What does 35mm mean in a camera app?

It means the app is imitating photographs taken on 35mm film: a 24×36 mm negative, a 3:2 frame, and grain you can see because the negative is small. A 35mm camera app should give you that frame shape and that grain, and ideally name the film. CAM135 does all three.

Can a phone photo really look like 35mm film?

It can look like it. It is not film, and we say so. The things that read as 35mm are grain that sits in the shadows, highlights that fade instead of clipping, the colour of a named stock and a lens with real corners. Each of those can be modelled honestly, and CAM135 puts one dial on how far to take it.

Does CAM135 shoot in 3:2?

Yes. 3:2 is the 35mm frame and it is one of the gates in the viewfinder, next to 4:3 for the phone's full sensor and 1:1 for the medium-format and instant cameras.

Is the 35mm camera app free?

Three films and three cameras are free, including the Lomo LC-A, which is a 35mm compact. All nine 35mm cameras and all ten 35mm films are $19.99 once.

35mm camera app · iPhone & Android

The 35mm camera app named after the film.

135 is the code stamped on every cartridge of 35mm film since 1934. CAM135 is nine 35mm cameras, ten 35mm films and the grain of a 24×36 negative, on your phone.

Download free See the nine cameras

135The film's code

24×36mm, one frame

935mm cameras

1035mm films

A woman in a camel trench coat crossing a wet cobbled city street mid-stride with a newspaper under her arm, a green tram passing out of focus behind her, in the warm neutral colour and fine grain of Portra 400 — frame 12 of 36

01Why 135

The name is the cartridge.

Kodak gave the 35mm cartridge the number 135 in 1934, when it put cine film into a daylight-loading can for the Retina. Every roll of 35mm film sold since has carried the number. So does the app.

A black 35mm film canister labelled CAM135, 400, 36 exposures, 35mm, with a tongue of orange film leader curling out of the felt lip

A 35mm negative is 24 by 36 millimetres, which is small. That is the whole character of the format. The grain is large in proportion to the frame, so you can see it. The lenses are small, so they are sharp in the middle and honest at the corners. A roll is 36 frames, so every one of them is a decision, and the last one is always the one you needed.

CAM135 is built around that frame: a 3:2 gate in the viewfinder, grain modelled as clusters of silver that thicken in the shadows rather than as noise laid evenly on top, and a camera roll that reads as a contact sheet.

02Nine 35mm cameras

A Leica, two Canons, three Nikons and Olympuses, a Lomo, a disposable.

Each one loaded with the film it is remembered on, rendering with its own glass. The M6 is clean and even. The LC-A vignettes and saturates. The QuickSnap has a plastic lens and a flash.

M6Leica M6

QL17Canonet QL17

LC-ALomo LC-A

AE-1Canon AE-1

F3Nikon F3

FM3ANikon FM3A

OM-1Olympus OM-1

PEN-EEOlympus Pen EE

QSNAPFuji QuickSnap

FREE: LOMO LC-A · THE OTHER EIGHT WITH CAM135 · PLUS 14 MORE CAMERAS THAT ARE NOT 35MM

03Half frame

The Pen EE puts 72 on a roll.

The Olympus Pen EE shot 18×24 mm frames, two to every 35mm frame, standing up. Coarser grain, softer detail, and a pair of pictures that were always taken a minute apart. CAM135 has one.

Two vertical half-frame photographs side by side on one strip of film: a chipped espresso cup on a marble café table in warm morning sun, and the friend across the table laughing with his head tilted back, both in the warm yellow tones and coarse grain of Kodak Gold 200 — one coffee, two frames

04The contact sheet

Your roll, printed as a roll.

Every 36 frames of 35mm came back from the lab as one sheet: six strips of six, with the frame numbers and the film's name printed in the rebate. CAM135's camera roll is laid out the same way, and every guide photograph on this site is on the sheet below.

A 35mm contact sheet: four strips of six frames each, every frame bounded by the film's dark rebate with sprocket holes and running frame numbers, showing the photographs from across this site

05Ten 35mm films

The films you would actually load.

Ten of the eleven films in CAM135 were sold in 135 cartridges. The eleventh is the SX-70 instant pack, which is another page.

P400 · FREEPortra 400Warm daylight neutral. Creamy skin, soft highlights.
800T · FREECineStill 800TCool shadows, warm lights, red halation glow.
TRI-X · FREETri-X 400Black and white, punchy contrast, sharp grain.
GOLDKodak Gold 200Golden consumer warmth, amber highlights.
EKTARKodak Ektar 100Vivid reds and blues, almost no grain.
P160Portra 160Lower contrast, pale pastel color.
P800Portra 800Portra's warmth, heavier grain, low light.
E64Ektachrome 64Cool slide contrast, saturated blues.
SUP400Fuji Superia 400Cool mint shadows, neutral skin.
VISTAAgfa VistaExpired film: green-yellow cast, muddy blues.

See all 11 film filters The instant one

0635mm camera app · pricing

Less than a roll of Portra, developed.

All nine 35mm cameras and all ten 35mm films, plus the fourteen cameras that are not 35mm, for $19.99 once. It does not run out at 36.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

See the full pricing

Questions

The short answers.

What does 35mm mean in a camera app?: It means the app is imitating photographs taken on 35mm film: a 24×36 mm negative, a 3:2 frame, and grain you can see because the negative is small. A 35mm camera app should give you that frame shape and that grain, and ideally name the film. CAM135 does all three.
Can a phone photo really look like 35mm film?: It can look like it. It is not film, and we say so. The things that read as 35mm are grain that sits in the shadows, highlights that fade instead of clipping, the colour of a named stock and a lens with real corners. Each of those can be modelled honestly, and CAM135 puts one dial on how far to take it.
Does CAM135 shoot in 3:2?: Yes. 3:2 is the 35mm frame and it is one of the gates in the viewfinder, next to 4:3 for the phone's full sensor and 1:1 for the medium-format and instant cameras.
Is the 35mm camera app free?: Three films and three cameras are free, including the Lomo LC-A, which is a 35mm compact. All nine 35mm cameras and all ten 35mm films are $19.99 once.