Film Sidekick

Help

Film Sidekick is a notebook for your film camera: tap once as you take each photo, then write the details into your lab scans when they come back. Still stuck? Email help@filmsidekick.app and a real person will reply.

Getting started

The first time you open Film Sidekick it walks you through adding a camera, a lens and the roll that's in it. You can add more at any time.

1. Add your gear in the Gear tab: each camera's make, model and film format, whether it has a fixed lens or takes interchangeable ones, and its shutter range. Lenses need a mount and focal length so Film Sidekick knows which cameras they fit.
2. Load film. On the Capture tab, tap the film button to the left of the red button (or Load film on the camera's card) and pick the stock. Shooting it at a different speed? Set the EI and the push or pull is worked out for you.
3. Keep your fridge stocked. Add unshot rolls in the Rolls tab with Add rolls, so loading a camera later is two taps.

Tip: Only cameras with In my bag switched on appear on the Capture tab. Switch it off for cameras that are staying home.

Tip: Prefer a lighter look? Set Appearance to Light, Dark or Auto in Settings. iPhone and iPad start in Dark; the Mac follows your system.

Logging a frame

Everything happens on the Capture tab. Swipe the camera cards sideways to change camera, and tap a lens in the strip to swap lenses.

• Dial in what you know. Slide the aperture, shutter and focal length dials, or tap a value. A dashed box means "not recorded", which is fine: every value is optional.
• Lock a value with its Lock button and it carries over to the next frame, which suits aperture priority or a fixed shutter speed. Unlocked values reset after each frame.
• Tap the red button as you take the photo. It shows the number of the frame you're about to log.
• Undo or add a note from the message that appears after each frame, or later with the speech bubble button beside the red one.
• Location is recorded without waiting for GPS: if there's no fix yet, it's added as soon as one arrives. The chip in the viewfinder shows how accurate it is.
• Reference photo: with Reference photo on in Settings, Film Sidekick keeps a small, low-resolution picture of the scene from the viewfinder to help you tell similar frames apart later.

Cameras with interchangeable backs show the mounted back on their card; tap it to switch backs mid-roll. Each back keeps its own roll.

Finished a roll? Tap the film button and choose Unload — roll finished, or Unload mid-roll to take it out part-shot and load it again later.

After the shoot

• The Shots tab lists every frame, grouped by roll. Switch to Map to see where you walked, or search notes, places and lenses.
• Tap any frame to fix it afterwards: time and time zone, lens, exposure, note, location or frame number.
• Was your phone's clock or time zone wrong? Open the roll in Rolls and use Shift all times… to move every frame at once, then Renumber frames by time if you need to.
• When the roll goes to the lab, open it and tap Send to lab… to note the lab, order number and when it's due back. Tap Back from the lab when the scans arrive.

Matching scans

When your scans come back, Film Sidekick pairs them with your frames and writes the camera, lens, exposure, ISO, date, time, location and your notes into copies. Your original scans are never changed.

1. Open the roll in Rolls and tap Match scans…, or pick it in the Match tab.
2. Tap Add scans and choose From Photos or From Files. On a Mac you can drop the lab's folder straight onto the window.
3. Check the pairs and fix any by hand (see the tips below).
4. Tap Export to save copies to a folder, or to add them to Photos, optionally in an album named after the roll.

Matching is free to try. Exporting the tagged copies is part of Premium.

Tip: Set your name in Settings before exporting, and Film Sidekick writes it into each scan as the artist and copyright holder.

