New iPhone Photo App: FlashCam

Description from the AppStore: Do you ever find yourself irritated by bad lighting when you're trying to take a photo? Well, why not brighten up your photos with FlashCam? The FlashCam application will apply the flash light effect to the photos you take, lighting up the dark areas while still preserving the details of the bright areas. Furthermore, with our fast and innovative algorithm, you can adjust the level of the flash light and preview the photo in the blink of an eye!

For iPod Touch users: This application can also be used to apply the flash light effect on photos in your photo library.

Features:

• Apply flash light effect to the photos you take and to photos in the photo library.
• Option to automatically add the flash light effect and save to Camera roll.
• 15 flash light levels for you to choose from, so you can fine tune your most important photos.
• Keeps the photo's original size during processing and saving.

AppStore Link: FlashCam - Price £0.59/$0.99

Editors comments: Like B&W apps, flash emulating apps seem all the rage at the moment, with at least one flash app being released every week.

A week ago saw the release of Camera-Flash, which I compared with my favourite flash app, iFlashReady.

As with Camera-Flash, FlashCam uses a slider to control the amount of flash effect being applied to your photos, which is something I really like.

To test FlashCam I did the same as with my test of Camera-Flash, I loaded the same Jim Carrey shot and applied variable amounts of the flash effect, with the photo below showing the results with the slider set to its maximum.

If you compare this photo with the ones from my Camera-Flash test you will notice that the result from FlashCam with its slider set to maximum is only a light as with Camera-Flash set to half way, however the overall results of FlashCam look much better.

As with my test of Camera-Flash, I loaded several photos in to FlashCam and all produced much better looking results and did not suffer from the glow effect around the subject/objects.

So what do I think of FlashCam?

Overall FlashCam produces much better results than Camera-Flash, and even better looking results than iFlashReady, so for now it looks like FlashCam has taken the crown away from iFlashReady, for me anyway.

Comments

[Matthew Chappell]

I just bought FlashCam after seeing your image results as I was looking for a fast App for repairing dark shots from nights out on the town with my friends, but I have to say I'm very disappointed with it on my shots as it completely blows colours out and over brightens light areas of the image.
I get much better natural looking results from the free Zipix Lite, and when that fails by hand with PhotoForge, but it is this time wasted touching up pics that I was hoping to avoid by buying one of these Apps. I guess I will have to give iFlashReady a go, good thing all these throw away Apps are so cheap.

[Glyn Evans]

Hi Matthew

When I got notified of this comment I was sat in my car outside the local fish 'n' chip shop waiting fro my wife, so as it was dark I took a couple of shots to see how this app fared in night-time conditions. Overall the results were not great (neither were those from iFlashReady) with the introduction of a lot of noise in the very dark areas and the lit shop front becoming blown out, but to be honest this is what I had expected to happen.

What I do find is these quick fix apps are fine for shots taken in daylight when the iPhones exposure system produces dull underexposed looking results, but not so good for night time shots.

Sorry this app has disappointed, but let me know if you find one that meets your requirements.

[Matthew Chappell]

First I must say I am avid reader of your blog, TouchArcade and Gizmodo and you have all introduced me to some great Apps to improve/destroy my daily workflow with my 3GS, and recommend you all to my many iPhone laden friends. I discovered the great Tiffen App set through your site and that has been a staple in my shooting routine ever since, so kind up the great blogging.

Now back to the App at hand, With FlashCam I found the App seems to indiscriminately lighten all areas and the colours all get compressed together in an almost hardlight/cutout Photoshop effect. Its odd and pretty much makes the App useless to me at least, so I'm still on the hunt for a quick fix App. Who knows when Photoshop.com finally arrives in the UK it may be the answer.

As blogs are all about the community I thought I would share the fact that LegendCamera is free today, but after downloading I would say I still prefer CameraGenius as I don't have to rely on autofocus and the 'Antishake' is a lot more effective, but for those with a 3G it could be a steal anyway.

If I come across a better instant fix App that Zipix, which does add a fair amount of noise in exchange for a good job levelling the image and preserving colour I will surely let your comments section know. Till then ill stick with Camera Genius > Zipix Lite > PhotoForge > Photo FX > Cool FX as my routine.

I have a huge amount of respect for QuadCamera, Mill Colour, SlowMO, Kooleido, Smudge, and Camera Bag as they all have their moments to make the iPhone a great fun camera for pros but mainly a great way to encourage new young budding photographers to not be shy and take that spontaneous shoot they just saw in their head.

Thanks again for the response and great blogging, sorry probably bored you to death reading all that.

[Glyn Evans]

Hi Matthew thanks for the feedback on both FlashCam and LegendCamera. It looks like maybe my review of FlashCam was not as thorough as that of my review of iFlashReady, which was my app of choice for quickly lightening photos. I will take a closer look at Zipix and compare with both FlashCam and iFlashReady.