Cutvey Viewfinder and Artemis, compared

What you pay for each

Checked November 2, 2026, on the US App Store. Artemis's 8.12 release notes say a subscription includes XR Stand-ins, Helios, External Camera Mode and what3words. Its pricing page does not say what the Core License covers, so see their site for that.

Chemical Wedding also sells Artemis One from its own site, a yearly bundle of Artemis with its Mac, Apple TV and Vision Pro apps and every add-on, shown at $41 a year when we read it. If you would plan in Artemis Studio on a Mac, that bundle is the better buy. If you only need a viewfinder on the phone, the yearly Artemis price passes Cutvey Viewfinder's one payment during the second year, and Cutvey Viewfinder has no further charge.

Cutvey Viewfinder is also included per seat in a Cutvey plan: Solo covers 1 seat, Pro 5, Studio 20 and Enterprise is custom, each person on up to three devices, working up to seven days offline between check-ins. How the plans work, and signing in with a Cutvey account.

The jobs a DP does, in both apps

Prices are Apple's US prices, checked November 2, 2026, on each app's App Store record. Ratings are US App Store counts on the same day, and they move daily. "Not stated" means we found nothing either way on the seller's own pages.

One scout in both apps: a car at last light

A dealer spot. One car on an empty two-lane road at the last of the light, shot on an ARRI ALEXA 35 in 4.6K 3:2 Open Gate and finished at 16:9 for broadcast with a 2.39 cinema version. The kit is ARRI Signature Primes at 21, 29, 40, 58 and 75mm. The scout is the afternoon before, with the director and the gaffer standing on the shoulder.

In Cutvey Viewfinder

1. Tap the strip at the top of the viewfinder to open Setup. Pick the ARRI ALEXA 35, its 4.6K 3:2 Open Gate mode and a 1.78 frame, then draw a 2.39 line inside it for the cinema cut.
2. Build the kit from the Signature Prime grid: tap 21, 29, 40, 58 and 75, and save the whole setup as a favorite named for the job.
3. Stand where the camera car will sit and press Overview. All five lenses appear as frame lines over one picture, so the director picks the wide without anyone swapping glass.
4. Open the sun panel and scrub to golden hour. The path and the sunset plate sit over the road, and the compass accuracy shows as plus or minus a few degrees. If it reads wide, step away from the car and nudge the heading.
5. Open depth of field for the 75 at T2 with focus on the badge at 6 m, and read off the near and far limits the 1st AC will work to.
6. Rest the phone on the tripod head, walk back until you see the whole car, and fire the stills from your Apple Watch, turning the Digital Crown to step from the 40 to the 75.
7. Export the scene as a Full PDF shot list: one shot a page with the time, GPS, the bearing and a map code the AD can scan to find the spot.

In Artemis

Artemis frames the same job from its own database. Helios Live-View draws the sun over the picture if you subscribe or bought Helios View. Where Artemis goes further is people in the frame and sharing. XR Stand-ins can put a life-size figure beside the car, casting the shadow it would cast at the time you pick, and on a LiDAR iPhone a real object can hide it. Artemis TV on an Apple TV can put the frame on the director's monitor at the truck, and the gallery syncs through iCloud for the next scout. The pages we read advertise no depth of field calculator, and there is no Watch app.

For this scout, Cutvey Viewfinder covers framing and focus in one purchase, sun included, and the Watch lets you step back from the phone. Both apps can put the frame on the director's monitor: Cutvey Viewfinder through a cable or AirPlay, Artemis through Artemis TV on an Apple TV. If the agency wants a figure standing in the real road, Artemis does that today.

Where Cutvey Viewfinder falls short

• Pedigree. Artemis has been on the App Store since 2018 in this listing, and its store text quotes cinematographers such as Roger Deakins and Claudio Miranda. Cutvey Viewfinder came out in October 2026 and has no ratings yet.
• The database between releases. Artemis says its database is updated weekly, and you can update it inside the app. New gear reaches Cutvey Viewfinder only with an app update, so request a camera or lens when yours is missing.
• The frame on other phones. Artemis also streams the frame to nearby Artemis users, as its troubleshooting page documents. Cutvey Viewfinder sends one clean feed, to a monitor on a cable or to an AirPlay screen.
• Another camera into the app. External Camera Mode takes a UVC camera on iPad. Cutvey Viewfinder uses the iPhone or iPad's own back cameras.
• Figures in the space. XR Stand-ins stand at life size with their shadows. Ours are flat figures sized to the distance, good for headroom and eyelines.
• Sharing. iCloud sync, setups shared with other Artemis users and a Mac planning app, Artemis Studio. Cutvey Viewfinder has no sync.

When to choose Artemis

• Your production already shares Artemis setups, and the camera team expects them.
• Other people on set should watch the frame on their own iPhones and iPads, through Artemis's streaming to nearby users.
• You want new cameras in the database between App Store releases.
• You plan on a Mac in Artemis Studio, or in Vision Pro with Artemis XR.

Choose Cutvey Viewfinder when you want one payment for everything the app does, with a Watch on your wrist, on any iPhone or iPad that runs iOS 17. To check the arithmetic first, the field of view calculator and the depth of field calculator use the same recording modes as the app. Comparing more than two? See Cadrage, Lightframer Pro and the round-up of every app we checked.

Questions