Life in LoFi: iPhoneography

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.

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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.

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Aloha from Waikiki! I’ve got a lot of things to catch up on during the flight back to Texas tomorrow, but here’s a quick bit of news.

The free exposure-enhancing app from Neurigen Corp. Zipix Lite is now called Color Leap. In addition to the crop feature, this new update also adds Sharpening and Noise Reduction, which is especially helpful when you take underexposed pictures.

Zipix Lite has long been one of my favorite free exposure enhancers. There are very few freebie apps that do as good a job in nicely adding brightness to an underexposed image. I think Zipix Lite/Color Leap does a better job than most of the brightening apps that you have to pay for.

Neurigen have been indicating that they’ll charge for this app, and if the new features work as well as the exposure enhancement, Color Leap will still be worth a dollar or two. I haven’t had a chance to see how the new filters work yet, but this free app is an essential grab just for the exposure enhancement alone. Get it while it’s still free.

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Auto Adjust

Auto Adjust by Joe Macirowski is free for a limited time! This is not a feature-crippled “lite” version, but the full version.

We reviewed Auto Adjust recently. Unlike many of the “flash fixer apps” available, it’s more than just a flash enhancer which simply brightens your images and can wash them out and cause them to look flat. This app uses “contrast stretching” or normalization to help correct exposure. Its adjustable enhancement produces excellent results on many images that would otherwise be lost due to underexposure as well as automatically correcting the contrast of more properly exposed images. Auto Adjust is one of my go-to apps.

A new update has been submitted. This is a great opportunity to get in the upgrade path.

This is one of the best exposure enhancement apps available in the App Store. It’s highly recommended at its regular price of $0.99 USD. It’s an essential app while it’s free. Grab it now!

App Store link: Auto Adjust

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Auto Adjust

As promised, developer Joe Macirowski has updated Auto Adjust to version 1.1. I reviewed the app a few weeks ago and my biggest issue with this otherwise excellent app was the rotation bug that seems to be occurring in many new photo apps. The newly-released update fixes this issue and images now save to your camera roll with the correct orientation.

I’ve had a chance to use this app often since its release and many times the results are outstanding. There are other apps that use normalization for exposure correction, but I’ve found Auto Adjust easily and consistently produces superior results with good color, saturation and the least amount of noise that you’re going to get from running exposure correction processing. It tweaks the contrast of moderately underexposed images, but this app can sometimes work miracles on images I initially thought were too dark to be useful.

Especially after the new update, I highly recommend this app. The update is now available in the App Store.

Auto Adjust is now only $.99 USD in the App Store.

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Auto Adjust

Auto Adjust
Version 1.0

Bottom Line: Recommend!

Auto Adjust by Joe Macirowski is a new app that uses a different algorithm to adjust dark or washed-out areas of your images. Auto Adjust is more than just a “flash enhancer” which simply brightens your images and can wash them out and cause them to look flat. This app uses “contrast stretching” or normalization to help correct exposure. Thinking about the theory behind contrast stretching makes my brain hurt. It’s something we take for granted every time we do color or luminance adjustment in Photoshop, but like writing PostScript, I’d rather have an application do all of the under the hood stuff for me rather than learning the actual code.

However it works its magic, Auto Adjust does a great job of enhancing dark images and I found it can also do a decent job of adding punch and contrast to a flat, washed out image.

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aE Camera Flash

aE Camera Flash
Version 1.1

Updated: Bottom line: Avoid

Update 10/26/09: Originally, I gave this app a “Recommend” rating because I like the results and was hopeful that the developer would address my issues in future update. Unfortunately, other than leaving feedback in the app store (or possibly trying to phone them at their auto parts division), there’s no way to contact this developer. The app isn’t shown on their website, even though it’s at version 1.1. The email address for iPhone support bounces with a “User unknown in relay recipient table” error. I’ve tried several times over the course of the last few days.

While I like this app and feel that it offers unique results for the iPhone, right now I’m not feeling any level of commitment behind it from the developer. While I like how this app treats shadows and midtones, I feel that the image orientation bug is pretty major and without some feedback from the developer, I really can’t recommend this app any more until this bug is addressed.

My original review is below.

Of the flash apps I’ve tested, aE Camera Flash by BahnTech produces superior results for flash enhancement. According to the developer, the app was created with the input from an unnamed team which included a photographer, a director of graphic design for an unnamed international magazine, and a DSP expert from USC. Any time an app touts creds like that, I get leery.

Wow! I was pleasantly surprised by the results.

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Camera Flash Deluxe

Camera Flash Deluxe
Version 1.0

Bottom Line: Unimpressed

Camera Flash Deluxe by Haiwen Soft is yet another entry into the crowded flash enhancement category, and despite the additional features this app boasts, the overall results are unimpressive.

Using my standard test images (see below), the results this app produces are flat and washed out.

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iFlashReady

iFlashReady
Version 3.3

Bottom Line: Essential!

iFlashReady by Imaging Luminary is ready for prime time.

I like the simplicity of iFlashReady when compared to many other flash apps. Three “flash” settings. It’s as quick and easy as open, click, save. I’ve tested it on a range of images. When I need to use this app, the results are often good — better than nearly all of the flash effect apps. It helps dark areas of my images without blowing out the whites as some other apps do. It doesn’t always produce great results, but definitely often enough to justify the purchase.

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