Underwater Photography
Apple's Camera vs a Better Camera App
Same familiar layout, very different reach. A fair, control-by-control comparison on the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and an honest answer to who should switch.
Apple's Camera app is the quickest way to take a good photo. Diving Standard's camera looks almost the same, and gives you far more control. It adds manual ISO (Apple keeps it automatic), a much wider shutter range (1/70000 s to 8 s against 1/16000 s to 1 s), open gate video, and colour that corrects itself for water. Keep Apple's for snapshots. Use ours when you want to decide the exposure, or when there's water involved.
- Quick snapshots
- Apple Camera
- Manual ISO
- Diving Standard
- Shutter range
- 1/70000 s to 8 s vs 1/16000 s to 1 s
- Underwater colour
- Diving Standard
Most third-party camera apps ask you to learn a whole new interface before they give you anything back. We went the other way. The Diving Standard camera shares the layout you already know from Apple's: the shutter where you expect it, the lens switcher, photo and video side by side. What changes is how far each control goes.
Side by side
| Apple Camera | Diving Standard camera | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Included | Free |
| Layout | Apple's | Apple's, with more controls |
| Aperture | Manual, f/1.48 to f/4 | Manual, on the variable lens |
| Shutter | 1/16000 s to 1 s | 1/70000 s to 1 s, 2 to 8 s stacked |
| ISO | Automatic | Manual |
| White balance | Manual | Manual, Kelvin, depth presets, grey card |
| Underwater colour | Standard white balance | Live True Colour, six looks |
| Video | Apple's formats | 4K, open gate, HEVC, H.264, ProRes, Log |
| Photo | HEIF, ProRAW | JPEG, HEIF, RAW, 48 MP |
| Launch | Lock screen, Camera Control | One tap from Home |
Where Apple's camera wins
Speed. It's on the lock screen and the Camera Control button, and it's tied into Photos, Portrait mode and the rest of iOS better than any app can be. For family moments you can't repeat, it's the safe choice. Apple's Pro Controls are a genuine step forward, and for plenty of people they'll be enough.
Where ours goes further
- Manual ISO. Apple keeps ISO automatic. We let you set it, so the exposure stops drifting and you can keep noise down on the phone's small sensor.
- The whole shutter range. From 1/70000 s, close to the fastest the sensor reports, to 8 s with stacked exposures. If the hardware can do it, you should be able to use it.
- Open gate video. Record the full sensor instead of a cropped 16:9 strip, then reframe for any screen. See what open gate video is.
- Colour that knows it's underwater. Your phone assumes it's on land, so its white balance goes wrong in the sea. Ours uses white balance tuned for water and shows corrected colour live, with six looks to choose from.
- Nothing lost. A colour-corrected photo keeps its original, so Revert in Photos brings the untouched file back.
Who should switch
- You shoot underwater, snorkelling or on the beach and want colour that looks like what you saw.
- You shoot video and want an exposure that stays locked.
- You want long exposures past one second.
- You want to know what your sensor can really do, without learning a new camera.
You don't have to choose. Keep Apple's camera on the lock screen and ours one tap away. Both save to the same library. For the missing control in detail, read why manual mode has no ISO.
The camera you know, with the controls it's missing
Manual ISO, open gate video and live underwater colour. Download Diving Standard free for iPhone.
Download on the App StoreFrequently asked questions
Is Apple's Camera app better than a third-party camera app?
For speed and simplicity, yes. For manual ISO, a wider shutter range, open gate video and underwater colour, a camera app such as Diving Standard's goes further.
Is the Diving Standard camera hard to learn?
No. It shares the layout of Apple's Camera app, so the shutter, lens switcher and photo and video modes are where you expect them. The extra controls sit on top.
Can I use both Apple's Camera and Diving Standard's camera?
Yes. Both save into the same Photos library. Use Apple's for quick shots and Diving Standard's when you want control or you're near the water.
Does Diving Standard's camera shoot RAW?
Yes. On the iPhone 18 Pro Max it shoots 48 MP RAW with manual ISO, shutter and aperture.
Is the Diving Standard camera free?
Yes, it's included in the free Diving Standard app for iPhone.