FAQ

Lustra has three shooting modes: Dynamic, Quality, and Portrait. Each is designed for a different shooting scenario — everyday photography, maximum detail, or beautiful background blur.

Tap the mode control in the bottom-left of the camera screen. A vertical dial will appear with DYN, QUAL, and PORT labels. Scrub or tap to select a mode. While the dial is open, a callout card describes the selected mode, its resolution range, and supported formats.

Dynamic is your everyday shooting mode. It gives you full manual control over shutter speed, ISO, focus, and white balance — each of which can be locked independently. It supports the widest range of formats (ProRAW, RAW, HEIC, JPEG, and combinations) and uses the full zoom range including macro on supported devices.

Quality mode prioritizes maximum image detail over manual control. It always captures at the highest resolution your device supports (e.g. 48MP on Pro iPhones). Shutter speed and ISO are handled automatically to ensure the best possible image quality. You still have access to EV compensation, white balance, and zoom, but zoom is limited to your device's native lens steps.

Portrait mode captures depth information to create beautiful background blur. Instead of traditional exposure controls, you get creative tools: F-Stop (blur intensity), Lens (bokeh shape), Swirl (vignette/optical swirl), and Chromatic Aberration (color fringing in blurred areas). Portrait captures at ~12MP with real-time bokeh preview.

Lustra dynamically shows your current capture resolution (e.g. 12MP or 48MP) in the top bar. Several factors affect it:

• Mode — Quality mode always uses the maximum resolution. Portrait mode is fixed at ~12MP. Dynamic mode varies.
• Exposure locks — In Dynamic mode, locking shutter speed or ISO may reduce resolution from 48MP to 12MP because full-sensor readout requires automatic exposure tuning.
• Format — Standard RAW and RAW+HEIC always capture at ~12MP. ProRAW and HEIC/JPEG can use the full sensor.
• Zoom — High digital zoom levels may reduce effective megapixels.

48MP requires a full-sensor readout that works best with automatic exposure. When you lock shutter speed or ISO in Dynamic mode, the camera switches to a 12MP pipeline to maintain consistent exposure timing. Quality mode avoids this tradeoff by keeping exposure fully automatic.

No. Portrait captures require depth and portrait effects matte processing, which currently operates at standard resolution (~12MP).

Lustra gives you granular creative control over the blur effect. Instead of a single depth slider, you can adjust:

• F-Stop (f/1.4 – f/22) — Controls how much blur is applied, just like a real lens aperture.
• Lens (1–10) — Ten different aperture maps that change the shape and character of the bokeh.
• Swirl (0–100%) — Adds a vignette and optical swirl effect to the blur.
• Chromatic Aberration (0–100%) — Simulates color fringing in out-of-focus areas for a more organic, lens-like look.

All of these are previewed in real time before you take the shot.

• JPEG + Depth — Saves a baked bokeh JPEG and the original HEIC with depth data. The HEIC remains editable in the Photos app with Apple's portrait blur slider.
• JPEG — Saves only the final rendered JPEG with baked bokeh.
• Depth — Saves only the original HEIC with depth and portrait matte, preserving full editability in the Photos app.

When enabled in the viewfinder settings, Depth View shows a live depth map overlay on the preview so you can see exactly what the camera considers foreground and background. It's only available in Portrait mode.

Mode	Available Formats
Dynamic	ProRAW + HEIC, RAW + HEIC, ProRAW, RAW, HEIC, JPEG
Quality	ProRAW, HEIC, JPEG
Portrait	JPEG + Depth, JPEG, Depth

Actual availability depends on your device's hardware capabilities.

Tap the resolution/format indicator in the top bar. A list of formats supported by your current mode will appear. Each mode remembers your last selected format independently.

Control	Dynamic	Quality	Portrait
EV Compensation	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shutter Speed	Yes	—	—
ISO	Yes	—	—
Focus Dial	Yes	Yes	—
White Balance	Yes	Yes	—
F-Stop	—	—	Yes
Lens (bokeh shape)	—	—	Yes
Swirl	—	—	Yes
Chromatic Aberration	—	—	Yes
Flash	Yes	Yes	Yes

• Tap the preview to set focus and start subject tracking.
• Long press to lock focus and exposure at that point.
• Double tap to dismiss tracking.
• In Dynamic and Quality modes, a Focus dial is available on supported devices for precise manual focus.

Yes. Lustra automatically detects faces and can begin subject tracking on them. A focus indicator appears over detected faces in the preview.

Lustra uses a button-based zoom system (not pinch-to-zoom) in the bottom-right corner. The available zoom levels depend on your mode and device:

• Dynamic — Full range including 0.5×, 1×, 3× (device-dependent), macro on ultrawide, and a 2× toggle per lens.
• Quality — Native lens steps only (e.g. 0.5×, 1×, 3×) for maximum optical quality.
• Portrait — 1× and 3× only, with a 2× toggle on the main lens.

Open the viewfinder settings (viewfinder icon) to toggle:

• Grid — Rule-of-thirds overlay.
• Horizon Indicator — A level line using device motion to keep your shots straight.
• RGB Histogram — Live color channel histogram.
• Luma Histogram — Live luminance histogram.
• Depth View — Depth map overlay (Portrait mode only).

These aids appear only on the live preview and are never saved into captured photos.

Yes. Enable Preserve Adjustments in Settings. When turned on, Lustra saves your per-mode settings — including EV, ISO, shutter speed, zoom, white balance, focus, and all portrait controls — and restores them when you return to that mode or relaunch the app.

Yes. Go to Settings → Default Mode and choose Dynamic, Quality, or Portrait. Lustra will open in that mode on the next launch. This also updates automatically when you switch modes in the camera.

Yes. Enable Geotagging in Settings to embed GPS coordinates in your photo metadata. Lustra will request location permission when you first enable it.

Lustra is designed for iPhone. Features like ProRAW, 48MP capture, macro, and specific lens configurations depend on your device hardware. Lustra detects your device's capabilities and adjusts available modes, formats, and zoom levels accordingly.

No. Lustra is focused entirely on still photography.

No. Lustra captures standard still photos only.

Go to Settings → Contact Us to send an email with your device and app version information pre-filled.