iPhone App Review: QuadCamera (version 1.99)

By Matt Burrows

A little over a month ago I stood in line outside of an Apple Store with my wife, daughter, and two-year old son. It was kind of like Christmas, with the exception that I was buying myself the gift. Yes, count me in as one of the huddled masses who were a few moments away from owning their first iPhone.

It would be my first smart-phone. However, I didn’t really care about all the bells and whistles like a compass, push notifications, SMS or MMS, etc. It was the camera and many photo apps I’d spent the previous months reading about that had really piqued my interest. And, chief among these was Takayuki Fukatsu’s QuadCamera.

But my anticipation would remain just that--anticipation, as the update that would allow QuadCamera to function on the iPhone’s OS 3.0 would remain lost in the limbo of Apple’s approval process. So I waited. And, as the adage goes, “Good things come to those who wait.” Two weeks ago my patience (and the patience of the thousands who had already downloaded the app) was rewarded when Apple finally approved QuadCamera's OS 3.0 update.

But, was it worth the wait?

QuadCamera Description (from App Store):
“The 4th release in the series of ToyCamera, which allows you to perform continuous shooting with high quality effects. Just pressing a button allows QuadCamera to take 4-8 serial shots and create one image with 6 selectable effects.”

QuadCamera Features/Options:

• 4 or 8 serial shots.

• Set 0.1 second to 3 second serial shot duration.

• 6 selectable effects: Vivid, Dull, Grayscale, Bright, Hi-Con, and No Effect.

• Various layout orientations: 2x2, 4x1, 4x2, and 8x1.

• 600 x 800 resolution.

Impressions:
Takayuki’s apps have always had well designed user interfaces. This app is no different, as the first thing I realized about QuadCamera was how simple it is to use. Once opened, you have the option to either begin taking photos or access a settings menu where you can make various adjustments (e.g. time between shots, layout orientation, and photo effects).

QuadCamera options menu (above).

And though the variety of settings is impressive, the results they allow for are even more impressive. QuadCamera can create a beautifully blurred panoramic of cityscapes, cars, and street lights as my wife speeds down the highway. It can turn ordinary household objects into abstract images. In fact, part of the fun I had with this app came from the feeling I had to experiment, to see what I could capture--what I could create.

QuadCamera “Hi-Con” of my wife's KitchenAid Mixer (above).

And throughout this experimentation, I was also impressed with the inherent spontaneity that QuadCamera captures in people. Sure, all photography holds this possibility, but, with QuadCamera, it becomes easy to shoot a series of photos and capture not just that great moment, but those great moments.

QuadCamera "Bright" photo of Emerson blowing bubbles (above):

It is worth noting that halfway through my writing of this review, QuadCamera received another update that fixed the only serious gripe I had about the app: its inability to use the touch focus. Well, that issue has been fixed. QuadCamera now supports touch focus on the first shot in the series, which is only sensible as it would be almost impossible for the camera to refocus where you touch within the fraction of a second between photos.

Also, it is worth mentioning that, as a father of a nine-year old girl, QuadCamera has managed to save me some money. No longer am I begged to deposit $2.00 in the photo booth every time I take her and her friends to the mall. In fact, she actually prefers QuadCamera to the photo booth because I can upload a digital picture that she can edit and manipulate directly on the computer.

Though I was largely impressed with the app, the one suggestion I would make is an option for some longer times (e.g. 5, 10, or 15 seconds between shots). Longer times would allow the camera a little more time to focus. And though I’m not sure if this is even possible with the programming, there is also a part of me that wonders if adding longer times would decrease the spontaneity that QuadCamera is so great at capturing.

Finally, on a very minor note, the “Flickr Group” button in the “Info” menu does not open up the Flickr group. Instead, it creates an email addressed to Fukatsu@gmail.com. Again, not so much of a complaint, but just a little oversight that I noticed.

Sample Photographs of Filter Effects:
I’ve included test photos with each effect to provide some additional comparison:

Vivid (above):

Dull (above): Note, I pushed the camera button too quickly and it actually captured the shutter.

Grayscale (above):

Bright (above):

Hi-Con (above):

No Effect (above):

Pros:

• The app store is filled with black and white apps, filter apps, editing apps, etc. Like ShakeItPhoto and Polarize (the two Polaroid apps I recently reviewed), QuadCamera not only stands out as something different, but, more importantly, a well-polished app that does a fantastic job of living up to its promise.

• Variety of layout orientations and filters to provide users with a plethora of ways to take photos.

• It's fun to use and provides results that are both interesting and fun.

Cons:

• Some focus issues. Even with the maximum 3-second delay between photos, the camera would often fail to refocus on a moving subject. I’m not sure if this is a problem with the app or the actual iPhone, but it was frustrating at times.

• I have skinny fingers, but I still had some trouble positioning the "timing" slider. That said, it wasn’t anything I found overly annoying. I was still able to adjust the photo shoots to the given intervals I wanted.

• For those of us who own a 3GS, I wish QuadCamera supported full resolution photo output.

Overall:
All in all, it was worth the wait.

QuadCamera is a fun app to use. It serves a great niche’ of toy camera photography that is reminiscent of the ActionSampler (but with more options) and the photo booths at the mall (but with more options).  Though some users may complain that they can’t control each photo taken in the series (i.e. manually take each photo in the series and then have QuadCamera display them in the selected layout orientation), I would take issue. Takayuki has set out to create a fun camera app that mimics the ActionSampler or photo booth style of taking photographs.  It's meant to capture spontaneity, not act as a formatter/framer for photos. There are apps that can do that. QuadCamera is a camera—and a great one at that.

At $1.99/£1.19, this app is a steal.  It’s because of apps like QuadCamera, that Takayuki has become one of the most respected photo app developers in the App Store.

• QuadCamera: 5 out of 5.

-Matt Burrows

Comments

[Graham McArthur]

Great review, made me buy the app and I can't wait to play! Thank you.

[Tyson Williams]

Recently started using it and I love it, there are some many ways to capture things and you can always process the images with other filters using 3rd party Apps as well. Agree that settings are a little small for big fingers...

[Pete]

love this app - but agreed, it desperately needs a higher res output on the 3GS. 800x600 looks great onscreen but we really need 1600x1200 for a little print. fingers crossed... i'm sure its just a performance/memory load reason it hasnt been done yet...

[dextermania]

i noticed something.. from the photos taken as given in the review, it seems that the developer of this app isnt exactly taking a picture with the camera, but rather, he is taking a screen shot! maybe thats why the resulting photo isnt at full resolution, but at 600x800 resolution? after all, the app stitches 4 photos into 1, that would mean full resolution for each individual photo wont be necessary! *epiphany* :p

[Matt]

Dexter,

I take all the photos I use when writing all the reviews I've contributed to iPhoneography.com. Unless noted or where obvious (e.g. the first photo in this review), the photos are actual photos and not screenshots.

Also, the App Store description lists the resolution at 600 x 800, and I uploaded the photos to Flickr (using MobileFotos-a full res uploader) to double check.

Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it,
-Matt

[Steve Rhodes]

Dexter was just pointing out the way Quadcamera works is it takes a screenshot of what is on your iphone and then puts them together (which is why the "shutter" is shown on one).

[Kay]

I LOVE my iPhone!!! I was really into photography as a kid all the way through the end of high school. I fell away from it somehow but fortunately the iPhone entered my life & I have realized how much I look taking photos! Thanks apple!