Trichromy vs Chaos Camera Lab
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Trichromy
Explore trichromatic photography with this unique camera app. Capture stunning color images by layering three monochromatic exposures, offering a distinctive visual style. Experiment with different timings and capture orders for psychedelic or subtle effects.
- Trichromatic photography capture
- Layering of 3 monochromatic images
- Adjustable delay between exposures
- Individual colored shutter controls
- Straightforward user interface
- Historical photographic process exploration
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Discover and capture the ethereal beauty of trichromatic photography with this one of a kind camera app. Trichromy is the process of creating color images by combining 3 monochromatic images: typically red, blue, green. Because the exposures are taken at separate times, they layer in ways that range from subtle shimmers to utterly psychedelic. This app features a beautiful, straightforward interface that lets you experiment with trichromatic photography on your phone, no fancy equipment or complicated workflow required! Use the main shutter to capture three successive exposures with a delay, which you can change with the slider. Or use the individual colored shutters to capture channels in any order and timing you want. This method of producing color images goes back to the 19th century and was one of the earliest. Notably, Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky used the trichromic process to document large swaths of early 20th century Russia. Lear more about the history of this little known photographic process on our website, trichromy.net !
Chaos Camera Lab
Transform ordinary photos into unique, collectible color worlds with unpredictable effects. Remap colors, add digital grain, and explore 16 distinct styles. Save and reuse your custom looks for future edits.
- 16 distinct Chaos styles
- Color remapping and textured grain
- Reusable recipes with shareable codes
- Recipe Lab for custom looks
- 4:5 camera with zoom
- Photo Library import
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Chaos Camera Lab turns ordinary scenes into unpredictable, collectible color worlds. This is not a traditional filter camera. Chaos remaps the colors inside each photo, adds tactile digital grain, and gives every image its own strange visual character. Shoot with the built-in 4:5 camera or import a photo, then explore looks ranging from soft and dreamlike to stark, graphic, spectral, and broken. Explore 16 distinct Chaos styles: Chaos, Soft, Poster, Acid, Dream, Noir, Thermal, Prism, Solar, Xerox, Signal, Infra, Ghost, Bleach, Mosaic, and Emulsion. When you discover a look worth keeping, save its recipe. Each recipe preserves the preset, palette, tuning, name, and code behind the image, so you can apply the same visual logic to a completely different scene later. Features: • A focused 4:5 camera with tap to focus and multiple zoom choices • 16 visually distinct Chaos presets • Expressive color remapping and textured grain • Photo Library import for remixing existing images • Hold the result to compare it with the original • Reusable recipes with names, palettes, and shareable codes • Recipe Lab for building custom color looks • Chaos Roll sessions and stylized contact sheets • A local gallery and Recipe Passport • High-quality image export to Photos Chaos Camera Lab is made for fast experimentation, happy accidents, and photographers who want an image to become something unexpected. Your photos and recipes stay on your device. Chaos Camera Lab does not collect personal data.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chaos Camera Lab at none against Trichromy's 4. Chaos Camera Lab also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 weeks). Trichromy's advantage is ratings volume (8 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Trichromy sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Chaos Camera Lab asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Trichromy against 5.0 for Chaos Camera Lab. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Trichromy has 8 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Trichromy ships an update every 3 weeks, Chaos Camera Lab every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Trichromy | Chaos Camera Lab |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (8 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Héliographe, Inc | Ryan Walker |
Customer experience
Trichromy
Chaos Camera Lab
In-app purchases
Trichromy
- Small Tip$4.99
- Full Unlock$4.99
- Medium Tip$9.99
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- Large Tip$19.99
Chaos Camera Lab
No in-app purchases









