One of my favorite things to review on the blog is iPhone photography apps. One such app I have had with me for a while but just found the time to write about is ProCamera.
On the surface ProCamera looks like any other camera app. However it has enough unique features in to warrant some special attention.
First let’s look at some of the features common to such apps.
ProCamera can take photos and videos just like the iPhone native camera app. In iPhone 4, it can also use the front facing camera as well as control the LED flash.
It has an anti-shake feature so you can take pictures without pictures looking blurry. There is also a timer feature so you can take pictures with you in it. You can set the timer count in Settings menu.
Now let’s look at the features that make this camera app a ProCamera app. Tap the PRO icon at the bottom left to pull open a menu.
The top row has options tom give you a level to keep your pictus horizontal or align vertically. The next one gives you a compass in the camera screen. The next 3options give you different grids.
You can toggle between photo and video camera. Next is the Album & Studio menu. You can open any photo from the Photo Library. You can send an email or tap the right corner to open up the studio.
The Studio is pretty lean compared to other photo editing apps. It has options to adjust brightness, contrast and shadows. You can also convert the photo to black and white or sepia.
Now the features that really set this app apart from others.
In the settings menu, you can turn on Expert mode. This mode let’s you set the exposure of your picture by tapping on a bright or dark area of your image. Just tap and hold on an area to set exposure. Now tap on another area you want to focus on. This sets the focus.
You can also set the temperature of the picture by locking the white balance.
Controlling exposure, focus and white balance in your picture are commonly found in DSLR cameras. ProCamera brings that to the iPhone.
ProCamera offers what a lot of the photography apps offer with some unique ability like exposure/focus control. If that is something you really want then ProCamera will do the job. Otherwise there are plenty of iPhone photography apps that contend for your money.
ProCamera is available in 2 flavors – ProCamera Basic for FREE and ProCamera for $2.99.
I reviewed the ProCamera app here. What you will miss in the Basic version are – lack of support for iOS 4 and that’s it. The basic version seems to have pretty much everything in the paid version. If you are still on iOS 3.x for some reason, give ProCamera Basic a try.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Availability: App Store
Price: $2.99 and Free Basic
Reviewed at version: 2.9
