iPhone App Review: sosoCamera

sosoCamera is a multi-shot camera app with included photo effects (both filters and borders). Upon starting the app, it opens directly to the iPhoneís camera. All of the menus and selections to be made are done in a ìlive viewî style format.

You'll notice the main screen has three options at the bottom of the screen. The developers could probably do away with the left-most option at the bottomÖunless you like to open this app to view whatís in your Camera Roll, the function serves no other purpose. At this time you cannot use this application to import photos youíve stored in your Camera Roll and create multi-shot mosaics with them.

The middle button captures your image, and the right-most option opens up the settings menu. The settings menu opens at the center of the screen and gives the user an option to change the filter (Effect) or change the layout and quantity of the shots (Setting).

I like the effects. The filter options are nice, and being able to make a selection from some pretty universal styles is comfortable (Color or black & white; Interesting to note, regardless of whether you select color or black & white, the following presets will be applied to differentiate the effect: Normal, Lomooo (sic), Shine, Old Film, Warm, and Cold). In essence, you can have a sepia style shot by selecting the black & white option, then the warm effect. The results of the effects are nice, not over done. And while you donít get a real-time example of the effects to be applied, the sample image will change as you adjust the effects.

The user can set the timer from 0.1 seconds to 2.0 second intervals. No matter how many images you have the application set to take for you, the timer is initiated from the first image. So, if you have the timer set to a 2 second interval but youíre only using sosoCamera to shoot one picture, expect that the shutter wonít capture your image until that 2 second timer interval has passed. At first I thought this was strange, but the more I use it, the more it seems like a benefit, allowing me to fully prepare for the shot Iím trying to take.

I like the UI. It's uncomplicated and intuitive. And it's just plain fun. An indicator shows up on screen to let you know which shot will be staged next, so if you're planning a specific scene, you don't have to guess if it's the bottom left, middle, or right frame that is about to be shot. However, this indicator can be a little hard to see during some shots.

After your shot is completed, youíre presented with a screen that shows you what your output will look like, and at the bottom of the screen youíre given an option of a heart icon or an x icon. The heart saves the output to your Camera Roll, the x deletes the image and resets the app to take the next sequence of shots.

I wish there were an option to turn off the borders. Also, it would be nice if there was an option to specify between a black or white option for the thin border used on a 2x2+ shot.

Since I know the question begs to be asked, the output resolution varies wildly. When only doing a 1x1 shot, the resolution is 330x387, and that's inclusive of the Polaroid style border the application adds to the single shot. Yes, that is disappointing.

A 1x2 shot adds a 35mm style border, resolution is 320x640. A 2x2 shot has only a thin black border, resolution is 640x640.

At its maximum output setting, it shoots a 6x8 mosaic at a resolution of 1920 x 2560. I know that seems like a lot of shots, and on the test image I used it nearly made my eyes bleed (my fault, I used a poor example to test the maximum capacity out on), but I can see where that'd be useful if you wanted to shoot clouds on a windy day or if you're a big fan of people watching/street photography.

Overall, I like this as a multi shot/filter cam application. I can see using this more than some of the other options I've downloaded (aka QuadCam or ClassicSAMP). A few suggestions that I have would make it a better app to me, but as it stands itís a very strong option.

I give sosoCamera a rating of two and a half stars. Iíd like to see some improvements, and Iím not a big fan of the multi-shot iPhone apps, but as it stands, this one will become my ìgo-toî app. Plus, I like the way the Lomooo effect on a single set up shot looks. Too bad the resolution is so low for that particular set up.

AppStore Link: sosoCamera - Price: $0.99/£0.59

Comments

[Leon]

damn, for a second there the icon made me think it was an update to Andigraf

[sascha]

The Lomo effect is actually very cool but I agree, the low resolutions - in particular for the single format, are a big let-down. The shutter sound is waaay to loud!