Comparison

Halcyon Camera vs SpectraCam

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

Head to head
About

Halcyon Camera

Capture photos and videos with the authentic look and feel of classic film stocks. Offers professional manual controls, advanced editing tools, and various shooting modes like long exposure and slow-motion.

Highlights
  • Authentic film stock simulations
  • Full manual camera controls
  • Long exposure and slow-motion video
  • WYSIWYG editing with film simulation
  • Pro video recording options
  • Built-in pro overlays and grids
Features
Read full description

Halcyon brings the soul of film to your iPhone. Twelve hand-crafted film stocks — Kodak Portra 400, Cinestill 800T, Velvia 50, Tri-X 400 and more — each with the temperature, tone curve, grain, and halation of the real thing. Apply them live, before you take the shot, and what you see is exactly what you get. REAL PRO CONTROLS, ONE-HANDED. Full manual ISO, shutter, focus, white balance, and exposure. Tap to focus. Long-press for AE/AF lock. Pinch to zoom. Volume buttons fire the shutter. Lens switcher for ultrawide, wide, telephoto. Halide-style focus loupe magnifies the sharpness plane as you rack focus. Histogram, waveform, focus peaking, zebras, false color, horizon level — when you need them, hidden when you don't. NEW IN 3.2 — LONG EXPOSURE, SLOW-MO, LIVE PHOTO. • Multi-frame long exposure — 2, 5, 10, or 20 second stacks with automatic alignment for handheld light trails, silky water, and star fields • Slow-motion capture at 120fps and 240fps • Live Photo for every film stock — the frames before and after, with the film baked in • Thermal and storage health warnings before a long take can bite you • Alternate app icons: Amber, Midnight, Noir BUILT-IN PRO OVERLAYS. • Histogram — real-time RGB • Waveform — luminance monitor • Focus peaking — see what's sharp • Focus loupe — Halide-style magnifier • Zebras — highlight clipping alert • False color — exposure map • Horizon level — stop crooked photos • Rule-of-thirds grid • Cinematic frame modes — square, 3:2, 16:9, half-frame • Live ISO / shutter chips PRO VIDEO WITH FILM SIMULATION. Record HEVC, ProRes 422 HQ, or Apple Log with the film baked in. Cinematic 24fps, 4K, live audio, plus 120/240fps slow-motion. EVERYTHING IS YOURS. WYSIWYG: every effect — film, grain, halation — is baked into the saved photo. ProRAW is preserved as alternate. Create custom film recipes with a 14-slider editor. Save them, share them, refine them. YOUR PHOTOS STAY ON YOUR DEVICE. No analytics. No data collection. No network requests. Nothing leaves your iPhone. Made with care for everyone who misses film.

About

SpectraCam

Features
Read full description

SpectraCam turns a shareable colour recipe into a live iPhone camera look. Paste a SpectraFit spectrum from Notes, WeChat, or Xiaohongshu, preview it on the camera, then shoot. The saved photo already has the look applied. What you can do • Shoot with built-in film-inspired spectra such as Kodak Ektar, Portra, and Fuji F-Log looks • Tune exposure, contrast, saturation, gamma, temperature, tint, and colour matrix • Copy the current spectrum as readable text and share it • Import someone else’s spectrum and get the same look on your phone • Keep a local capture history and optionally save the original photo too SpectraCam is local-first. Camera processing stays on your iPhone. There is no account and no subscription. Requires iOS 16.6 or later. iPhone only.

Screenshots

Halcyon Camera4 screens
SpectraCam3 screens

Verdict

The call

Halcyon Camera and SpectraCam are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Halcyon Camera versus SpectraCam: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHalcyon CameraSpectraCam
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.016.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBirkan Aksoy嘉奇 龙

In-app purchases

None

Halcyon Camera

No in-app purchases

None

SpectraCam

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Halcyon Camera free?
Halcyon Camera is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SpectraCam free?
SpectraCam is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Halcyon Camera or SpectraCam have ads?
Neither Halcyon Camera nor SpectraCam shows ads.

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