Getting started with Film Logbook

Film Logbook is a logbook. Not a light meter, not a camera app, not a sharing platform. Everything else in this guide follows from that: the app's job is to remember what you did, so your future self can reach back into a roll shot eight months ago and still know what the light was like and what you were trying to do.

If you hold that in mind, everything else is setup.

1 · The one thing to get right first

Before anything else: pick how much you actually want to log, and stick to it for the first few rolls.

The app supports a lot — filters, multi-exposures, per-frame GPS, reference shots, tags, free-form notes, per-camera stop settings. You don't need any of that on day one. Log film stock, camera, aperture, shutter, and ISO. That's it. When you've shot three rolls that way, you'll know which of the other fields you actually want.

Logbooks fail when they feel like homework. Start small.

2 · Add your first camera (and a lens)

Open Settings → Gear, and add:

• One camera — model and any nickname you'd use for it
• One lens — focal length and maximum aperture

You'll do this once for each piece of gear you own. After that every roll and every frame pre-fills from what you've already got. One-time friction, permanent payoff.

If you don't see the gear tab yet, you're on v1. The gear tab is a v2 feature — until 2.0 ships publicly, your gear lives on each roll/frame instead of a central tab. Same data, fewer places to find it.

3 · Load your first roll

Tap + on the Films tab. You'll get a form:

• Film stock — pick from the built-in database. If your stock isn't there, it's fine to type it in; the community database in 2.0 is growing.
• ISO — the speed you're actually rating it at, not the box speed. If you're shooting HP5 at 800 rather than 400, put 800.
• Camera — the one you just added
• Frame count — 24, 36, 12 (120), or whatever your back actually holds

That's your roll. It's now in Shooting state: it'll show up on the home screen with a live frame counter and a quick-log button.

You don't have to name a roll or write a project — those fields are optional. Skip them on your first roll.

4 · Log your first frame

Tap the roll, tap the + on frames, and you're looking at the frame form.

The three fields that matter on day one are:

1. Aperture
2. Shutter
3. A single word of context in the notes (the subject, the light, or what you were trying)

Everything else — lens, filter, GPS, reference photo — is there when you want it, but none of it is required. The frame log will still be useful in six months if you only recorded the exposure.

If you want to remember the light more precisely than numbers can: tap Add reference and grab a quick digital shot with your phone. It attaches to the frame and gives scan-review a visual anchor.

5 · The permissions — what to allow, and why

On first launch the app will ask for three things:

• Location — used only to stamp GPS on each frame as you log it. Allow this. It's by far the highest-leverage piece of metadata: a location makes a roll from a trip actually searchable later. No background tracking; the app reads your location at the moment you tap to log.
• Camera — used for capturing reference shots directly from the frame screen. Allow if you think you'll use reference photos; deny if you'd rather always use your existing phone camera roll.
• Photo library — used for attaching existing photos as references (e.g. a photo you already took of the scene). Allow to keep the attach-from-library option; deny if you only want to capture fresh.

All three can be changed later in iOS Settings → Film Logbook. None of them are analytics; none leave your device without you initiating a share or an export.

6 · What happens when the roll is finished

When you fire the last frame, don't leave the roll in Shooting. In the roll view, move it forward in the workflow:

• Develop — you've sent it to the lab (or loaded it into your tank)
• Scan — it's back, you're scanning or the lab is scanning
• Archive — scans attached, roll is done

Each stage surfaces different things on the roll's screen. In Develop, the roll reminds you which lab you sent it to and when. In Scan, it's ready to accept scans that swap out your reference shots. In Archive, everything is locked together and the roll becomes part of your searchable history.

The phase-aware workflow is new in 2.0. In v1 you'll see Shooting and Archived only — same data, two stages instead of four.

7 · Questions people ask in the first week

Do I have to log every frame? No. Log the ones you care about. A roll with eight frames logged and the rest blank is still a useful roll.

I forgot to create a roll in the app before I loaded my camera — now what? Create it retroactively. You can backfill frames; the timestamps won't be accurate, but everything else will be.

Does it work offline? Yes. Logging happens locally; iCloud syncs when you're back on a network. You can shoot a whole trip on airplane mode and it'll catch up when you land.

Where are my rolls stored? Your iCloud account, private to you, synced across your devices. No Film Logbook account, no server-side storage, no data in anyone else's hands.

Can I edit a frame after the fact? Yes. Every field is editable. Film metadata, camera assignments, notes, even frame numbers (carefully — the duplicate-frame-number crash is a known issue we're fixing).

I have 200 rolls I shot before I had this app. Is there any point? Log the ones you care about. Backfilling is slow but rewarding for rolls you have a reason to revisit. Don't try to catch up on everything at once.

How do I export a roll? PDF or JSON from the roll's menu. The PDF export with embedded images is a 2.0 feature.

Once you've got three rolls under your belt, the next thing to read is Logging rolls while you're actually shooting — a field rhythm for making logging feel like part of the shot instead of a chore afterward.