Calotype vs Paignion

Calotype is a simple RAW camera for photographers who want a cleaner path from lens to file. Your iPhone already has a very capable camera. It also makes a lot of decisions before you ever see the photo. Calotype keeps things quieter. On supported back cameras, Calotype saves real RAW DNG files that you can take into the editor of your choice. No accounts, no cloud library, no extra processing layer. Manual controls are built around the camera you are actually using. Shutter speed follows the sensor’s real format limits, with ISO, focus, white balance, exposure offset, and focus peaking close at hand. You also get interval shooting for timelapses and hands-free captures, exposure bracketing for tricky light, and a simple in-app gallery for reviewing, sharing, and deleting recent shots. Calotype is made by a photographer, for the moments when you want the phone to feel a little more like a camera.

Retro palettes and pixel patterns, rendered live. No editing after the shot — what you see in the viewfinder is what gets saved. LIVE PIXEL RENDERING Paignion runs a real Metal pixel-effect pipeline on every frame of the live camera feed — palette quantization, pattern, and dithering all happen before you tap the shutter, not as a filter applied afterward. 6 ICONIC PALETTES * Game Boy — the classic 4-shade green handheld display * NES — the 64-color palette from the original console's PPU * PICO-8 — the 16-color fantasy-console system palette * C64 — the Commodore 64's Pepto palette * CGA — the 16-color RGBI palette from early PC graphics * Master System — Sega's full 64-color, 6-bit RGB palette Palettes work on their own, or paired with any pattern. 4 PATTERNS + REAL BAYER DITHERING * Mosaic — chunky, blocky pixelation * Dot Screen — one ink dot per cell, colored to match the scene (Ben-Day comic style) * Halftone — a true CMY halftone rosette (three independently rotated ink-channel dot grids), full color or on a palette * Blocks — every pixel cell becomes a beveled, raised block for a chunky 2.5D, voxel-style look * Authentic ordered (Bayer) dithering, not a random-noise approximation — works with any palette, and it's never gated SCREEN FX Two screen finishes that turn the viewfinder into a tiny console display: CRT-style scanlines, and an LCD pixel-grid bezel overlay. YOUR LIBRARY, TOO Import any photo from your library and give it the same treatment — same presets, same Adjust panel, same live preview, plus a before/after slider to compare with the original. The result is saved as a new photo; your original stays untouched. FREE TO START Shoot or import with the Original (no filter), Game Boy Cam, and Mosaic Only presets at no cost — Bayer dithering is included free with every palette, always. Full Unlock adds the NES, PICO-8, C64, CGA, and Master System palettes, the Dot Screen, Halftone, and Blocks patterns, and both Screen FX finishes — a single one-time purchase, not a subscription. EVERYTHING ELSE YOU'D EXPECT * Pinch to zoom, tap to focus * HEIF capture, saved straight to a dedicated "Paignion" album in your Photos library — no separate account, no cloud * In-app gallery to browse, share, and delete your shots * The preset you shot with is written into every photo's own EXIF No ads. No tracking.