Comparison

EMST Camera vs GR8 Cam

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

Head to head
About

EMST Camera

Read full description

EMST Camera is a film-inspired camera app you operate like a camera. Not a filter you drop on afterwards. Pick a look, set your exposure, aperture and focal length, and shoot. Live preview of the settings directly in viewfinder. YOUR CONTROL โ€ข A dial-based shooting interface: one scroll wheel drives exposure, aperture, focal length and aspect ratio. โ€ข Aperture dial with depth-of-field rendering. โ€ข Focal length presets pinned to your iPhone's real lenses. โ€ข Mirrorless-style autofocus: a persistent AF box, tap to move it, AF lock to recompose. โ€ข Grid and level overlays when you want them, nothing when you don't. YOUR LOOK โ€ข Built-in film-inspired looks, from warm evening color to cool dusk tones and true monochrome + Natural for a clean, untouched capture. โ€ข Every look is tunable: grain, halation, vignette, clarity and color temperature. PRIVATE BY DESIGN โ€ข No account, no ads, everything happens on your device. Open the camera straight from control center or lock screen with shortcut extension. EMST Camera iOS app from Emaki Studio, a small independent photo toolkit.

About

GR8 Cam

Features
Read full description

GR8 Cam turns your iPhone into a compact camera with a photographer's controls and a finished photo every time. It captures 48MP RAW, develops it with the phone's sharpening and AI enhancement switched off, and applies the look you chose, live in the viewfinder. IMAGE CONTROL Fifteen looks: Standard, Vivid, Monotone, Soft Monotone, Hard Monotone, Hi-Contrast B&W, Positive Film, Negative Film, Bleach Bypass, Retro, Cross Processing, Cinema (Yellow), Cinema (Green), Film and Mono Film. Each has its own adjustments, -4 to +4: saturation, hue, high/low key, contrast, highlight and shadow contrast, sharpness, clarity, shading, grain effect and grain size. Monochrome looks add colour filter effects and toning. Reset takes any look back to factory. Standard, Positive Film and Retro are free, with all their adjustments. TWO FOCAL LENGTHS 28mm or 40mm equivalent, 3:2, both cropped from the main camera so switching is instant. The viewfinder shows exactly the frame you will get. WHITE BALANCE LIKE A REAL CAMERA Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, four fluorescents, Tungsten, CTE, measured Manual and a Kelvin dial, plus an amber-blue / green-magenta compensation grid. Presets lock the camera so colour holds from shot to shot. HIGHLIGHT DIFFUSION FILTER A switchable bloom on the bright parts of the frame for a softer, filmic highlight roll-off. D-RANGE Highlight and shadow correction applied in the RAW develop. RECIPES Save a whole look, white balance included, and recall it in a tap. A CAMERA'S SCREEN Mode, look, white balance and focal length along the top. Live aperture, shutter speed and ISO along the bottom. Tap to focus. Subject tracking for faces, people and pets. The volume buttons fire the shutter. PRIVATE No account, no network, no data collection. Photos go straight to your library as HEIC with full EXIF. Standard, Positive Film and Retro, 28mm, Auto WB and Shade with the compensation grid, D-Range and one recipe slot are free. A single one-time purchase unlocks everything else. No subscription.

Screenshots

EMST Camera3 screens
GR8 Cam4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: EMST Camera at none against GR8 Cam's 1. GR8 Cam's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. GR8 Cam sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. EMST Camera asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

EMST Camera ships an update every 2 weeks, GR8 Cam every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 26, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
EMST Camera versus GR8 Cam: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEMST CameraGR8 Cam
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 4 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS26.017.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size64 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTomas OurednikLUCK THONG TAN

In-app purchases

None

EMST Camera

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

GR8 Cam

One-time1
  • GR8 Cam Pro$0.99

Questions

Is EMST Camera free?
EMST Camera is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is GR8 Cam free?
GR8 Cam is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do EMST Camera or GR8 Cam have ads?
Neither EMST Camera nor GR8 Cam shows ads.
Which is updated more often, EMST Camera or GR8 Cam?
EMST Camera ships an update every 2 weeks, and GR8 Cam every 4 days. Most recently, EMST Camera was updated on October 26, 2026 and GR8 Cam on October 26, 2026.

Other comparisons