27 Nov 2023:
Crown + Flint Release 2,
App Roadmap,
and the Open Film Database

Crown + Flint announces three major developments in their ground-breaking app for analog photographers: Release 2 of the app; a long-awaited roadmap of app features and development through the first half of 2024; and a new project, the Open Film Database.

Lisbon, Portugal, 27 Nov 2023. Crown + Flint announces three major developments in their ground-breaking app for analog photographers: Release 2 of the app; a long-awaited roadmap of app features and development through the first half of 2024; and a new project, the Open Film Database.

R2 "🔩 Up for Maintenance"

Release 2 of Crown + Flint is now available for iPhone on the Apple App Store or for Android on Google Play. This latest release represents a massive re-thinking of behind-the-scenes code to improve reliability and to set the stage for future releases, as well as several long-requested enhancements:

• Previously, the auto-suggest results for equipment and film manufacturers was a bit…out of left field. The results now make much more sense, and they come a lot faster.
• The frame skip feature was little more than an after-thought. Now it is a fully-formed thought. You'll like it a lot more, and use it a lot more.
• You can now enter fractional film speeds, you're welcome you freaky-deaky low-speed film lover you.
• Did you know the Canon P has a dedicated X-sync setting on the shutter speed dial? I own this camera, and I didn't know that. It does. Maybe your camera has the same option? Now the app acknowledges and respects that as an option.
• You can now edit the camera and lens used to capture a frame. It was silly that you couldn't before.
• We've removed the ability to duplicate films. Maybe you didn't even know it was possible. Soon it won't even make sense to do so.

Crown + Flint Roadmap

Wondering what features are coming to Crown + Flint? Your questions have been answered. We've shared the six month feature roadmap on our Discord—and you can join the conversation to steer Crown + Flint in the direction you want to see! Join the conversation on Discord to let us know what you want to see next.

• R3 "❄️ Cold Storage" — If you're like me, you've got rolls of film in your freezer, your fridge, out on your desk, it's everywhere. Maybe you have a plan for it, maybe you don't. Maybe it's fresh, maybe it's expired. Or maybe you just have a couple of rolls you're not ready to use yet, you're saving them for a rainy day. R3 is an overhaul to the "Unused" tab in Crown + Flint to make it easier to keep track of your inventory of unexposed film rolls and boxes of sheet film.
• R4 "🏡 Homecoming" — The motivating idea behind Crown + Flint is to make it as easy and unobtrusive as possible to take meter readings and record each shot. R4 will put Crown + Flint on your homescreen and your lockscreen so you can add a new shot as quickly and easily as possible.
• R5 "🔴 Filtered Reality" — Filters are an important part of the practice of analog photography. But using them means doing some mental math to adjust exposure time, as well as some manual note taking. R5 will add first-class support for using filters during your shoot, and managing your filter collection.

The Open Film Database

Crown + Flint is an app that relies heavily on technical data from film manufacturers in a machine-readable format. There are certainly other apps that have the same requirement. And individuals like to understand the film they are shooting, without having to dig all over the internet for that information. To date, there hasn't been a suitable source for this information.

Today the Crown + Flint team is announcing the Open Film Database, an open source, comprehensive, and definitive source of all data available for the widest possible range of still photography film stocks, whether in production or out of production. Anyone is welcome to contribute knowledge, or to use the database for essentially any purpose, including commercial purposes.

We've seeded the database with what we already have on a wide range of film stocks, but there is still a lot of work to do. We invite industry partners—whether you are an app that wants to consume this data, or a manufacturer who can help fill in knowledge gaps—to join us in defining a formal specification for the database, and filling it with the available technical information. We also invite individuals who have specific experiences and expertise, and who want to chip in.

You can view the current data on GitLab, join the conversation on Discord, or email Don Goodman-Wilson for more information.

About Crown + Flint

Crown + Flint is an app for analog photographers who want to keep better track of their shots, their film, and their equipment. Unlike digital cameras which add tons of metadata to each shot, analog photographers have to rely on taking notes if they want that information. Crown + Flint combines metadata collection with a highly accurate digital light meter to make data collection as easy as metering a scene. Crown + Flint has a carefully designed user interface aimed at minimizing the amount of time you spend with it, and maximizing your time behind the camera.

Crown + Flint is free to use for your first five rolls of film. After which, you can unlock unlimited films with Pro Mode for a one-time purchase of $19.99 USD. The app is available for download now for iPhone on the Apple App Store or for Android on Google Play

Follow Crown + Flint on Instagram for the latest updates, or join the Crown + Flint community on Discord to meet other analog photographers and get help with the app.