ProCamera 3.0 review part 2: The Album & Photo Studio
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 9:00AM | Glyn Evans In part 2 of this ProCamera 3.0 review [you can read part 1: The Camera here], I am going to look at the apps Album & Photo Studio.
I'm first going to touch on the apps use of the word "Album" on the menu option "Album & Studios". Despite using the word "Album", this app does not have its own album, but instead photos are loaded from the iPhones camera roll/album, something that I am pleased to see.
Right having got the album bit out of the way, lets dig in to the apps "Photo Studio".
The Photo Studio
The Photo Studio is accessed from the "PRO" menu button found in the bottom left of the camera app screen, and having tapped and launched the studio app you are prompted to load a photo from the camera roll or any photo albums you may have set up on your iPhone.
Having selected and loaded a photo, you have two options across the top of the screen. One option is to load a new photo (Album), and the second is to return to the camera app (camera icon).
Across the bottom of the screen you have 3 icons. Going from left to right you have a "Send by Email" icon, an EXIF data icon, and a triangular icon, which hosts the apps editing features, but first lets take a look at the apps EXIF feature.
EXIF Data
Clicking on the EXIF button reveals basic EXIF data, like where, when and how the photo was taken, along with a map option, but there is also an expert mode, and here you will find details like ISO speed ratings, and much much more.
The Editor
Clicking on the triangular icon reveals 3 editor options: Pro Lab, Pro Cut and Pro Fix.
Pro Lab: Pro Lab will allow you to adjust the Brightness, Contrast, Warmth, Colour Temperature and add digital Flash to your photos, as well as Auto Correct your photos.
Pro Cut: Pro Cut lets you crop, either manually or using 1 of 5 presets, rotate, flip or pivot you photos.
Pro Fix: Pro Fix is a simple yet effective photo editor, that lets you apply any one of 36 pre-defined filter effects from within 4 groups. The groups are Colour, Vintage, Special and Retouch, and all produced pleasing results, which should cover most peoples needs, although it does lack things like soft focus and boarders effects.
So what do I think of ProCamera 3's Album & Photo Studio?
If this was a standalone photo editor/effects app, then with its ability to crop, adjust the brightness and contrast, as well apply a host or pre-defined effects, then it would rate fairly well, but Album & Photo Studio is not a standalone app, it's all part of what is fastly becoming the best camera replacement app for the iPhone.
So what do I think? Well I think you can already guess what I think, ProCamera 3.0 is undoubtedly the best camera replacement app currently available for the iPhone, that offers a great photo editor in to the package, and is a must have for anyone who finds the iPhone's default camera app limiting.
ProCamera in iPhone App Review
Reader Comments (9)
Taptaptap are idiots! Their Camera+ app was in my eyes was the very best in innovation and in UI design. They spoilt it for themselves. However this ProCamera app is going places. There are a few niggles I have with it. The icon design for this app is ugly, I've never liked it and the UI. For functions, well it takes it to another level. I love the tweaking functions and customisation, but the premade fx are horrible. I'd give this app 4 stars of 5. It's probably as Glyn says "the best camera replacement app"
I say... Please come back Camera+ I think we all miss you!
Thanks Glyn for the comprehensive review. I agree with Sam, I consistently use Camera + with the volume snap work around. It's just a fantastic app and shooting feature. That being said and the positive reviews of ProCamera from both you and Marty, I decided to give Procamera a relook. I've had it on my phone for a long time but did not find it all that useful as my photos seemed noisy when using the app, unlike Camera+.
I don't think the focus and exposure controls are as fluid and elegant as Camera+. The rectangle and triangle lags in focus and exposure at least on my 3GS. When it takes a photo however, it is much snappier than Camera+ and loads quickly. The photos appear less noisy than before and I like the expert mode feature. I think it true that as far as current photo apps are concerned, it is the best replacement camera app out there. I'm hoping Apple will pay attention and offer a more intuitive touch exposure and focus control in the iPhone 5.
The one slight annoyance I have with the editor on this app is that the 3 modules are effectively independent of each other and require you to save an image to the camera roll before accessing another module. Therefore if you want to crop an image, then apply a temperature adjustment, you end up with a saved cropped image as well as one that's been cropped and adjusted in your iPhone library.
i miss Camera+.
Well spotted. For some reason that slipped past me. It must have been due to all the saves and screen shots I was making during the review. Hopefully this will get fixed.
I've also had ProCamera on my phone for a while, but didn't really use it, there was something about the interface and speed of it that I didn't like. But with this 3.0 update, I'm going to try using it as my main camera app. If only they could make the exposure/focus as fluid as Camera+. Please come back Camera+! :-)
superb app! still finding my way around it, but could take the place of all the others on my phone!
this app is better than Camera+ for one HUGE reason. EXIF data, Looking at my Camera+ photos in aperture is worthless without the EXIF data. Pro Camera's editor is also better IMO. It's also about twice as fast to open as Camera+.. If Camera+ was still around maybe updates would have fixed these problems, but they kind of blew it.
I really like it (I never used camera plus so only compare to the existing camera); but I find the focusing and exposure square and triangle difficult to move around.
When I am at home, it is easy. When outside in the cold it is hard to get it to respond. Not sure wether this is because my phone is effected by the cold or whether I am being more 'heavy handed' when I am cold; either way it is annoying as I have not yet been able to use this feature properly.