Comparison

Zone Tool vs phNotes Pro

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

Head to head
About

Zone Tool

Calculate photographic exposure and development adjustments using zone system theory. Measure shadows and highlights, input film ISO and desired shutter speed to determine aperture and development time modifications.

Highlights
  • Zone system exposure calculation
  • Shadow and highlight measurement
  • Film ISO input
  • Shutter speed adjustment
  • Development time calculation
  • Aperture determination
Features
Read full description

With this tool you can calculate your exposure and needed adjustment for development. It uses zone system theory originally invented by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer. First decide zone of your shadows and measure the shadows. Then device highlight zone and measure the highlights. Measure these with the film ISO you are going to use. You also need to decide shutter speed in beforehand. The app calculates exposure aperture for you and also tells if you need to shorten (N+..) or expand (N-..) your development time. You will get best results with a spot light meter but mobile apps will probably do fine.

About

phNotes Pro

Features
Read full description

*** If you like this app please take the time and leave a feedback, this will help me a lot in maintaining it and add additional features. Thank you! *** This simple but powerful app allows photographers who use manual lenses, technical/view cameras, adapted gears with digital or even analog film photography to take note of the most important parameters of each shot taken on the field. Additionally, with the Pro version all annotations can be easily exported through email or into your cloud storage. When back home/studio, the freely downloadable desktop companion application "PhotoAnnotator" can read the exported data and automatically write all annotations as EXIF/IPTC metadata into the corresponding image files (RAW, TIFF, JPEG, etc...). This is particularly useful in all cases where the shooting parameters are not automatically written by the camera into the image files. Your image and shooting annotations can then live together in one single file. FEATURES (PRO VERSION): - Supported annotations: image counter, shoot date, camera make and model, lens make and model, filter, shutter speed, aperture value, focus distance, shift and tilt movements, film, GPS location, additional notes. - GPS location automatically read from the iPhone's GPS system. - Ability to swipe-clone an existing image for fast editing in the field. - Ability to swipe-delete single photos. - Ability to manage a list of cameras. - Ability to manage a list of lenses. - Ability to manage a list of filters. - Ability to manage a list of films. - Ability to clear the whole session after having exported it. - Contextual help available. - Ability to save unlimited image entries (the LITE version is limited to 12 max). - Ability to export all data via the standard iOS sharing machanism. - The companion desktop app PhotoAnnotator can be freely downloaded at https://www.marcoristuccia.com/it/photoannotator - The companion desktop app PhotoAnnotator supports all the major RAW and image types (see the application description at the indicated web page for more details).

Screenshots

Zone Tool1 screens
phNotes Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: phNotes Pro at every 6 weeks against Zone Tool's every 38 months. Zone Tool's advantage is price ($0.99 vs $5.99) and chart position (#197 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Zone Tool costs $0.99 and phNotes Pro $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Zone Tool ships an update every 38 months, phNotes Pro every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on August 24, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Zone Tool versus phNotes Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterZone ToolphNotes Pro
Price$0.99 — better$5.99
Rating2.8 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 38 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
Best chart rank#197 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS12.212.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size0 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJouni ErolaMarco Ristuccia

In-app purchases

None

Zone Tool

No in-app purchases

None

phNotes Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Zone Tool free?
Zone Tool costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is phNotes Pro free?
phNotes Pro costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Zone Tool or phNotes Pro have ads?
Neither Zone Tool nor phNotes Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Zone Tool or phNotes Pro?
Zone Tool ships an update every 38 months, and phNotes Pro every 6 weeks. Most recently, Zone Tool was updated on August 24, 2026 and phNotes Pro on September 17, 2026.

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