Life in LoFi: iPhoneography

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.

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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.

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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.

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