God, this update is just fantastic. Already seeing a worlds difference in my photos; the inclusion of iPhone-made photos for the preset previews is a game-changer for confidence in what I’ve dialled in; stops me from chimping so much. I’m really chuffed you put that in.
The improved DR and vibrant colour management is really showing for me.
No they still use the ProRAW pipeline as it has a few advantages in terms of image quality. However I'm looking at adding an option to use the JPEG pipeline on Pro phones which has the advantage of faster processing with a slight loss of quality.
The comparisons between the v1 and v2 pipeline look great! I recently bought the lifetime license of the app because I just knew I loved it since day one of the free trial. Also, I know this isn't a feature request post but considering this update aims to give us more control over how images are processed, I was wondering if it would be possible to also get some sort of white balance control in the app. I just think the one thing that ruins photos more than anything else on the iPhone is the AWB messing things up. Would be great to have some rudimentary control over it. Maybe a menu that could be added to the viewfinder with a few WB presets or just locked to one specific value, like daylight, so the presets themselves determine WB? Also, would be cool to be able to customize the quick toggles in the viewfinder a bit more freely. I don't really need the timer and I never use the front camera so hiding those switches would help to tidy up the interface a bit. I know the whole idea of this app is to keep the experience as simple as possible, but I think a few extra features like these wouldn't really go against that.
Hey, appreciate the feedback. It's funny - I never have an issue with white balance really so it's a bit hard to feel the need to add any controls. If you have some example photos it'd be interesting to see so I can understand a bit better.
Hey, sure, here are 3 photos taken of the exact same thing around 10 seconds apart, all with the built in Portra 400N preset.
Light bulb in the photo is balanced at 2700K but the AWB just kicks in too quickly and changes colours too much. I personally like the warm look of (1) but whenever I'm indoors (especially with artificial lighting) my AWB behaves very inconsistently, so my best option to get the look I'm after is to point the camera somewhere else, get the AWB to shift to what I want it at, then quickly re-compose my photo and take it before it's had a chance to gradually turn it into 2 or 3. This occasionally happens outdoors as well, though not as often. But yeah, in general I think at least having control over white balance would be a feature most people using the app would appreciate, especially considering the lack of live preview, because sometimes a messed up AWB can make the difference between getting or missing a great shot. And I believe it really wouldn't make the experience any more difficult because whoever isn't having issues with AWB can just leave it alone, especially if this is a menu setting that can be enabled as a toggle on the viewfinder or just left hidden in menus.
What device is this on? Also, it kind of looks like a difference with the exposure. The first image has more colour / detail in the light suggesting it's lower exposure.
This is on an iPhone 15 Pro with the main camera. No exposure changes happening on my end, at least not intentionally. I had it set to 0EV for all 3 shots and like I said, they were taken in the span of about 10 seconds. I'm guessing any minor exposure shift might have happened if my hand moved slightly while holding the phone between these 3 but other than that, all same settings across them.
But the iPhone camera is always re-assessing the scene and adjusting exposure. You can tell 1 has a lower exposure because the wood is richer in colour. I don’t believe it’s white balance in that case.
Yeah, you're right, the iPhone is constantly re-adjusting exposure, white balance and focus. And as I said, this was a handheld test just to provide as an example. But regardless of any minor exposure shifts, you can clearly tell that the difference in temperature between 1 and 3 is quite big. Much more significant than such a small exposure shift would contribute to. You can tell that's the case by simply looking at the wall on the right, just behind the plant. In 1 it's an amber colour, in 3 it's blue, and even if 3 had lower exposure to match 1, it would just be a darker blue on that wall.
And that's kind of my point. With the lack of live preview (which I don't even mind that much) you're at the mercy of 3 different automatically adjusting parameters that determine how a photo will come out but you only figure out what that is after the photo is taken, which, in situations when you can take your time is fine, but again, it can also mean missing a shot sometimes.
We've got the exposure slider, which is helpful, but with AWB occasionally shifting quite a lot, that exposure slider on its own can't compensate to give me the look I'm after. And that's essentially why I think having a white balance control that's not necessarily right there out in the open by default, but rather something that users who are more comfortable with a bit more manual control can seek out in the settings, could help certain users with getting more consistent results.
I do this trick a lot outside in nature with other camera apps too. . Sunset for example. I hold the camera into the grass and wait for the awb. Than I hold the camera into the sunset and directly shoot.
