Comparison

Lucid vs Benshi

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

Head to head
About

Lucid

Features
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Shutter, ISO, white balance and focus — on real dials, laid out like a camera body instead of buried in a menu. The viewfinder shows exactly what saves. Pick the one thing you care about — Aperture-free Auto, Manual, Shutter or ISO priority — and Lucid floats the rest live as the light moves. One purchase. No subscription. UNFOLDS ON IPHONE DUO Open iPhone Duo and Lucid becomes a camera body: the viewfinder fills one half of the display, and the other half is a full control plate under your thumb — shutter and ISO on two live dials at once, big readouts, a labeled zoom ring, flash, timer, grid and level as buttons, your Looks and Profiles one tap from the shutter. The viewfinder turns with the camera, not the screen. Close it, and Lucid is the camera you already know. OPENS FROM THE CAMERA CONTROL BUTTON On iPhone 16 and later, set Lucid as your Camera Control app. One press opens Lucid right from the Lock Screen: no unlocking, and every manual dial is there. Half-press to adjust zoom, exposure, priority and Looks without taking your eye off the frame. WHY LUCID Most camera apps hand you a filter and a shutter button. Lucid hands you the camera. Four exposure priorities (Auto, Manual, Shutter, ISO) let you decide what to control and what to let the camera solve, live. Everything you set, you see. Everything you see, you keep. And it's yours. One purchase, no subscription. The camera doesn't stop working when the month ends. WHAT YOU CAN DO - Shoot full manual: shutter, ISO, white balance, and focus, on real dials - Choose what you control: Auto, Manual, Shutter or ISO priority — the camera solves the rest, live - Capture RAW, ProRAW, HEIF, and 48MP, keeping every bit of the file - Nail focus with peaking and a magnified loupe - Read your light with a live histogram and zebra stripes - Grade with Looks: film LUTs previewed live in the viewfinder, baked on capture - Import your own .cube LUTs - Pull long exposures, bracket, and set a self-timer - Save full setups as Profiles and recall them in a tap - Launch from the Camera Control button, even on the Lock Screen - Open iPhone Duo for a two-dial control plate beside the viewfinder - Shoot manual video too: Apple Log, ProRes, and a cinematic 180° shutter BUILT HONEST No aperture slider. Your iPhone's lenses have fixed apertures, and faking it would be a lie. No account. No analytics. No cloud. Your photos never leave your phone, and location tagging stays off until you turn it on. ONE PURCHASE. YOURS FOREVER. Try every feature free. Then unlock Lucid for a single payment: no subscription, no upsells, no expiry date. Shoot like you mean it. Support: support@lucidcamera.app Privacy: https://lucidcamera.app/privacy/

About

Benshi

This app transforms your photos into vintage film prints with a sophisticated darkroom engine. Explore a vast array of looks, film stocks, and lens profiles to create unique images. It also offers video editing with a cinematic feel and a special mode for creating short silent films.

Highlights
  • Advanced photo darkroom engine
  • 90,000+ photo combinations
  • Deep Japanese cultural effects
  • RAW capture and re-development
  • Cinematic video editing
  • Silent film creation mode
  • AI-generated captions
Features
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A retro film camera for the iPhone era. Benshi turns every photo into a piece of film. Portrait mode is the heart of the app — your darkroom in your pocket. Landscape mode turns into a small cinema for video, when you want it. Benshi (弁士) is named after the silent-film narrators of 1920s Japan, who gave voice to silent movies. The app gives that same voice to your photos. THE PHOTO ENGINE A real darkroom recreated at the pixel level. Five Metal shaders simulate silver-halide grain, the H&D characteristic curve, wavelength-separated halation, reciprocity failure, and 16-bit half-float color. Not a filter chain — actual physical simulation. Choose from 70 looks across 7 categories (Mood · People · Nature · City · Digital · Japan · Masters), then dial in 32 film stocks, 5 developers, and 8 lens profiles. About 90,000 combinations — every photo can become something different. LENS SIMULATION (rare beyond film-only apps) Most film apps stop at the film. Benshi also simulates the lens. Body × Lens × Film × Developer — swirly Helios bokeh, dreamy Summilux glow, thoriated amber cast, flat cine glass. 8 profiles from 28mm to 85mm, each with its own optical character, plus two cinema lenses for video. MANUAL CONTROLS & PRESETS Shoot like a rangefinder: continuous AF, spot metering, MF punch-in focus, AEB exposure bracketing, an intervalometer, and 7 white-balance presets. Save any setup as a camera preset and recall it in one tap, or build and name your own film × developer × look as a custom recipe (Pro). DEEP JAPANESE CULTURE (no other app does this) • Half-frame mode — two shutter presses become one diptych, like the 1963 Olympus Pen • Postcard (絵葉書) export — horizontal 1.48:1 with 罫線 lines and a vermilion 印鑑 date stamp • Ghost photo (心霊写真) — 1970s Japanese summer ghost-story-book mood • Slow-develop mode — recreates the "wait for develop" feeling of disposable cameras • 7 era presets (Showa 1965-74 / 1975-84 / 1985-88 / Heisei early / mid / late / Reiwa) • 3 Japanese era date stamps (和暦 / 印鑑 / typewriter / LED90s) • 12 camera skins (5 base + 7 Japanese era cameras: Half-Frame 63 · Bubble 88 · Showa Disposable 27 · Expo 70 · Heisei Digicam 01 · etc) RAW + RE-DEVELOP Automatic DNG capture on supported devices. Re-develop the same negative with different film, developer, lens, and effects — without losing the original. EXIF data preserved. LANDSCAPE FOR VIDEO Turn your iPhone sideways and Benshi becomes a small cinema. 16 video looks at 1080p (8 base + 4 Showa retro + 4 Japanese cinema), manual dial and grip, stop trick, ghost mode, iris transitions, film leader countdown, intertitle cards, procedural piano BGM. Cinema-style lens profiles (cineVintage50 / cineDreamy50) for that anamorphic feeling. STORY MODE Record 3 short clips and Benshi assembles a vertical 9:16 silent film with AI benshi captions in 4 title styles — ready to share. Free to use; only the watermark differs. PRICING • Lifetime $14.99 — pay once, no subscription drama • Monthly $4.99 with 7-day free trial • Family Sharing supported The free tier includes 22 of 70 looks, 4 video looks, RAW capture, and Story Mode (with watermark). Try Pro free for 7 days. AUTO-RENEWING SUBSCRIPTION INFO • Benshi Pro Monthly — $4.99/month with a 7-day free trial. Payment charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. • Subscription auto-renews at the same price unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. • Manage or cancel: Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions. • Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when purchasing a subscription. TERMS Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://windgksh.github.io/ibouCamera-policy/ CONTACT admin@ibou.ai

Screenshots

Lucid4 screens
Benshi4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Benshi at 17.0 against Lucid's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Lucid sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Benshi sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lucid ships an update every 10 days, Benshi fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Lucid versus Benshi: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLucidBenshi
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPerry HamptonIbouAI

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Lucid

One-time1
  • Unlock Lucid$4.99
2 purchases

Benshi

Subscriptions1
  • Benshi Pro Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
One-time1
  • Benshi Pro Lifetime$14.99

Questions

Is Lucid free?
Lucid is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Benshi free?
Benshi is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Lucid or Benshi have ads?
Neither Lucid nor Benshi shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lucid or Benshi?
Lucid ships an update every 10 days, and Benshi fortnightly. Most recently, Lucid was updated on October 28, 2026 and Benshi on October 31, 2026.

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