Spool is a camera for people who think in rolls, not presets. You choose film before you shoot. Twelve frames on one roll of characterized 120. Compose through a waist-level finder, read the deck meter, set marked aperture and shutter, pull focus on the ground glass, release, wind the crank. Develop the roll, read the contact sheet, export full-resolution 4×5 portrait JPEGs. No filter drawer. No preset stack. No second pass after the shutter.
TWELVE FRAMES, ONE DECISION
Medium format taught most of us to slow down. Spool keeps that contract on a phone. One roll, twelve exposures. Pick the stock before frame one and live with that choice until the counter hits twelve. Open the back. Choose from fourteen characterized films. Lock Vintage or Modern render character. Load the roll. Turn aperture and shutter wheels. Focus by hand. Read the meter needle against your settings. Release. Advance on the crank. Finish to develop and review the contact sheet. Export when ready.
WHAT THE GROUND GLASS PROMISES
WYSIWYG. The 4×5 portrait frame in the finder is the 4×5 portrait file you get. Center-cropped from the native capture at the selected rear lens. No upscaling. No beauty pipeline. No post-capture grade. The marked wheels set intent and meter the scene; the render commits that look at capture time. What you chose at the shutter is what the roll keeps.
FOURTEEN CHARACTERIZED STOCKS
Color negative, slide, tungsten cine, and black-and-white films modeled as finished looks, not one-tap filters. Each stock has its own exposure index, shoulder, grain, and color response. Vintage: softer falloff, fuller texture, gentler halation. Modern: same stock curves with cleaner depth separation, stronger contrast, sharper read. Character is fixed for all twelve frames at load.
THE LENS TURRET
Real rear-camera modules, not a digital zoom slider.
Full experience (supported multi-camera devices): four turret positions where hardware allows. The current top-tier hardware: 13 mm ultra-wide, 24 mm wide, 48 mm main-module crop, 100 mm telephoto.
Basic mode (supported standard devices): ultra-wide, wide, and 48 mm crop where available.
Other supported devices may run with reduced lens coverage. About explains your tier.
PHYSICAL VS SIMULATED
Physical at capture: focus on the selected rear lens; native sensor dimensions; continuous auto exposure and white balance in the live finder so the ground glass stays readable; standard EXIF with true hardware values.
Simulated in the finished JPEG: marked aperture and shutter (drive the deck meter and adjust render brightness within ±6 EV); film color response, grain, halation, depth cues; 4×5 portrait framing. Marked f-stops and shutter speeds do not change the device's physical aperture, sensor, or shutter mechanism.
See Settings, About, and technical disclosure.
OUTPUT
One JPEG per exposure at maximum resolution for the selected rear lens. No RAW. No HEIF. No motion-photo export. Simulated exposure values may appear in export metadata and captions. Hardware EXIF preserved.
PRIVATE BY DESIGN
No account. No cloud processing. No analytics, advertising, or tracking in this version. Rolls and frames stay on your device until you delete them or erase Spool data.
PERMISSIONS
Camera: required. Spool uses the camera as the ground glass of your 4×5 finder.
Photos (add only): on export or auto-save. Spool does not read your library.
Location: off by default. Only if you enable geotagging in Settings. Coordinates may be stored in frame metadata and export captions.
YOUR DATA
Delete a frame in the viewer. Discard a roll in progress. Settings, Erase all Spool data removes every roll, frame, and preference after confirmation. Exported Photos copies deleted separately in Photos.
LEGAL AND SUPPORT
Privacy Policy: https://spool.camera/privacy
Support: https://spool.camera/support
Also in Settings and About.
Spool is published by SixTwelve Studio. Portrait orientation. Requires iOS 18 or later.