Calotype vs ModCam

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.

ModCam writes one file: a pure Bayer RAW DNG, straight from the sensor, with none of Apple's computational photography layered on top. In the default mode the app asks the camera for the sensor's own Bayer mosaic. Smart HDR tone fusion, Deep Fusion, the Photonic Engine, Night mode multi-frame stacking and Apple's color and tone rendering are all skipped. What lands in your photo library is a single-frame DNG that reflects what the sensor read, ready for whatever develop you choose. Here is the honest trade-off, because most apps do not say it out loud. The 48MP camera sensor is quad-Bayer. The un-remosaiced mosaic is about 12MP (4032 x 3024). A 48MP frame only exists after Apple's remosaic, which means it is ProRAW and it carries a computational baseline inside the DNG. ModCam does not pretend otherwise. It gives you both, as a visible mode switch: Bayer RAW, about 12MP, no Apple processing. ProRAW, 48MP, remosaiced, Apple's baseline included. The button at the top of the screen always shows which mode you are in. If the phone ever saves a 48MP shot at a lower resolution, a message pops up right away to tell you, and the gallery lists the real size of every photo. You find out on the spot, not a week later in your editor. MANUAL CONTROL ISO, shutter, white balance in Kelvin and focus are all yours. Each one is a ruler you scrub with your thumb: a fast swipe crosses the whole range, a slow one lands on a single step. What you set stays set, with no background auto correction quietly walking your exposure back while you compose. ISO and shutter speed each have an A/M button. A lets the camera set it, M keeps your value. ISO on M with shutter on A is ISO priority. Shutter on M with ISO on A is shutter priority. Both on M is full manual. A main A/M button switches both, and one tap on it takes you back to full auto. A live histogram and false color read the scene for you. A viewfinder can only approximate a RAW develop, so ModCam points you at the instruments for exposure rather than claiming the preview is the file. APERTURE The aperture (f-number) of the lens in use sits next to the lens buttons and updates when you switch lenses. On iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, the 1x camera's aperture is adjustable. Yellow means automatic. Tap or swipe right to open the stops, f/1.48 to f/4, and tap or slide to pick one. Tap M or swipe left for automatic. Elsewhere it is shown for reference. THE REST OF IT Every rear lens plus the front camera, selected directly. Self-timer with a countdown that blinks a warning before the shutter fires. Grid and level guides you can hide for a clean frame. Hardware shutter: the volume buttons and Camera Control both fire. An in-app session gallery: each shot's real mode, size, exposure and time, without leaving for Photos. Optional location tagging, written into the DNG's own metadata on the device. A three-page first-run intro that shows you where everything lives. WHO IT IS FOR People who develop their own files. If you shoot for Lightroom, Capture One or another RAW editor and you would rather start from what the sensor read than from a rendered result, this is aimed at you. If you want a finished JPEG straight out of the phone, the built-in Camera app does that better. WHAT IT DOES NOT DO No account, no sign-in, no analytics, no advertising, no tracking. There is no networking code in the app at all; it behaves identically in Airplane Mode. The only outward links are the Privacy Policy and Support rows in Settings, which open in Safari, and the Maps button in the gallery, which hands a coordinate to the maps app you choose. DEVICE SUPPORT ModCam is built around the Pro camera systems: the 48MP main sensor, the full rear lens set, and the manual ranges those cameras expose. On other iPhones it still runs, reading the modes, lenses and ranges from whatever camera is there, and showing a one-time notice that says so. Nothing is blocked. Version 1.0 is completely free.