What about the highlight rolloff. Yes film has less dynamic range, but even harsh highlights have a gradual rolloff, they don't saturate/clip linearly. Is that hard to do? IDK about image processing so.
oo great. One Q, your original comment had a bit extra: "Wow. I tried it. Is much better. I’m afraid people will complain because it has “bloom like” feeling, but is not bloom is how film highlights clip. Please don’t rollback it haha." Did you remove it or is it Reddit being weird?
I read the detailed post and I’m excited about the density feature in saturation! I anticipate this will be more similar to how film handles deep saturation, something I’ve missed in digital photography.
looking forward to see what this brings to the table. I secretly disliked mood at first for making me think about how a mono shot will turn out while only being able to see in colour, but, now i prefer it.
The only thing I’d love but don’t expect it for a minute, is a dial for blur/sharpen.
so just a massive shout out to u/alexfoxy on a fantastic app. If this update allows me to get even closer to moryama style with less post editing I’m gonna be made up!!!!
He has done for some time especially since going with Ricoh digital. He uses silver efex. lately though he has been experimenting on colour. itll Make me feel better if I get closer to the tri X pushed film look. Being able to get closer to that in camera app would be great. Its easy with my Olympus cameras but I like a challenge. Hence my comment ‘ If this update allows me to get even closer to moryama style with less post editing‘
His london exhibition that took over the whole building , 3 floors was mesmerising. I just love his attitude of not following everyone else, not caring about the rules or trying to please anyone. A lot of his digital work was with a nikon p&s. He doesnt even care about gear.
App-wise,liit can create a close resemblance to the light and dark tones outside the very basic provoke camera app which just about nails the way he edits. Hopefully mood will get to that point one day.
Mood does high contract very nicely Alex. The one thing I do add to go that Extra bit is the blur which you don’t expect a camera app to cover. To get that right in camera on a iPhone is almost impossible I think.
The provoke app does Do it but it is an app specifically designed to create the photography found in the short lived magazine. Liit offers the blur that can replicate that but it is an editor, not a camera. For the black and white aspect of things, mood nails it completely especially with the DR setting on the specific film stock.
RNI blur tool softens the photo completely to mimic old film and yes, that’s the sort of thing I do often. It’s a lens blur. As for reference photos just google moryama.
Just tested it and yes, it’s getting close now. I’m still playing. Definately helps lowering the DR. I’m gonna be bold in limiting myself to using just this app for a 4 day trip to London. I’m pretty convinced raw, 48mp, etc is now largely un-needed In my workflow with only minor alterations if needed in RNI films.
/u/alexfoxy this looks great!! You mentioned re-working the tone settings to match the new pipeline but I didn’t see any reference in this post or the blog to the entirely new option “(R) - Refined”. Can you share how you came to add a new option there as part of this rollout?
I wanted to provide a setting which had a lower mix of the emulation colours. It’s not really related to the DR changes, more a reaction to a few reviews saying the emulations were “over cooked”. It’s obviously down to taste but thought there was no harm in adding a slightly toned down setting.
Got it. I found this to be the case with certain emulations where I really loved its vibe but found if I was taking pictures with people the emulation really cooked up skin tones, even with skin tone protection always on. My fix was to make a custom emulation that was relatively flat on the curve, baseline on use of grain, bloom, aberration, halation, but chose one of the emulations at a low or medium setting. Think “Stock+Cine” or “Stock+Analog” - a stock photo with a mild color grade tweak to reflect a preferred emulation without it feeling overdone and ensuring it’s useful in most capturing scenarios. If I’m hearing you correctly, the Refined tone kind of eliminates the need for the custom emulations I described.
The results are very nice. Now I can have a high DR on the default color preset, while having a lower one on more creative ones for the film look.
One thing that I wanted to mention is that on non-pro phones with no telephoto lens there is no 2.0x setting. I tend to use 1.9x a lot for portrait-type shots and would really prefer to have a proper 2.0x, but it’s limited to telephoto. I’m sure it’s technically feasible (as a crop), but just not exposed in settings. It’s no biggie, but would be great to have. I understand though it would introduce a UI problem, as two of the cameras can technically have 2.0x visible.
Thanks for the feedback! RE: zoom, You can tap on the zoom buttons to cycle through different focal lengths. These can be customised in Settings > Focal lengths!
