Obscura vs Shanghai Camera
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Obscura
This camera app offers advanced manual controls for photography and videography. It provides a range of capture formats, live filters, and viewing aids to enhance your creative process. An optional subscription unlocks premium features.
- Manual exposure, focus, and white balance controls
- RAW, ProRAW, HEIC, and JPEG capture formats
- Live filters and custom preset creation
- Grid, histogram, and focus peaking view aids
- Video and Live Photo recording
- Integrated photo library browsing and editing
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Obscura V is a camera app packed full of features to help you take incredible photos. Obscura pairs a stunning design with intuitive controls that make taking photos a delight. — Over its 10+ years on the App Store, Obscura has been featured numerous times around the world, including as Editors’ Choice and App of the Day. — Design Obscura squeezes a bunch of powerful features into simple controls anyone can master. The interface balances aesthetics, ergonomics, and intuitiveness. You won’t want to use anything else. Controls can be reached with one thumb, and gestures and haptics combine to create a tactile experience that lets you stay focused on your subject. — Capture Modes & Formats Obscura captures photos, videos, Live Photos, and portraits. Photos can be captured in RAW, ProRAW, HEIC, and JPEG (on supported devices, see http://obscura.camera/compatibility). Capture images in multiple different aspect ratios, or apply filters live in camera for a wide variety of styles. — Camera Settings Obscura gives you control over exposure, focus, white balance, ISO, shutter speed, and flash, with intuitive controls that make you feel in control of your device’s camera. — Live Filters Obscura includes a bunch of great filters to give your photos instant style but you can also create your own and use them live in-camera. It’s very cool and very powerful. — View Options Obscura lets you display a grid, a spirit level, a histogram, focus peaking, a focus loupe, and exposure clipping highlights to help you understand every detail of what you’re shooting. — Photo Library Obscura has its own interface for browsing, rating, editing, and sharing images, but it’s fully integrated with your system photo library, so images captured with Obscura are available everywhere. — Obscura Ultra Obscura is free to use, with an annual subscription for premium features. See http://obscura.camera/ultra for full details. — I hope you love using Obscura as much as I’ve loved designing and building it. If you do, please consider subscribing to Ultra, leaving a review, or just sharing with a friend. All the best, Ben ———— Privacy Policy: http://obscura.camera/privacy Terms of use: http://obscura.camera/terms
Shanghai Camera
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Shanghai Camera is a minimal creative AR camera for making stylized color or black-and-white photos. Use your iPhone camera to place a 3D Shanghai logo into the real world, adjust the object, choose a color/monochrome look, and capture a finished image. The interface is designed to stay simple, fast, and focused so you can experiment without a complicated editing workflow. Features: - Place a 3D Shanghai logo in your real-world environment - Use plane and mesh placement controls - Preview monochrome/color film-inspired styles - Swipe to change the selected style - Adjust scale, rotation, position - Capture with the shutter button or the iPhone volume-down button - View saved photos in the in-app gallery Shanghai Camera is built for quick creativity: place, style, adjust, and shoot.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Shanghai Camera at none against Obscura's 5. Obscura's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads 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. Obscura sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per 7 days. Shanghai Camera asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Obscura | Shanghai Camera |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (277 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 52.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 277 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18 | 17.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 174 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ben McCarthy | Ryan Walker |
Bugs and requests
Obscura
Reported bugs
5 issues- Crashes when trying to use Pro Raw mode
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between lenses
- Manual settings randomly resetting
- Photos not saving properly
- Freezing and black screen issues
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to save custom camera settings
- Variable zoom function in pro mode
- Separate manual control for exposure and ISO
- Dedicated selfie button
- Live audio capture for Live Photos
Shanghai Camera
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Obscura
- Obscura Ultra - Weekly$1.497 Days
- Obscura Ultra - Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Obscura Ultra7 Days trial$24.991 Year
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- Obscura Ultra Upgrade1 Year trial$24.991 Year
- Obscura Ultra - One Time$74.99
Shanghai Camera
No in-app purchases









