Comparison

pCAM Pro vs CreativeGrading

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

pCAM Pro

This app provides 27 essential tools for cinematography and photography professionals and students. It offers instant calculations for depth of field, field of view, exposure, and more, with a user-friendly interface designed for on-the-go use.

Highlights
  • Depth of Field calculations
  • Field of View preview
  • Focal Length matching
  • Exposure calculations
  • HMI Flicker-free settings
  • Speed Booster adapter calculations
  • VFX tracking markers
Features
Read full description

Plan shots, choose lenses, calculate exposure, and pre-visualize the frame in seconds. 27 pro tools. Every result illustrated. 2,000+ camera formats plus unlimited user-defined formats. I've deliberately kept pCAM Pro a one-time purchase, with none of the subscriptions that have crept into so many apps. • Universal app for iPhone, iPad, Apple Silicon Mac, and Apple Vision Pro • Depth of Field (hyperfocal, total depth, near and far, image circle) • Field of View (and angle of view) • Field of View Preview in both Portrait & Landscape camera positions (8 images to pre-visualize & size shots by distance & focal length) • Focal Length (lens) Matching — match to horizontal, vertical, or diagonal dimensions • Relative Size (compares sensors) • Exposure calculations • HMI Flicker-free (safe shutters & safe camera speeds) • Reference (technical charts, lists & tables. Cine film stocks with film can labels, cine lens specs, false color/exposure change, diopter distance table, miniature shooting, safe panning speeds, zone system) • Insert Slate (4 font colors plus white or black backgrounds) • Splits — Aperture Finder calculation • Speed Booster® Adapter — calculate reduced Focal Length & Boosted Aperture with various adapters. Also create camera format profiles with attached adapters for use in other tools • Eye Light (soft-edged light shapes — Full Screen, Oval, Ring, and Strip) • Chroma Key & VFX Tracking (green and blue screen and VFX tracking markers) • Light Effects for handheld light or via Apple AirPlay to HDTV. Includes templates for: fire, television, siren, neon, strobe, flashbulb, lightning. Create unlimited custom animations • Mired Shift — Gel Selector • Conversion calculator • 4 Test Charts (incl. Siemens Star) • Triangulate calculation (calculate distances, image circle, etc.) • Film Running Time to Length • Shooting to Screen Time • Color Correction (chooses color correction filters) • Time Lapse (shooting interval, event duration, screen time) • Scene Illumination (beam intensity) • Light Coverage (width/distance) • Underwater Distance • Diopter (lens focus, diopter power) • Macro (object distance, magnification, corrected stop, DoF, object size, image size, fill percentage) • Built-in user guides on each screen • Calculates instantly & automatically as each entry is entered • 2,000+ camera formats plus unlimited customizable, user-defined camera formats, CoC & filters • Designed by a working camera technician who understands that calculations must be done simply and on-the-run AND ONE THING THAT ISN'T A CALCULATOR Crew Wheel — spin to settle who's buying the coffee. Not a tool, just a small gift for the standing-around time. Every long day needs one. TRUSTED WORLDWIDE BY DPs, Photographers, Camera Assistants, Camera Operators, Production Designers, VFX, Videographers, Gaffers, plus Film, Television, and Digital Media students. INDUSTRY RECOGNITION • Membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Production and Technology Branch). • 75th Primetime Emmy Awards — Emmy® for "Outstanding Achievement in Engineering, Science & Technology" from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. • 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards — Engineering Plaque for "Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development" from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. • Technical Achievement Award from Society of Camera Operators — "For outstanding contributions to cinematography through the design and development of the pCAM Film+Digital Calculator."

About

CreativeGrading

This application provides a revolutionary camera shading control panel for professional camera series. It offers a holistic view of organic curves and color shaping, simplifying artistic decision-making with a graphical representation of parameter changes for enhanced control.

Highlights
  • Revolutionary camera shading control
  • Tablet and control panel interface
  • Holistic view of organic curves
  • Graphical representation of parameter changes
  • System-wide view of image modification
  • Enhanced artistic decision-making
Read full description

With Grass Valley's new Creative Grading, the Focus and LDX camera series just unleashed their full potential. Creative Grading is a new camera shading control panel and tablet application that redefines the human interface and puts the user in full control of the creative power that lives inside Grass Valley cameras. Using either or both a tablet and an intensively-tested new control panel, Creative Grading transforms camera shading from what was numeric on/off thinking to a holistic view of organic curves and color shaping. For ease in visualization, the larger UI of the tablet application provides a graphical representation of the impact of parameter changes. Artistic decision-making is much simpler and faster as shaders can see how a single change affects related sets of parameters in a system-wide view of how the on-screen image will be modified. This keeps shaders in full control, regardless of the situation and provides the camera operator with the most optimal working conditions for the task.

Screenshots

pCAM Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: CreativeGrading at Free against pCAM Pro's $34.99. CreativeGrading also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). pCAM Pro's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs every 57 months) and ratings volume (221 vs 2). On rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

CreativeGrading is free to download; pCAM Pro costs $34.99 up front. pCAM Pro sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. CreativeGrading asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for pCAM Pro against 5.0 for CreativeGrading. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: pCAM Pro has 221 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

pCAM Pro ships an update every 9 days, CreativeGrading every 57 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and June 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
pCAM Pro versus CreativeGrading: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterpCAM ProCreativeGrading
Price$34.99Free — better
Rating4.9 (221 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews97.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings221 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 57 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#185 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPad
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDavid EubankGrass Valley USA, LLC

Customer experience

pCAM Pro

All ratings221 ratings
Positive98.6%
Neutral0.5%
Negative0.9%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive97.4%
Neutral2.6%
Negative0.0%

CreativeGrading

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

pCAM Pro

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • None explicitly mentioned, but feature requests imply areas for improvement.

Requested features

3 requests
  • Access iPhone camera for exact POV simulation
  • Implement a night mode
  • Relocate hyperfocal 'apply' button in Depth-of-Field calculator

CreativeGrading

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

pCAM Pro

One-time3
  • Small Tip$1.99
  • Medium Tip$4.99
  • Large Tip$7.99
None

CreativeGrading

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is pCAM Pro free?
pCAM Pro costs $34.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is CreativeGrading free?
CreativeGrading is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, pCAM Pro or CreativeGrading?
CreativeGrading is rated higher. pCAM Pro averages 4.9 out of 5 from 221 ratings, while CreativeGrading averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do pCAM Pro or CreativeGrading have ads?
Neither pCAM Pro nor CreativeGrading shows ads.
Which is updated more often, pCAM Pro or CreativeGrading?
pCAM Pro ships an update every 9 days, and CreativeGrading every 57 months. Most recently, pCAM Pro was updated on September 25, 2026 and CreativeGrading on June 11, 2026.

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