As part of our twenty-fifth anniversary, we asked manufacturers to reflect on the most significant products of the past quarter century.

As you might imagine, all the senior executives picked one of their own products. But some patterns also emerged. Some simply named their current flagship as the pinnacle of the company’s R&D history so far. But we were also interested to hear about the products that have been significant for the company’s history, because they represented major challenges to develop, were risky expansions into new territory or ultimately moved the whole industry forward.

In each instance, we asked for a personal choice, rather than what might be the official company line. And, if they couldn’t narrow it down to one, we were happy to hear the rationale for other products they thought were significant.

As part of the work on our review of the Fujifilm X100VI, we’ve shot and processed our standard studio test images with the camera.

Given the camera is based on a sensor we’ve seen before, there are few surprizes in terms of its performance. It produces more detail than the 26MP sensor in the X100V. Inevitably it shows more noise at the pixel level than lower-res sensors, but is comparable when viewed at the same output size, up until the very highest ISO settings.

Lens performance

The studio scene is not intended as a lens test: we typically use very high-performance lenses at an aperture that delivers high levels of cross-frame consistency with little risk of diffraction limiting the performance. However, with the X100VI, we have no choice but to use the built-in lens.

The 35mm equiv field of view means we have to move much closer to the target but this is still at over 40x focal length, so not especially close-up. An aperture value of F5.6 means we’re not being especially challenging.

And the X100VI’s lens appears to acquit itself well in these circumstances. In the JPEGs it’s comparably detailed near the center as the X-H2’s results, using our standard 56mm F1.2 R testing lens (though the X100VI is possibly having to apply more sharpening to deliver this result). Things get a little softer towards the corners and exhibit (easily corrected) lateral chromatic aberration and some vignetting in the Raw conversion, but overall the lens appears to be doing a good job in front of a high-resolution sensor.

As with all the other 40MP X-Trans cameras, the Adobe Camera Raw conversion isn’t showing the same levels of contrast or sharpening that the camera’s own JPEGs do, so it’s worth downloading the Raw files to see whether your preferred software and processing workflow produce results you’re happier with. But overall, we feel it does well.

A new camera app that wants to offer a film-like experience is now available. The mood.camera app (iOS only) targets fans of analog photography and consists of 14 film-like filters. I was given early access to the app to test it out and see if it offers anything different from similar apps on the market.

There’s been a resurgence in analog photography recently. Though many desire the look of film, they don’t necessarily enjoy the process (and time) of using analog cameras. mood.camera aims to bridge the gap between film and digital by offering filters that emulate film stocks such as Kodak Portra, CineStill and Chrome.

Inside the app, users can imitate a change in ISO (ranging from 100 to 3200) and will notice less detail and more grain the higher you go. There’s also a digital tonal range dial that impacts the amount of contrast and saturation in an image.

Image: Dan Ginn (made with mood.camera). Filter: Chrome

This isn’t the first app trying to emulate the look of film photography. Other apps, such as 1998 Vintage Camera and VSCO, offer filters that provide a classic look, as does Hipstamatic, one of the first smartphone apps within this niche.

What sets mood.camera apart is how it provides an analog-esque process to image making. Whereas other apps provide a live preview of filters and simulations, mood.camera doesn’t.

The app’s developer said the intention was to “mirror the classic film camera experience.” To see how the images turn out, you must view the photos in Apple’s Photos app.

Image: Dan Ginn (made with mood.camera). Filter: Portra

Some obvious features are missing in the app. There’s no portrait mode, which the developer says is because “Apple does not let you capture ProRaw and depth data.” There’s no night mode either, which the developer claims is possible to add but isn’t interested in doing so at this time.

Image: Dan Ginn (made with mood.camera). Filter: Chrome

Having used the app for a week, it did bring a new sense of enjoyment to mobile photography. I liked not having a live preview of my images. Its absence allowed me to worry less about the outcome and focus more on the process of creating photographs.

There was a distinct difference in each of the filters, and while they’ll never be 100 percent like stock film, they’re close. Unlike some apps I have tried before, I found it easy to navigate through the different filters in mood.camera, and the app itself was quick and responsive.

Image: Dan Ginn (made with mood.camera). Filter: Cine

If you want to adapt your smartphone photography workflow and like the classic look, then mood.camera is worth trying. There’s a seven-day free trial available before committing to a paid subscription.

mood. camera is now available on the App Store and costs $1.99 per month or $14.99 as a one-time purchase. A free trial is available to evaluate the app.