What We Did First — and What Is Still Different
Last checked · Asia/Shanghai
This page exists so that “first” never floats around without a date. Every claim below has a public source, a date, and a standing invitation to be corrected. Where we are not first, we say so. AlphaLuma is a third-party app; nothing here is a Sony statement.
What we did first
FIRST · 2026-08-04 · China 1.0.9 / 2026-08-06 · international 1.1.0
Write a Creative Look recipe into a Sony camera from a phone, over USB
The China edition shipped USB recipe import in 1.0.9 on 2026-08-04, the international edition in 1.1.0 “USB Recipe Import” on 2026-08-06 (both App Store version history). Connect a cable, pick a recipe, and the full set of parameters lands in the camera's Creative Look — a Custom Look slot or the current settings — after you confirm the listed changes. Our blog described it on 2026-08-04; the “first app that can import a recipe straight from your phone into a Sony camera” wording is from the 2026-08-07 post. As far as public changelogs show, no other app wrote Creative Look recipes into a Sony body before this. This is our own claim.
What that is not
- Not hand-copying eight parameters from a card into the camera menu. That path is free and needs no app; sonyfilmsimulations.com publishes the cards.
- Not Sony Creators' App “Creative Look by creators” (ver. 3.5, announced 2026-08-27). That is Sony delivering Sony's own creator Looks through Creators' Cloud. AlphaLuma writes recipes people made.
- Not a parameter-notebook app. Apps that list Creative Look values for you to type in (AlphaLook and similar) are a different category; we don't claim to be first at that.
- Not the first phone monitor for a Sony camera. Others shipped monitor modes before ours (PixCake added a wireless camera-monitor mode in February 2026). What ours adds is switching Creative Look from the phone and writing it back to the body — see below.
- Not Creative Style tools for older bodies (Recipe Lab, JPEG.CAM and the like). Those address the pre-Creative-Look generation; we don't count them and don't compete with them.
Still different today
LAST CHECKED · 2026-09-19
“First” is a date and never changes. “Still the only one” expires, so it carries a check date. As of the date above, we have not found another app that does all of the following for Sony Creative Look:
- Writes a full community or user recipe — base Look, eight adjustments, both white-balance axes — into a Custom Look slot over USB, with every change listed before it is written.
- Runs a phone monitor on which switching Creative Look is written back to the camera, not only previewed on the phone.
What we re-check each time
- iTunes Lookup release date and current version for both App Store listings (international and China).
- App Store version-history entries: China 1.0.9 / 1.1.2, international 1.1.0 / 1.1.1.
- Our own posts of 2026-08-04, 2026-08-07 and 2026-08-18 are still live and unchanged in their dates.
- Sony's Creators' App 3.5 announcement is still dated 2026-08-27.
- Public changelogs of other Sony-camera iOS apps for a Creative Look recipe write over USB — at minimum Cascable, Shutter+, PixCake, AlphaLook and Alpha Looks.
Timeline
Three kinds of dates, kept apart on purpose: the day we wrote about something (blog), the day it could be installed (App Store version history), and the day Sony announced something (Sony). The install date is the one that counts for “first”.
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| AlphaLuma 1.0, China edition, on the App Store: recipe library, EXIF borders, watermarks — no camera write yet | App Store (CN) | |
| “Hello from AlphaLuma” — the international site introduces the app | Blog | |
| AlphaLuma 1.0, international edition, on the App Store (iTunes releaseDate, UTC) | App Store | |
| China edition 1.0.9 — USB recipe import (by our account, the first public recipe write into a Sony camera). Same day: blog “Send Recipes Straight to Your Sony — Over a Cable” | App Store (CN) version history · Blog | |
| International 1.1.0 — USB Recipe Import | App Store version history | |
| Blog: “One Tap from Phone to Camera” — our “first app…” statement | Blog | |
| China edition 1.1.2 — Camera Monitor over USB; Creative Look switched from the phone is written back to the camera | App Store (CN) version history | |
| International 1.1.1 — Camera Monitor | App Store version history | |
| Blog: “I Built a Camera Monitor Into AlphaLuma” (no first-monitor claim) | Blog | |
| International 1.1.2 — composition masks, safe areas | App Store | |
| Sony announces Creators' App ver. 3.5, “Creative Look by creators” | Sony |
Sources
- App Store — AlphaLuma
- Blog 2026-08-04 · USB write
- Blog 2026-08-07 · “first app”
- Blog 2026-08-18 · Camera monitor
- Sony · Creators' App 3.5 announcement (2026-08-27)
- Sony Help Guide · Creative Look
- USB connection guide
Corrections welcome
If another app shipped a Creative Look recipe write into a Sony camera — over a cable before 2026-08-04 — with a public changelog, write to sonyalphainfo@126.com with the link. We will correct this page and say so here. sonyalphainfo@126.com
FAQ
- Is AlphaLuma the first app to write Creative Look recipes into a Sony camera?
- By our own account, yes: the China edition 1.0.9 (2026-08-04) and the international 1.1.0 (2026-08-06) wrote recipes over USB, and our 2026-08-07 post made the claim. It is a self-claim with a date and a public invitation to correct it; we have not found an earlier public changelog.
- Is AlphaLuma the first camera monitor app for Sony?
- No, and we do not claim it. Other apps shipped Sony monitor modes before ours. What AlphaLuma's monitor adds is Creative Look switching that is written back to the camera.
- Is AlphaLuma an official Sony app?
- No. AlphaLuma is a third-party app for Sony Alpha photographers, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Sony Group Corporation.