f/ Tools vs phNotes Pro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
f/ Tools
This photography tool offers a suite of calculators for concepts like depth of field, print resolution, and flash exposure. It helps users visually grasp complex photographic principles with integrated help and a glossary. The app also includes a camera bag feature with lens limits.
- Graphic depth of field calculator
- Graphic Airy disc calculator
- Graphic format calculator
- Motion freeze calculator
- Graphic blur size calculator
- Graphic flash exposure calculator
- Camera bag with lens limits
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f/Tools is a toolkit for digital and film photography. Explore depth of field, compare defocus across lenses, and try different shutter speeds before you shoot. Plan your prints and calculate flash exposure, with interactive diagrams that make photographic concepts easier to understand. Features: • Depth of field and hyperfocal distance See near and far focus limits and how they change with aperture, focal length, and focus distance. • Defocus comparison Explore how focal length, aperture, and subject distance affect blur, with a magnifier for a closer look. • Freeze motion Calculate the shutter speed needed to limit motion blur based on subject speed, distance, and focal length. • Motion blur Try different shutter speeds and visualize the resulting motion trail. • Diffraction and resolution Explore Airy disc size and estimated effective resolution as you change the aperture. • Framing and prints Calculate scene dimensions, adjust cropping, and find the circle of confusion and minimum resolution needed for your print size and viewing distance. • Flash exposure Calculate exposure at different distances using guide number, flash power, aperture, and ISO. • Your cameras and lenses Save your equipment and set lens limits for aperture, focal length, and focus distance. Get started quickly with built-in camera presets. Built-in help explains the controls, calculations, and photographic terms within each tool.
phNotes Pro
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*** 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
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: f/ Tools at every 2 weeks against phNotes Pro's every 6 weeks. f/ Tools also leads on chart position (#80 vs unranked) and price ($3.99 vs $5.99). phNotes Pro's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On ads, in-app purchases 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
f/ Tools costs $3.99 and phNotes Pro $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
f/ Tools ships an update every 2 weeks, phNotes Pro every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | f/ Tools | phNotes Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 — better | $5.99 |
| Rating | 3.7 (6 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 93.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Best chart rank | #80 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | David Quiles | Marco Ristuccia |
In-app purchases
f/ Tools
No in-app purchases
phNotes Pro
No in-app purchases









