phNotes Lite vs MetaLog Usage & Stats
*** If you like this app please take the time and leave a feedback, this will help me a lot in maintaining it and add additional features. Thank you! ***
This simple but powerful app allows photographers who use manual lenses, technical/view cameras, adapted gears with digital or even analog film photography to take note of the most important parameters of each shot taken on the field.
Additionally, with the Pro version all annotations can be easily exported through email or into your cloud storage. When back home/studio, the freely downloadable desktop companion application "PhotoAnnotator" can read the exported data and automatically write all annotations as EXIF/IPTC metadata into the corresponding image files (RAW, TIFF, JPEG, etc...).
This is particularly useful in all cases where the shooting parameters are not automatically written by the camera into the image files.
Your image and shooting annotations can then live together in one single file.
FEATURES (LITE AND PRO VERSION):
- Supported annotations: image counter, shoot date, camera make and model, lens make and model, filter, shutter speed, aperture value, focus distance, shift and tilt movements, film, GPS location, additional notes.
- GPS location automatically read from the iPhone's GPS system.
- Ability to swipe-clone an existing image for fast editing in the field.
- Ability to swipe-delete single photos.
- Ability to manage a list of cameras.
- Ability to manage a list of lenses.
- Ability to manage a list of filters.
- Ability to manage a list of films.
- Ability to clear the whole session after having exported it.
- Contextual help available.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES (PRO VERSION ONLY):
- Ability to save unlimited image entries (LITE is limited to 12 max).
- Ability to export all data via the standard iOS sharing machanism.
- The companion desktop app PhotoAnnotator can be freely downloaded at https://www.marcoristuccia.com/it/photoannotator
- The companion desktop app PhotoAnnotator supports all the major RAW and image types (see the application description at the indicated web page for more details).
- Apple App Store
- Free
- Photo & Video
Store Rank
- -
Are you a meticulous film photographer that prefers to record settings/locations for the film photos that you take? Are you looking for a simple and easy to use app for tracking and logging that information? Are you tired of the buggy, crash-prone, or convoluted photo logging apps currently available?
I happen to be all of those things. Which is why I developed MetaLog.
MetaLog is a simple yet powerful data logging utility for photographers who want to quickly record photo metadata for photo cataloging or EXIF tagging during post-processing. In addition to keeping track of the settings for each photo, MetaLog can also act as an equipment inventory for your gear.
Feature Highlights:
• See all of your added film rolls at a glance, including the number of frames added to each roll, as well as load/unload dates to show which rolls are still in use.
• Quickly log settings for each photo including date, lens, aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation, as well as location coordinates, accessories, and notes about the shot.
• Intelligent pre-fill and filtering for dates, locations, and equipment, making adding new frames a snap.
• Easily manage multiple rolls loaded into multiple cameras simultaneously.
• Pinpoint photo locations with a simple and familiar pinch-and-zoom map interface.
• Export all logged data as convenient CSV files.
• Gear pages can record camera and lens models as well as serial numbers, allowing for a complete gear inventory that's handy for tracking and insurance.
- Apple App Store
- Paid
- Photo & Video
Store Rank
- -
phNotes Lite VS. 
MetaLogJanuary 12, 2026