Camera1 vs HighFive Cinema
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Camera1
This app offers a dedicated manual camera experience for black and white photography. It provides full creative control over contrast and exposure in real-time, allowing users to develop their vision before capturing the shot. Users can also manually adjust focus and exposure for professional-quality monochrome images.
- Black and white photography only
- Manual focus and exposure control
- Real-time contrast and exposure adjustments
- Live histogram and over-exposure warning
- Support for RAW, ProRAW, TIFF, and JPEG formats
- Zen mode for distraction-free shooting
- Multiple crop formats and grid views
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Camera1 is the dedicated Black & White manual camera for iPhone. No colour, no compromise — just pure monochrome photography with full creative control. DEVELOP YOUR CREATIVITY Learn to "see" in Black & White through Camera1 unique simultaneous contrast and exposure adjustments. Explore the infinite black and white image possibilities in real-time, such as high-key/low-key right in the viewfinder, before taking the shot. Use the Zen mode to focus all your creative attention on the picture, and not the camera or technique. TAKE CONTROL Take control of the camera, with manual overrides of exposure and focus. Super easy access to focus lock using the manual focusing slider, for ultra-fast shooting - as the camera won’t need to re-focus between shots. PROFESSIONAL OUTPUT Camera1 takes full advantage of your camera hardware and saves in a variety of different file formats, including JPEG, TIFF, RAW & ProRAW / DNG, allowing for maximum editing flexibility in applications like Photoshop and Lightroom later in your workflow. Advanced iOS image processing such as Deep Fusion and Smart HDR is used on supported devices. Live histograms, flash, grid views and a range of manual controls allow you to get the perfect shot, every time. Features • Black & white photography only: commit to Black and White at shooting time. • High-quality image processing engine. Take full advantage of your device camera hardware. • Manual focus (with magnification of the center focusing area), focus lock, spot focus, auto-focus • Manual exposure compensation, or use Auto exposure • Live histogram, when adjusting exposure, optional over-exposure warning indicator (zebras) • 6 contrast/color filters for Black & White: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, infrared (simulated) • Manual contrast control • High-resolution capture (48MP) (*) • Support for multi-lens devices - standard, telephoto and ultra wide-angle (*) • ProRAW, RAW, JPEG, HEIC, TIFF file formats. DNG files contain colour information, allowing later editing. A full-resolution JPEG, processed to Black and White by Camera1 is saved alongside the DNG file, to the camera roll • Support for iOS Deep Fusion and Smart HDR (*) • Tap on the picture to take the shot • 5 crop formats: 3:2, 4:3 (native), 1:1, 16:9, 2.35:1 (panorama) • Zen mode: all controls disappear, leaving only the viewfinder on the screen for the ultimate picture-taking experience • 3 flash modes: On, Off, Torch • 2 framing grid types: Rule of Thirds and Golden Triangles • Live view of all controls above • iOS Widget - quickly launch the app from your lock or home screen • Camera Control: use hardware camera control to launch Camera1, or to take shots (iPhone 16 Pro & Pro Max) • Black and White camera roll, image viewer at full resolution "The most brilliant Camera App in recent years" -- Keisuke Takahashi "I like the results-a bit like film (Tri-X) with a slight grain pattern. Lots of latitude" -- Eric Mencher @emencher Don't forget to tag your pictures with #camera1app ! Privacy-first • Camera1 does not embed any tracking / third-party SDKs (*) Compatibility Notes Camera1 features depend on the capabilities of your iOS device: • High-resolution (48MP) capture: iPhone 14 Pro and later Pro models • ProRAW capture: iPhone 12 Pro and later Pro models • RAW capture: iPhone 6S and later, iPad Pro • Smart HDR & Deep Fusion: iPhone 11 and later • Multi-lens support (standard, telephoto, ultra wide): devices with multiple rear cameras • Ultra Wide lens may not support RAW or manual focus/exposure on some devices
HighFive Cinema
Transform your videos into immersive cinematic experiences with real-time depth, parallax, and AI-powered camera intelligence. This app offers a new visual language for storytelling, allowing you to watch content with true motion and presence.
- Real-time spatial depth rendering
- Cinematic tilt and motion control
- AI-powered framing and movement
- High-end color system and LUTs
- Immersive mobile playback engine
- Next-gen storytelling tools
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HighFive Cinema is a next-generation spatial video experience. Transform your videos into immersive cinematic motion using real-time depth, parallax, and AI-driven camera intelligence. FEATURES: • Real-time spatial depth rendering (BG / MID / FG layers) • Cinematic tilt and motion control • AI-powered framing and movement • High-end color system and LUTs • Immersive playback engine designed for mobile • Built for creators, filmmakers, and next-gen storytelling Watch content like never before with true motion, depth, and presence. HighFive Cinema is not just video playback. It’s a new visual language.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: HighFive Cinema at Free against Camera1's $4.99. HighFive Cinema also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 77%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Camera1's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and ratings volume (128 vs 4). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
HighFive Cinema is free to download; Camera1 costs $4.99 up front. HighFive Cinema sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Camera1 asks for nothing beyond the download.
HighFive Cinema holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Camera1 has 128 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Camera1's written reviews are positive against 100% of HighFive Cinema's.
Camera1 ships an update every 4 months, HighFive Cinema every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Camera1 | HighFive Cinema |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (128 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 128 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 88 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Sebastien Ardon | Higherkey, Inc |
Customer experience
Camera1
HighFive Cinema
Bugs and requests
Camera1
Reported bugs
15 issues- Lock function confusing/not working
- Image stabilizer not managed (blurry photos)
- Swiping out of app not always working
- Live filters not working on some devices
- Preview tonality not always matching result
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- RAW saving issues with front camera
- Settings lost when switching apps
- No support for iPhone XS (app exit issues)
- Manual focus not working on upgraded phones
- App crashes
- Randomly changes settings
- Does not open on iPad 2 iOS 9
- Manual focus works intermittently
- Only landscape mode available
- Front camera disables RAW saving and doesn't re-enable on return
Requested features
16 requests- More effects / profiles
- Autofocus field display and movement
- Choose focal length (e.g., 28mm, 35mm, 50mm)
- Anamorphic lens option
- Timer
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- Zoom function
- Finer control over sliders
- Minimum shutter speed
- Focus peaking
- Save to TIFF file
- Simulation of burned edges or films
- Vignetting management
- Display shutter speed and ISO
- Ability to switch to front camera and return to RAW saving
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
HighFive Cinema
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Camera1
No in-app purchases
HighFive Cinema
- Episode 1$1.99
- Episode 3$1.99
- Episode 2$1.99
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- Episode 4$1.99
- Episode 5$1.99
- Episode 6$1.99
- Episode 7$1.99
- The Friendly$4.99









