Life in LoFi: iPhoneography

iPhone 4, Camera

Bottom Line: Great color, great saturation, great dynamic range, a decent flash. An awesome mobile phone camera in many ways, but a few first edition flaws.

I’ve had my iPhone 4 for two weeks now. It’s an amazing device and I absolutely love it. It’s nearly as much an improvement over my old iPhone 2G as the 2G was an improvement over my old Motorola RAZR. It’s faster. The new retina display is gorgeous. iOS 4 is a terrific operating system; it runs great on the iPhone 4 and isn’t plagued by the performance issues and slowdowns that many users are experiencing with older iPhones. The battery life is improved over previous iPhones. Even taking into consideration that this is a brand new unit, I often go two days without charging.

The iPhone 4 also has a much-touted, much improved camera. It’s like going from your first, old 2MP digital camera years ago and upgrading to a new PowerShot. The new features and specs take what was once a class of digital lo-fi cameras (the iPhone) and gotten very close to a respectable point-and-shoot camera. You won’t be ditching your DSLR for an iPhone 4 any time soon, but you may be leaving the house a lot more without your PowerShot.

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Gorillacam

Check the App Store for the great new update of Gorillacam by Joby Inc. The update adds a few great new features to this camera replacement app that we recently reviewed in our Best Free iPhone Camera Replacements article. Best of all, the app is still free.

The version 1.1 update adds anti-shake image stabilization, tap-to-focus for 3GS iPhones, selectable image sizes and a very nice full resolution 4X digital zoom. It’s a great update to an already excellent camera replacement app.

If you don’t already have a camera replacement app, Gorillacam is worth a serious look — even more so after this update.

Gorillacam is still free in the App Store. [link]

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ProCamera Basic

ProCamera Basic by Daemgen.net is available for free for a limited time — down from $1.99.

ProCamera Basic is an excellent camera replacement. I’ve been using the full-version, ProCamera, as my camera replacement app of choice for the the last couple of revisions. ProCamera Basic is a full-featured camera — anti-shake with three settings, composition gridlines, full-resolution 5X digital zoom, Big Button full-screen shutter, and adjustable timer are just some of the features in Basic. Some of the missing features that the full version has are 3G tap-to-focus, video capabilities and the virtual horizon.

The ProCamera apps have become some of the premier camera replacements in the App Store, becoming the standard to beat for price and features. This is a great chance to grab one of the better camera apps available while it’s free.

App Store link: ProCamera Basic

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November, 2009
Fort Worth, Texas

"Column"

Toolbox: Zoom Lens, MonoPhix, CameraKit

My girlfriend and I have a very pleasant Sunday morning coffee ritual. Some days, it involves simply lounging around the bed, reading and sharing news stories from our iPhones. Most of the time, weather permitting, we go out to one of the many Starbucks in our city. My beverage of choice is the Grande Latte with an extra shot. The baristas call it a “triple,” I prefer to call it by its long name, hoping to avoid any confusion.

On this Sunday, we went to a Starbucks that we usually don’t go to. It was near the Apple Store, so we thought we’d multitask. The day started cool and cloudy and went cold and gray from there. The newly placed holiday wreaths swung about in the wind. The sky became more progressively gray, sucking the color out of just about everything. For a moment, it felt like winter in North Texas.

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Snapture

Snapture
Version 2.0

Bottom Line: Recommend!

Long before the App Store, Snapture by SnaptureLabs was the premier camera app for jailbroken iPhones. Even back then, Snapture had features that camera apps in The Store are only now catching up to. Of course, being free at the time of the constraints of Apple’s approved APIs probably helped. My friends were jealous of the true digital zoom and the level guide that I was able to use in my camera.

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ProCamera

ProCamera by Daemgen.net got a really nice update to version 2.5 today. The update features several significant improvements and adds several new features.

For the first time, ProCamera now has full-res 5X digital zoom, not just in-app cropping! This can be toggled from the app’s settings — I believe this is the only app that gives you the choice. Very nice! Image save speed seems faster than previous versions.

I’ll post my full review of the new version soon. They did a great job on this update! If you’re looking for a camera replacement app and like the features ProCamera lists, the app is rock-solid, well-implemented and worth $2.99 USD. Definitely recommended!

App Store link: ProCamera 2.5

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Camera Genius

Camera Genius
Version 1.7

Bottom Line: Essential!

It’s been a while since I reviewed Camera Genius by CodeGoo. Since then, it is on its third big revision and I thought this would be a good opportunity to revisit my review.

Camera Genius 1.7 is the best camera replacement app available in the App Store. It adds great functionality and features to the iPhone’s camera, especially if you have an older 3G or 2G iPhone. It’s powerful yet easy to use. It works on all iPhone models and supports auto-focus on the 3GS. Importantly, all the features in Camera Genius work as advertised.

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HD Camera

HD Camera
Version 1.0

Bottom Line: Avoid

HD Camera by OutmanTech (no website) is yet another “zoom” app. This one offers marginally better results than the in-camera cropping that most “zoom” apps deliver.

The app functions as a camera. The zoom is set using an onscreen slider, rather than pinch-and-zoom. I prefer this method of setting your zoom level and wish more apps offered this as an option.

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