Comparison

Knurl Camera vs Cavo Camera

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

Head to head
About

Knurl Camera

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Knurl is a camera for people who would rather develop the photo themselves. It captures true Bayer RAW: the sensor's own mosaic, written straight to a DNG with none of the computational photography that normally happens on the way. No multi-frame fusion, no tone curve, no sharpening. What lands in your library is undeveloped data with all of its latitude intact, ready for Lightroom or Photos to interpret however you like. THE CONTROLS ARE THE POINT A mode wheel you turn, with the real designations: P for program, Tv for shutter priority, Sv for ISO priority, M for full manual. Every position clicks. ISO and shutter move in thirds of a stop along the standard photographic ladders, on a dial that detents at every rung. Whole stops click harder than thirds, so you can count them by feel without looking. The ends of each ladder are the sensor's genuine limits rather than round numbers, which means base ISO, the cleanest the sensor gets, is actually reachable. Exposure compensation on its own scale, in thirds, with a firmer detent at zero. In manual it becomes the meter, because compensation has nothing left to act on when both controls are already fixed. An AF/MF switch and a focus ring you turn like a ring: relative, so touching it never jumps focus, and marked near to far rather than in invented distances. Three lenses, each at its native focal length, read from the hardware. HONEST ABOUT ITSELF Bayer RAW is 12 MP and does not permit zoom. The 48 MP path would mean Apple ProRAW, which is demosaiced and partially processed, so Knurl does not offer it. When the exposure you have asked for is not achievable, it says so rather than pretending. Your shots go to a Knurl album you can browse in the app, pinch to zoom, and swipe through. Volume buttons fire the shutter. Add the Control to your Action Button, Lock Screen or Control Center to open it without unlocking.

About

Cavo Camera

This app transforms your iPhone into a professional cinema camera, offering advanced manual controls for exposure, focus, and color. It allows for flexible recording formats and custom color grading, ensuring your creative vision is preserved.

Highlights
  • Advanced manual exposure controls
  • Customizable frame rates and shutter angles
  • Support for ProRes and Apple Log formats
  • Import and preview .cube LUTs
  • Flexible recording destinations
  • No ads or analytics
Read full description

Your iPhone. Your cinema camera. Choose the motion you want. Cavo handles exposure, gives you manual control when you need it, and lets you preview your look without changing the recording. Smarter auto Set your frame rate and shutter angle. Shutter-priority auto adjusts exposure around those settings. On compatible cameras, Aperture Priority holds your chosen aperture while Cavo adjusts exposure. Keep exposure and white balance adjusting as you shoot, or lock them when recording starts. Manual when you want it Control ISO, shutter, focus, and white balance from the viewfinder, with manual aperture control on compatible cameras. Check audio levels, available recording time, grid, and horizon level without leaving the camera. Choose shutter angles from 30° to 360°, or use supported longer exposures for more motion blur at a lower recording frame rate. Pick your format Record in H.264, HEVC, or supported ProRes formats. Choose Apple Log, Apple Log 2, HDR, and real open gate when your iPhone and active camera format support them. Recordings are QuickTime MOV files. Microphone access is optional. Cavo records silent video when access is off. See your look. Keep your master. Import .cube LUTs to preview color while you shoot. Monitoring leaves the recorded master unchanged. When you're ready, Quick Grade creates a separate graded HEVC Rec. 709 MOV export and preserves your original. Save where you choose Record to Photos, App Files, a folder you select, or compatible external storage. Optionally save the recording location with your videos. Quick Grade preserves location tags in graded copies, too. Your camera. Your recordings. No account, ads, or analytics. Your recordings stay in the destination you choose. Requires iOS 17 or later. Available codecs, color modes, resolutions, frame rates, lenses, stabilization, and external recording depend on your iPhone, iOS version, and connected hardware. Apple Log 2 and dynamic 4:3 capture require iOS 26 and compatible hardware. Manual aperture control and Aperture Priority require iOS 27 or later and compatible cameras.

Screenshots

Knurl Camera4 screens
Cavo Camera4 screens

Verdict

The call

Knurl Camera and Cavo Camera 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
Knurl Camera versus Cavo Camera: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKnurl CameraCavo Camera
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequency—Every 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDimitrios ZarkadasSam Jandris

In-app purchases

None

Knurl Camera

No in-app purchases

None

Cavo Camera

No in-app purchases

Questions

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

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