: $7.99 - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 18.0 · 3 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-07-16 - Data updated: 2026-08-20 - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spool-camera/id6788787305/reviews.md ## What is spool camera? Spool is a camera for people who think in rolls, not presets. You choose film before you shoot. Twelve frames on one roll of characterized 120. Compose through a waist-level finder, read the deck meter, set marked aperture and shutter, pull focus on the ground glass, release, wind the crank. Develop the roll, read the contact sheet, export full-resolution 4×5 portrait JPEGs. No filter drawer. No preset stack. No second pass after the shutter. TWELVE FRAMES, ONE DECISION Medium format taught most of us to slow down. Spool keeps that contract on a phone. One roll, twelve exposures. Pick the stock before frame one and live with that choice until the counter hits twelve. Open the back. Choose from fourteen characterized films. Lock Vintage or Modern render character. Load the roll. Turn aperture and shutter wheels. Focus by hand. Read the meter needle against your settings. Release. Advance on the crank. Finish to develop and review the contact sheet. Export when ready. WHAT THE GROUND GLASS PROMISES WYSIWYG. The 4×5 portrait frame in the finder is the 4×5 portrait file you get. Center-cropped from the native capture at the selected rear lens. No upscaling. No beauty pipeline. No post-capture grade. The marked wheels set intent and meter the scene; the render commits that look at capture time. What you chose at the shutter is what the roll keeps. FOURTEEN CHARACTERIZED STOCKS Color negative, slide, tungsten cine, and black-and-white films modeled as finished looks, not one-tap filters. Each stock has its own exposure index, shoulder, grain, and color response. Vintage: softer falloff, fuller texture, gentler halation. Modern: same stock curves with cleaner depth separation, stronger contrast, sharper read. Character is fixed for all twelve frames at load. THE LENS TURRET Real rear-camera modules, not a digital zoom slider. Full experience (supported multi-camera devices): four turret positions where hardware allows. The current top-tier hardware: 13 mm ultra-wide, 24 mm wide, 48 mm main-module crop, 100 mm telephoto. Basic mode (supported standard devices): ultra-wide, wide, and 48 mm crop where available. Other supported devices may run with reduced lens coverage. About explains your tier. PHYSICAL VS SIMULATED Physical at capture: focus on the selected rear lens; native sensor dimensions; continuous auto exposure and white balance in the live finder so the ground glass stays readable; standard EXIF with true hardware values. Simulated in the finished JPEG: marked aperture and shutter (drive the deck meter and adjust render brightness within ±6 EV); film color response, grain, halation, depth cues; 4×5 portrait framing. Marked f-stops and shutter speeds do not change the device's physical aperture, sensor, or shutter mechanism. See Settings, About, and technical disclosure. OUTPUT One JPEG per exposure at maximum resolution for the selected rear lens. No RAW. No HEIF. No motion-photo export. Simulated exposure values may appear in export metadata and captions. Hardware EXIF preserved. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No cloud processing. No analytics, advertising, or tracking in this version. Rolls and frames stay on your device until you delete them or erase Spool data. PERMISSIONS Camera: required. Spool uses the camera as the ground glass of your 4×5 finder. Photos (add only): on export or auto-save. Spool does not read your library. Location: off by default. Only if you enable geotagging in Settings. Coordinates may be stored in frame metadata and export captions. YOUR DATA Delete a frame in the viewer. Discard a roll in progress. Settings, Erase all Spool data removes every roll, frame, and preference after confirmation. Exported Photos copies deleted separately in Photos. LEGAL AND SUPPORT Privacy Policy: https://spool.camera/privacy Support: https://spool.camera/support Also in Settings and About. Spool is published by SixTwelve Studio. Portrait orientation. Requires iOS 18 or later. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.0.5 — 2026-08-19 Added 1/1000s shutter speed support. Retuned 12 film stock profiles for cleaner skin tones, smoother highlight roll-off, and refined grain texture. ### 1.0.4 — 2026-08-03 Fixed a crash that could occur when opening a developed roll. Contact sheets now load faster and use less memory. ### 1.0.3 — 2026-07-30 Reportage 400: finished JPEG grain is quieter and more print-like. ### 1.0.2 — 2026-07-24 Spool opens with a proper launch mark while the camera body comes awake, then returns you straight to the finder when a roll is already loaded. Film load now shows clear progress instead of sitting silent, lens changes keep the ground glass live, and a missed exposure no longer leaves the shutter stuck. Same twelve-frame ritual, steadier from cold start through the next frame. ### 1.0.1 — 2026-07-17 Since the last release: • Modern render recipe v4 — tack-sharp from f/5.6 up: no simulated depth of field at mid and stopped-down apertures, zero field-curvature softness, stronger microcontrast and luminance sharpen, lighter grain and halation. Vintage keeps soft wide-open falloff and full film texture. • Taking-lens depth of field — blur and softness now follow the selected rear lens and dial aperture, not a fixed mid-tele assumption. • Zone scale on the focus ruler — while you rack focus, near/far distance bands update for the active lens and aperture. Finder stays sharp; drag-rack remains the focus method. Privacy: spool.camera/privacy · Support: spool.camera/support ## More apps by Zeeshan Khan - [SixtyFive Camera](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sixtyfive-camera/id6788836035) - [the basic camera](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-basic-camera/id6788857471) - [half camera app](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/half-camera-app/id6791676502) All apps by Zeeshan Khan: https://appshunter.io/developer/6788787307 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-20.*