Chromagraph Camera is a $12.99 iPhone camera app from director Rian Johnson and cinematographer Steve Yedlin that replaces Apple’s image processing with the look of their films. Johnson announced it on October 28 on X.
Johnson built the app with Yedlin and color science coder Eric Cameron because he takes a lot of pictures with his phone and wanted to have the app for himself. It shoots raw, bypasses the iPhone’s look processing, then applies the same image processing the team uses on its movies, including the Knives Out films.
Yedlin says Chromagraph replaces the iPhone’s look management with the custom math he uses on his films, tailored to Apple camera behavior. Tone, color, grain and halation all come from that rendering, so nothing sits on top of Apple’s finished image.
Chromagraph Camera Shows the Look Only After You Take the Photo
The viewfinder does not preview the finished look. You frame the shot, take it, and open the in-app gallery to see the photo with the Chromagraph look applied, the way a film camera works. The app starts from raw image data, so the processing happens after capture.
The gallery stores the full-quality raw originals and applies the look live, along with any adjustments you make, so edits never touch the original files. Color, tone and texture controls change the photo, and Johnson adds that the app has exposure, grain and halation tools. Yedlin says the grading knobs allow dramatic adjustments while the image stays within the core look.
Sharing works from smaller exports with the look baked in, which you can send to friends or save to your photo library. Turn on auto-export in Preferences and every photo goes to the library right away as a JPEG or HEIC with the look applied.
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Chromagraph Camera Is Stills Only and iPhone Only
The app takes still photos only, and Johnson says video may come in the future but would likely be limited to the last few generations of Pro model iPhones.
Android users will not get a version, since Johnson says hardware consistency across Apple devices lets the team work with confidence and Android devices vary too much for a small team to tune each one.
Chromagraph Camera costs $12.99, and up to six family members can use it through Family Sharing. It needs iOS 17 or later on iPhone, and it also installs on iPad with iPadOS 17 or later and on Apple Watch with watchOS 10 or later. Version 1.1.3 added support for the iPhone Duo.
Download Chromagraph Camera from App Store
