Life in LoFi: iPhoneography

Photomizer
Version 1.0
Price: $3.99 (on sale for $0.99)

Bottom Line: Decent image correction quality. Has trouble with larger sized images.

[UPDATE]: I am updating my review of the app. I owe the developers an apology for the unnecessarily harsh review I wrote previously. I had erroneously reported that the app only saves at 320×240 pixels. I had looked for a setting to allow large file saves. In the settings screen there isn’t one — or so I thought. The setting which determines file size is deceptively hidden as the “Allow Image Editing” setting. This is turned off by default. I had turned it on when I tested this app for my review. Leaving it off allows for full size image processing. I highly recommend that they change the misleading “Allow Image Editing” setting to something more descriptive, like a toggle between small and original image saves.

Photomizer by Engelmann Media GmbH is on sale this week for $0.99. It’s a Dynamic Range Correction app that is supposed to help  compensate for weaknesses in the iPhone’s camera. It does an acceptable job of correcting images, but not an outstanding one — no better than many of the other apps which process an image on the iPhone itself.

Read the rest of this entry →

Trusight Pro
Version 1.2

Bottom Line: Now an excellent full-res app for all first-line exposure enhancements.

Trusight Pro

When shooting on my iPhone, I rely on exposure enhancing, Dynamic Range Correction (DRC) apps such as Perfectly Clear, SmartCam and AutoAdjust as a first step in nearly all of my iPhone photo processing. These apps help remove the gray cast sometimes found in raw iPhone photos, help improve shadow detail, and restore brilliant color, luminance and contrast to an image. A good DRC app does a superior job of bringing out the detail in 3/4-tones and shadows while not blowing out the details of the highlights in an image.

Trusight Pro by Trusight, Inc. is now one of the better DRC exposure fixing apps. On any iPhone, the app restores color and dynamic range to an image. The most recent update, version 1.2, fixes the app’s biggest flaw and now Trusight Pro saves photos in full resolution — up to 2048×1536 pixels.

Read the rest of this entry →

Flash Hero screenshot

Update 5:06 PM CDT: Hey, those went fast! We have given away all of the promo codes we have for this update of Flash Hero, but check back often or keep tabs on us on Twitter (@MartyNearDFW) for future promo code giveaways. Many thanks for reading Life In Lo-Fi!

Want a free copy of Flash Hero?

I recently reviewed version 1.2 of the app and quite honestly, I didn’t like the results of two of the three filters. However, I received an email from Asasa Software. It seems that they take user (and reviewer) criticism very seriously. To me, that’s a sign of a good app developer.

Version 2.0 has just been submitted to the App Store and features graphics and user interface improvements. Thanks to the reviews, Asasa is working on version 2.1 which will improve the flash effects. I’ll keep you posted on the updates and the new improvements to the filters.

Read the rest of this entry →

imphoto (Standard version)
Version 2.0

Bottom line: Requires a pricey upgrade to save at full-res or remove copyright mark.

imphoto for iPhone is an exposure enhancement app from imsense. Although the Standard version normally sells for $1.99 USD, from reading the App Store reviews, it’s often on sale (or free) and I picked it up for $0.99. The standard version has too many annoyances and disabled features to be really useful. It feels like a try-before-you-buy demo app and should be priced for free or at least allow the option of removing the annoying copyright mark.

Read the rest of this entry →

Flash Hero
Version 1.2

Bottom line: Two of the three filters work poorly.

Flash Hero is a new “flash fixer” app from Asasa Software which uses three different kinds of exposure enhancements to fix the lighting of a photo.

No two images are the same and many times an exposure enhancement app that does a great job on one image works poorly with another. That’s why I keep several exposure enhancers in my iPhone. Flash Hero attempts to give you three different types of exposure enhancement in one app. The idea is that of the three, one of them will work best to fix your image. It’s a great concept. Unfortunately, two of the filters work poorly and the third is redundant and unnecessary if you already have another slider-based flash fixer, such as Perfectly Clear, Auto Adjust or FlashPhix. All three of these apps produce better results more easily.

Read the rest of this entry →

Recently, I wrote about The Best Free iPhoneography Apps: Camera Replacements. Now that you’ve shot your image, how are you going to process it? Here are nine great image editing apps and best of all, their price is free!

I realize that this list is not complete. There were several apps that I didn’t include for various reasons. In compiling this list, I found some apps that duplicated features of others. In those cases, I chose what I felt to be the app that did the job quickest, easiest and best. Also, there are great free apps being released all the time.

Some of these apps may be ad-supported, but none of them add a watermark to your images and all save at or really close to your iPhone’s full resolution, unlike many lite photo apps available. These are all full-featured apps and they produce good, if not outstanding effects. Again, for little more than bandwidth and real estate on your iPhone’s screen, there are some gems to be found in the photography section of the App Store. These apps should start you off with a well-rounded iPhoneography toolbox or enhance your existing iPhone “camera bag” — and all for free.

Read the rest of this entry →

UPDATE 12/30/09: In the new 1.31.3 update, images that are processed in-camera are saved in full resolution, 1600×1200 on my 2G.

Also, in the new update, the built-in hook to the image-enhancement website, 9Monkeys.net, now works seamlessly and quickly within the app.

Kudos to the app’s developer Carl Im at 9Monkeys, who has always been very responsive when I’ve brought up issues from the perspective of an end user.

=M=

SmartCam

SmartCam
Version 1.15.3

Bottom Line: A little pricey, but good exposure enhancement for your existing underexposed images

SmartCam from 9Monkeys Ltd. is a camera, exposure enhancement, and portal to an online image adjusting website. It’s an overlooked app that hasn’t really found its audience in the App Store yet. At $2.99 USD, it’s a little more expensive than most apps in this category which typically run about a buck. How does it fare and is it worth the premium? It depends on how you use the app.

Read the rest of this entry →

Auto Adjust

One of my favorite exposure enhancement apps, AutoAdjust, has just been updated to version 2.0. The new version features mostly performance enhancements, including better preview rendering, more intuitive sliders, and an improved gamma adjustment.

Not all exposure enhancement or “flash enhancement” apps work the same on the same image. An image that still looks bad with one app may be usable when fixed with another. I keep several exposure enhancement apps on my iPhone for that reason. AutoAdjust is one of them.

AutoAdjust works great with many underexposed images, as well as adding just the right amount of punch and contrast to a decent looking image. Highly recommended!

I have several promo codes for AutoAdjust 2 in the app store. They only work in the U.S. App Store. I’ll send one promo code to each of the first several readers who request one in this post’s comments — one code per reader, please. Be sure to include an email address somewhere in your post for me to send it to. Don’t forget to leave feedback in the App Store.

App Store link: AutoAdjust 2

I’d like to thank the developer, Joe Macirowski, for giving us the promo codes.