Field
Films, not filters
Most camera apps with a film look take Apple’s finished photo and lay a filter over it. Field’s films are part of developing the photo.
What a film is
A film in Field decides three things a recipe can’t reach:
- The tone curve. How dense the shadows are, how hard the midtones, how softly highlights roll into white.
- How single colors turn. Where skin, reds, greens and blues go: rosy or golden skin, olive or lush greens, cyan or violet skies.
- Tints in shadows and highlights. Cool shadows under warm light, for example.
Contrast acts on brightness only. A harder film makes the photo punchier without pushing skin toward orange or shifting a color’s hue, which is what happens when contrast is applied to red, green and blue separately.
Built-in films never change. Your own films are a built-in film with your recipe on top.
The viewfinder shows the film
The viewfinder runs the same film live, so you see the photo before you take it. That is why the choice comes first: you frame and expose for the film you see, like loading a roll.
There is one honest caveat. The iPhone produces its live video and its still photos through different processing, and still photos come out a bit darker in the shadows in most scenes. Field measured this on real captures and gives photos most of those shadows back. A small difference can remain, depending on the scene.
One finished photo
Field saves one photo with the film in it. It doesn’t keep an unprocessed original next to it. That is the point: the photo is done when you take it. It also means the film is a decision, like film in a camera. If you are unsure, the default film, Field, is natural enough to suit almost anything.
The film’s name is written into the photo, and the camera roll shows which film every photo was taken on.
Field’s own
The films are Field’s own renderings with their own names. They are inspired by how film and good cameras render, not copies of any film stock.
See all seven on Films.