68 MACWORLD FEBRUARY 2020
iOSCENTRAL REVIEW: FILMIC FIRSTLIGHTmmmh
Filmic Firstlight
PROS- Advanced, robust manual
control over camera. - Live vintage looks, film
grain, vignettes.
CONS - Subscription business
model out of place in a
camera app. - No photo editing or
applying filters to existing
images.
PRICE
Free (in-app purchases)
COMPANY
Filmic
upper left
corner defaults
to opening
Filmic Pro for
shooting video
instead of
taking photos
but can be configured to perform one of
eight different tasks instead. And yes, the
volume rocker acts as a shutter
button, a convenience the
creators of other camera apps
sometimes overlook.
ANALOG LIVE
Beyond the basics, Filmic Firstlight
can also enhance your photos
with vintage simulations, film grain,
and vignettes. Unlike Instagram-
style filters applied after the fact,
these are live, real-time effects, so
what you preview on screen is
precisely what’s captured. The
downside is that Firstlight can’t
apply looks and filters after a shot is taken—
or edit images at all, for that matter.
While the effects are top-notch (a
favorite is the lovely, authentic film grain),
such creative options are limited without
the purchase of a premium subscription.
We’re only talking about a dollar per month
here (or $8 annually), but this is a business
model that feels ill at ease for a camera app
and worse yet, there’s no free trial to get a
feel for the full version before paying.
(Several vintage looks are free, along with
medium grain and vignette settings, but
that’s still not the complete experience.)
The premium version also enables
users to dial up specific shutter speed and
ISO values, although we found navigating
these options a little clunky and unintuitive.
Custom settings allow users to tweak the
color palette used to display live
analytics or swap how the
aforementioned focus and
exposure controls respond. For
those who prefer shooting RAW,
there’s no getting around buying
a subscription, which provides
the option to save images in DNG
or TIFF formats as well.BOTTOM LINE
There’s a lot to love about Filmic
Firstlight but forcing a subscription
into a camera app makes for
strange bedfellows. ■When auto isn’t
enough, swipe
left and right to
put images into
sharp focus,
with an optional
magnifying loupe
to get closer to a
subject.