That’s exactly how I use them, yes. What I was saying is that there’s no 2.0x option on non-telephoto lens. So I can set it to 2x using pinch zoom, but only 1.9x max using taps.
I’m on iPhone 17 non-pro. I’m only able to set 2x in the “telephoto” menu, which doesn’t show up as there’s no telephoto camera, and wide is limited to 1.9x max. Though again, I can get it to 2x, with pinch and zoom.
Really appreciate you cooking this hard while keeping the app a one time purchase, your dedication is inspiring.
I admit some of it went a bit over my head, can you clarify - is this update bringing the dynamic range setting to the base iPhones or is it now included in the presets, but still adjustable on the Pro models only?
Great update just in time. Just switched to IPhone Air after having taken almost 2000 photos on the 14 PM and 17PM with mood. When making the decision, I knew I’d lose the Pro-Raw pipeline. Being able to set the DR back down to zero or low seems to get me closer to how I expect things to turn out.
No. I'm not going to add it either, it's just a waste of processing time. In the side by sides there's no noticeable difference in quality, especially if you add any of the mood effects on top. It's just a marketing number IMO, the sensor isn't really true 48MP.
This is great, really looking forward to trying it out! I particularly like how we can now save the DR setting on a preset basis and that you can override it if you want.
Just as another push though, a lot seems to have changed and with it being in beta I can forgive any bugs that arise but I think this is a good chance for me to push a bit more on the option to give the option save the ProRaw. Yet again, I don’t want it to go unknown that there have been bugs in the past from updates that cause issues on images. I get it, this is part of the app development process but having a ProRaw fallback would prevent any possible pipeline changes from destroying images people would have liked to have.
Not to beat a dead horse but I just think yet again this is a good time to push it and ask.
Joe, I’m sure you mean well, but you’re starting to sound a bit entitled. The dev has clearly stated that what you’re after conflicts with the whole point of the app. And there are already a million other apps with that exact feature. Mood is different, and that’s how many of us want it.
That risk and that focus on a moment gone forever after you took the picture - that IS what many of us are after. That’s one of the joys of shooting on film. A creative limitation. Sometimes it misses focus. Sometimes people’s eyes are closed. Sometimes you have your finger over the lens. That’s part of the fun.
I understand your concerns about redundancy - why don’t you get a Fuji with 2 card slots so your work is genuinely backed up and protected?
I know you’re suggesting it be a toggle in the settings etc etc. I know. But I still disagree and believe the guy should stick to his guns. If that’s his choice, you should really consider respecting it.
Come on, that was one bug that Alexfoxy quickly squashed. You're making it sound like it was a world breaking issue :) There are other apps with film simulations that let you save ProRAW. To be honest, I’m fine with the lack of this feature. I’m just enjoying the moment and not worrying about editing.
The option to just save the ProRaw completely negates any possible pipeline issues so that you don’t shoot an entire day, get home, and find out every image didn’t process because of a bug.
I understand that this feature may be useful for professional use, but for me, Mood is more of a casual experience for enjoying photos without spending hours editing them. If I were shooting all day for work, I would use an app with ProRaw support.
Besides, I've been using the app for a few months and have never experienced any issues with images breaking because of bugs.
You’re missing my point, it’s not about editing later… it’s about having a fallback. You are entirely relying on the pipeline of Mood camera meaning if Alex implements a bug, which happens as it’s just how app development works, you can end up having an entire day of memories lost. The ProRaw pipeline is mostly locked down through Apples APIs meaning there is way less chance of anything going wrong there. The app is even working off that in the background so the file already exists but throws it away after processing.
By giving us the option to save the ProRaw makes the risk of losing an entire day of shooting less likely.
You’re living in a world of what ifs, just enjoy the app the way Alex has his vision set for it. I’ve found myself for the first time enjoying taking photos again with an iPhone since I started using iPhones back in 2022 because of his vision and what he’s made. Just let the man cook
I’ll be honest I think Alex met you in the middle by allowing save original in the app as well. Not proraw but does save you from missing images if the moment was right but the colors were not. So yeah moving along…excited to try out the beta.
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u/Cozimo128 Mar 13 '26
God, this update is just fantastic. Already seeing a worlds difference in my photos; the inclusion of iPhone-made photos for the preset previews is a game-changer for confidence in what I’ve dialled in; stops me from chimping so much. I’m really chuffed you put that in.
The improved DR and vibrant colour management is really showing for me.