Filmic Firstlight vs Backdrop Box
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Filmic Firstlight
This camera app offers a creative and fun photography experience with custom film simulations and adaptive film grain. It provides advanced yet approachable controls for focus, exposure, and image aesthetics, allowing users to capture and share stunning photos with a vintage analog vibe without extensive post-editing.
- Custom film simulations
- Adaptive film grain
- Live analytics
- Manual focus and exposure controls
- Vintage film looks
- Burst mode
- DNG, TIFF, JPG, HEIC export
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Filmic Firstlight is a revolutionary photo camera from the makers of the class leading Filmic Pro cinema video camera that makes live photography fun and creative. -- -- -- -- -- -- Rediscover the joy of capturing life’s moments in photographs you will immediately treasure and want to share. Firstlight combines custom film simulations, adaptive film grain and FiLMiC Pro’s famous live analytics to offer an advanced but approachable front end camera experience like no other. Fast, easy and intuitive, Firstlight lets you envision and capture your best moments in camera, without having to spend hours editing your photos later. Shoot and share, it’s that easy. -- -- -- -- -- -- ADVANCED IMAGE CONTROLS - Fast, intuitive focus and exposure controls: Tap the screen to set focus/exposure, tap again to lock. - Shutter and ISO Priority Modes: In addition to auto exposure, you can set specific Shutter Speed or ISO values to adhere to and let the app automatically adjust exposure for the unlocked value. - Cross-swipe manual controls: The most intuitive way to manually adjust focus and exposure. Swipe across the image to dial in your perfect shot. Swipe up and down to adjust exposure. Swipe left and right to adjust focus. - Reactive analytics: A foundation feature of Filmic Pro and now in a photo app. Manually adjusting your focus and exposure will automatically apply focus peaking or zebra stripes to make sure you get your shot just right. - RGB Histogram: Dynamically shows the exposure profile of the image across all color channels. GET THE LOOK YOU WANT - Vintage film simulations: The magic of Firstlight is in our realistic tributes to authentic film stocks. - Film grain: Apply natural-looking, dynamically-generated film grain effects to give your photos that ‘film look’. - Vignette: Apply a subtle dark vignette to your image. - Lens selector: Quickly switch between all available lenses on your device. Go from tele to ultrawide with the tap of a finger. (Note: camera/lens support is device specific). PROFESSIONAL CAMERA TOOLS - Burst mode - Timer - Flash - Grid overlays - Aspect ratios: 4:3, 16:9, 3:2, 1:1, 5:4 - Expanded shadow detail - DNG, TIFF, JPG or HEIC Selection - HDR control (This feature is supported by iPhone Xs Max, Xs, Xr and newer) - Volume button shutter and support for most bluetooth camera shutter remotes - Configurable burst mode - Anamorphic adapter support - Custom Function button - Custom live analytics - Configurable Focus and Exposure controls - Embedded copyright - Filmic Pro quick launch button (for owners of Filmic Pro) If you have any questions for the Filmic team either before or after you purchase Firstlight or one of our other apps please feel free to reach out to us at: support@filmicpro.com Terms of Service: https://support.bendingspoons.com/tos.html?app=1482338564
Backdrop Box
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This is a companion app to the "Backdrop Box" project I've uploaded to the major 3D printing websites. Give life to that old iPad that's collecting dust in the drawer! Once you've customized and printed a Backdrop Box for your iPad, just download this app and select your photos! While this app will technically work on phones, it's intended for tablets. If you like this project, please give me a like / boost / whatever on the website you discovered it on. Thanks!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Backdrop Box at none against Filmic Firstlight's 13. Filmic Firstlight's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 10 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. Filmic Firstlight sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Backdrop Box asks for nothing beyond the download.
Filmic Firstlight ships an update every 2 months, Backdrop Box every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Filmic Firstlight | Backdrop Box |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (919 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 37.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 919 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 10 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.1 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 126 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bending Spoons Apps ApS | Matthew Jones |
Bugs and requests
Filmic Firstlight
Reported bugs
5 issues- RAW files appear blurry
- Incompatibility with iPhone 14 Pro
- Inconsistent behavior with lens switching
- Inability to export DNG files
- HDR setting resets on app launch
Requested features
7 requests- Ability to save preferred filters
- White balance control
- Longer shutter speed
- Digital zoom
- Horizontal shooting
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- Focus stacking
- Wireless tethering
Backdrop Box
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Filmic Firstlight
- FirstLight Weekly With FT7 Days trial$0.997 Days
- FirstLight Weekly7 Days trial$1.997 Days
- Weekly Subscription$1.997 Days
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- Weekly Bundle with Free Trial7 Days trial$4.997 Days
- Weekly Bundle Subscription$4.997 Days
- FirstLight Yearly With FT7 Days trial$9.991 Year
- Weekly Bundle with Free Trial7 Days trial$9.997 Days
- Weekly Bundle Subscription$9.997 Days
- FirstLight Weekly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription$19.991 Year
- Yearly Bundle with Free Trial7 Days trial$69.991 Year
- Yearly Bundle Subscription$69.991 Year
- Yearly Super Bundle with FT7 Days trial$99.991 Year
Backdrop Box
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Filmic Firstlight free?
Is Backdrop Box free?
Do Filmic Firstlight or Backdrop Box have ads?
Which is updated more often, Filmic Firstlight or Backdrop Box?
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