SpektraLab and OldRoll: Two Free Ways to Make Photos Look Like Film

SpektraLab is a film and print simulator that gives digital photos a film-inspired look. Its Mac app is free and open source. Import a photo, choose a film stock and photographic paper, then adjust color, exposure, and grain in a virtual darkroom.

Making these creative tools available for free aligns with our mission at OldRoll: to give more people access to high-quality camera-inspired filters. With OldRoll Web, you can upload a photo and apply a look directly in a desktop or mobile browser, without installing software or logging in to start editing.

How Does SpektraLab Create a Film Look?

SpektraLab's engine is derived from Andrea Volpato's spektrafilm, which models film exposure, development, printing, and scanning. Film and paper profiles describe how photographic materials respond to light, giving the simulation a basis for its color and texture.

Three parts of that process help explain what you see in the finished photograph:

• Color and tone. The engine estimates a spectrum from the digital input and models light across 81 wavelength samples. The selected film's sensitivity and tonal curves shape the virtual negative. For a color-negative workflow, the paper has its own response, so changing the paper can change the final color and contrast even when you keep the film fixed.
• Grain. Grain scales with the simulated film frame. At the same viewing size, a smaller negative produces a coarser texture relative to the photograph. Choosing a larger format produces a finer appearance.
• Halation. The model simulates the glow produced when light passes through film and returns through its layers. You see it around bright points or reflections. Its size also changes with the simulated frame size.

The official example below uses a Portra 400 simulation with Kodak Supra Endura paper. The same courtyard appears in both panels, showing how the combined film-and-paper treatment changes its colors and tonal relationships.

What Are SpektraLab's Practical Limitations?

SpektraLab offers a darkroom-style workflow with detailed control over the result. Before choosing it for a quick edit, consider the installation, device requirements, and controls you will be working with.

• The desktop darkroom requires a compatible local installation. The current Mac release supports Apple silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 15 or later. You download the app and install it before editing. The ready-made Mac installer requires no coding or source compilation. SpektraLab also offers a browser Light Table for arranging exported images.
• Windows is still an early pre-release. It requires a Vulkan graphics driver and Microsoft Edge WebView2. The official download page also notes that the installer is not yet code-signed, so Windows may display a warning before it runs.
• Detailed adjustment involves darkroom terminology. Getting started can be as simple as choosing film and paper, but further adjustment brings in film exposure, enlarger settings, and different stages of the print. Understanding those controls can take time for someone without a darkroom background.
• The mobile app has free-export limits. On iPhone and iPad, JPEG and HEIF exports up to 12 MP are free. Full-size export and PNG or TIFF require Plus. These are mobile pricing conditions; the Mac app remains fully free and open source.

Many people simply want to upload a photo, preview a few free film looks, and save the result. OldRoll Web is built around that shorter workflow.

SpektraLab and OldRoll at a Glance

Both tools can give digital photographs a film-inspired look. SpektraLab builds its collection around film stocks and photographic papers. OldRoll combines camera-inspired looks with a separate filter collection, covering film as well as instant and digital-camera styles.

Collection counts checked on November 11, 2026, using the SpektraLab website and OldRoll Web editor. Camera models, Filter presets, film profiles, and papers are counted separately; Camera variants are not counted as additional models. Platform requirements and free-use terms were also checked on this date.

For a quick film-inspired edit, OldRoll Web offers a practical alternative in your browser. Upload a photo on a Windows computer, Mac, or phone, choose a ready-made Camera look or Filter preset, and refine the color, light, or grain without installing software or logging in to start editing. All current looks and editing tools are free, with watermark-free exports. You can start editing without login; continued saving may require a free login. The same editor also lets you try instant-photo and digicam styles on your photo. The FXS, FX400, and TOY F examples below show how three different film-inspired looks change color and texture.

Film-Inspired Looks You Can Try in OldRoll

The collection builds on years of developing OldRoll's mobile camera experiences. Our photographers and research team use real-camera photographs as references and compare color, contrast, and texture across different lighting conditions. Those references become ready-made looks you can apply directly, then refine with the editor's adjustment controls.

The examples below show three directions within our film filters. Each pair places an unfiltered source image beside an actual OldRoll Web export.

FXS

FXS offers four film-inspired styles. In this daylight portrait, FXS 1 brightens the face and shifts the wall and cup toward orange, while deepening the shadows in the hair and background. The blue shirt keeps a cooler tone, creating a clearer separation between the subject's skin, clothing, and surroundings.

FX400

FX400 provides another film-inspired color treatment. In this garden scene, the foliage moves from yellow-green toward cooler, more muted greens, while the building and path take on warmer tones. Visible grain and softer detail change the texture of the scene as well as its palette. These differences are easy to see in the broad leaves, pale walls, and sunlit gravel.

TOY F

TOY F brings the disposable-film camera direction into the collection, with two styles to choose from. In this afternoon-tea example, TOY F 1 gives the cream tabletop a cooler, slightly violet cast, while the strawberries and tea take on warmer, brighter colors. Fine grain, softer detail, and colored fringes along the glass give the photograph a textured, disposable-film finish.

The collection also gives you options beyond these film looks. INS P combines instant-photo color with paper borders, while CCD Z and GRX offer digicam filters. You can move between film, instant, and digital-camera styles in the same browser editor as you compare what suits your photograph.

Try a Camera Look on Your Own Photo

Start with a photo from the device you are using:

1. Upload it to OldRoll.
2. Choose a Camera or Filter look and apply it.
3. Adjust the effect and compare it with the original.
4. Download the result when you are happy with it.