iPhone App Review: Chimera

Chimera is a unique photo app, in that it offers realtime effects via a split screen interface, and below is my mini review.

The App

Launch Chimera and you are immediately presented with its unique split screen interface where in the top part of the split screen you will see what the camera sees, and in the bottom part of the split you will see your chosen filter/effect in real-time.
Across the very bottom of the screen are the apps interface options, and going from left to right are:

• Photo icon - tap this to open an existing photo to apply Chimera's effects to.
• ? - this takes you to the developers online manual and FAQ page.
• Shutter icon - tap this to launch the camera interface to take the photo after you have selected you chosen features and effects, and the use of "tap anywhere to shoot immediately" is best used.
• Magnifying lens - tap this to turn on/off the split screen feature.
• Tools icon - tap this to bring up the apps features and settings.

The tools icon brings up sub menu options, and is where everything is done with in this app.

Going from left to right you have:

• Camera - here you set things like the shooting mode, and turn on/off the face recognition feature, which seems to work pretty well.
• Faces - this is where you control the sensitivity and preview/export of the face recognition feature of the app. I'm not sure why the turn on/off face recognition feature is not under this menu.
• Color - here you can enable the apps white balance feature, and enable colour optimisation for faces.
• Effects - here you can select 24 different effects that are show in mini preview screens so that you get an idea of the effect before taking the photo. Whilst this is a nice feature, it is not always that easy to see the effect in such a small window.

Taking the photo

After you set your effects and features, just tap the shutter icon and your ready to shoot. In the top of the split screen you have the normal view, and in the bottom the realtime effect view along with icons to indicate the camera features enabled. If you have enabled "tap anywhere to shoot immediately" as I did, then it is simply a case of tapping the screen and the photo is taken, processed, and a preview of the shot shown. If you like what you see then tap the floppy disk icon and the photo is save to the camera's roll, if you don't like the effect then not all is lost, as you can tap the tool icon and select any one of the 24 effects, and then save it. Saving a photo can take quite some time, but when done, tap done and you are ready to take another shot.
Final thoughts

This is a unique and unusual photo app, which is a bit like Marmite, you'll either like it or hate it. It does have some nice filter effects, and I liked the face recognition and white balance feature, but over all this is not one of my most favourite apps, and whilst I hate Marmite, I don's hate Chimera, but can't see myself using this app again.

Jerad Hill over at The App Podcast recently tried Chimera, and below is his video review.

AppStore Link: Chimera - Price £1.79 ($2.99)