Tips for matching

• Keep the lab's file names. Scans picked from Files are put in file-name order (000001.jpg, 000002.jpg…), which is almost always frame order. Scans picked from Photos are ordered by the date the lab scanned them.
• Lab scanned the roll backwards? Turn on Reverse order.
• Leader, blank or contact sheet in the batch? Open the scan's menu and choose Not a frame. It moves out of the way and everything re-matches.
• First scan isn't frame 1? Use First scan is frame to start later on the roll.
• One pair is wrong? Drag the scan onto the right frame. Dropping it on a frame that already has a scan swaps the two.
• Everything is off by one from a certain frame? Open that frame's menu and choose Shift scans up from here or Shift scans down from here.
• Not sure two shots are the right way round? Tap Compare to see your reference photo beside the scan, with the details that will be written in.
• Formats: JPEG and TIFF scans keep their image data exactly as the lab delivered it. HEIC has to be re-encoded to take new metadata, so Film Sidekick asks first and uses maximum quality. Other formats, such as PNG and DNG, are skipped.
• Started over? Auto-match again throws away your hand edits and pairs everything in order.

Siri, Shortcuts and the Action button

You can log a frame without opening Film Sidekick. It goes on the camera you logged with last, keeps any locked aperture or shutter, and records the time, plus the location if Record location is on and a fix is available.

• Siri: say "Log a frame in Film Sidekick" or "Log a shot in Film Sidekick". Siri tells you the frame number and how many are left.
• Shortcuts: add the Log Frame action from Film Sidekick to any shortcut.
• Action button (iPhone 15 Pro and later): go to Settings › Action Button, choose Shortcut, then pick Film Sidekick's Log Frame.
• Apple Watch Ultra: go to the Watch's Settings › Action Button, choose Shortcut, then pick Film Sidekick's Log Frame.

Apple Watch

Leave the phone in the bag and log from your wrist. If Film Sidekick isn't on your watch already, install it from the Watch app on your iPhone under Available Apps.

• The watch shows each camera with film loaded. Swipe sideways to change camera.
• Tap the red button to log a frame. It shows how many you've shot.
• Tap the aperture or shutter below it, then turn the Digital Crown to set it. Touch and hold either one to lock it for the next frame.
• Frames are sent to your iPhone, which keeps them. If the phone is out of range, the watch holds on to them and sends them when it's back.
• Location comes from the watch when Record location is on in Film Sidekick's Settings on your iPhone.

The watch app is free and shows your one camera. With Premium it shows every camera in your bag.

Tip: If the watch says "Set up your bag in Film Sidekick on iPhone", open Film Sidekick on your iPhone once so it can send your cameras across.

Live Activity and Lock Screen widget

Both are part of Premium and are on iPhone only.

• Live Activity: starts when you log a frame on the Capture tab. It shows frames left in the Dynamic Island and on the Lock Screen, with a Log frame button so you don't have to unlock your phone. It ends by itself 4 hours after your last frame, or close it with its × button. Turn it off in Settings with Live Activity while shooting.
• Lock Screen widget: touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, choose the Lock Screen, then add Film Sidekick from the widget list. It shows frames shot and left. Choose a camera for it, or leave it empty to follow the camera you logged with last.

Film Sidekick on Mac

The Mac is for reviewing your frames and matching scans. Frames are logged where your camera is, on iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch, so you need Film Sidekick on an iPhone or iPad too, signed in to the same Apple Account with iCloud on. Everything you log there arrives on your Mac.

The first time you open Film Sidekick on a Mac with nothing logged yet, it shows how to get started: a QR code to scan with your iPhone to get the app, or, if you already use Film Sidekick there, a note that it's waiting for your frames from iCloud.

• Shots, Rolls and Gear work as they do on iPhone: browse the list or the map, fix any frame's details, and keep your rolls and gear up to date.
• Match scans from the sidebar, or drop the lab's folder of scans straight onto the window.
• Capture in the sidebar explains logging on your other devices. Don't need it? Switch on Hide this tab there, or turn off Show Capture in the sidebar in Settings.
• Premium can be bought on the Mac too, and a purchase on any of your devices unlocks all of them. If Film Sidekick hasn't been used on your iPhone or iPad yet, the Mac asks you to confirm before you buy. Use Restore Purchases if it doesn't show straight away.

Questions