Shoot in the dark with NightCap

NightCap from Interealtime is a camera app designed for low light and night photography, and as the developer says, the app "uses much longer exposure times than the standard camera app giving brighter, clearer photos - even without flash! It's simple and easy to use, just hit the shutter button to take fully automatic photos or if you prefer you can manually limit exposure or set the focus point and flash."

NightCap can capture up to 20x more light than the built-in app, which as the sample above shows, the app makes night time photos much brighter, more detailed, and with less graininess.

NightCap offers the following features:

• True long exposure (up to 1s) photography on the iPhone! No tricks, no software enhancement.
• When the built-in camera app struggles, NightCap can take up to 20 times more light. That means up to 20x brighter!
• Full resolution photos.
• Automatic or Manual modes - Automatic works in all conditions, Manual lets you limit the maximum exposure time* from 1/20s to 1s.
• Photos are saved automatically to the iPhone camera roll with full metadata including GPS tagging.
• Supports front and rear cameras and flash (on devices that have them).
• Supports tap-to-focus/expose.
• Sometimes the built-in app can produce bright but grainy photos. NightCap can fix this too! More exposure time means lower ISO levels and lower image noise.
• Built-in viewer for the last photo.
• Manual Mode: This sets the exposure time, but the iPhone camera may still override this if it decides that the photo is over-exposed.

Tips for using NightCap:

• Photography in very dark conditions isn't possible without using the flash. NightCap will generally work much better than the built-in camera app (and will often work well when the built-in app fails completely), but results depend on the amount of light available.
• The camera needs time to focus, and focussing can be slow in very low light. We're working on improvements to this.
• Longer exposure times mean the camera is more susceptible to shaking. It's important to hold the camera still when shooting in low light! For best results stabilise yourself against a solid surface, take several shots and pick the best one, or use a tripod or stand. 
• Fast moving objects will blur with longer exposures! With experience you can take amazing photos this way - try following a moving object with the camera while shooting, get it right and you'll have a clear subject against a motion blurred background creating a real sense of movement.

App Store Link: NightCap; Price: £0.69/$0.99/€0.79

Comments

[darren]

Bought this..

It does work, however, setting the manual mode is very slow on my iPhone 4, and the last picture viewer does not seem to work (unless I'm doing something wrong)

[darren]

Also, they didn't save in full res either, and can fine no setting for this thing at all

[Editor]

@darren, I think there's a bug in the app, as some of my test shots that I've just done a full-res, whilst others are low-res. I'll report this to the dev.

[jwardell]

I just did some test shots. It does actually work, maybe for an extra stop - it's not going to work miracles.

With a dimly lit outside scene, it had noticeably less noise and more contrast than Camera. With a lit inside shot, the difference was not as noticeable, but the chroma noise blotches that even Lightroom can't get rid of were no longer present, plus some extra detail. You could say it upgrades my iPhone 4's camera halfway to a 4s...

Considering i toss out a lot of iPhone shots because they are indoor and just too crappy, it is certainly worth a buck to save some of them.

Unfortunately most EXIF info seems to be missing that is supported by other 3rd party apps. Resolution is full.

I also fired up SlowShutter, while the photos looked better from a distance they are just merged together low-res video frames, complete lack of detail and contrast in comparison.

Hopefully this app gets some more improvements because I would love to switch to a camera with an extra stop!

[Sue]

One of my goals for 2012 is more night shooting. Love to give this a try!

[Corneliaw]

I would like to win the App. Nightcap. :-)
And Happy New Year

[heidimv]

I would like to win the App. Nightcap. :-) Thank You. Very much.
And Happy New Year 2012!!!

[Dev]

Here here!!! I want one...Pick ME!!!

[Bruce]

I very much enjoy your blog. Love to do night photography and would be extremely pleased if I was chosen to receive a copy of this app! Thanks.

[JM]

Have gotten very good results... got some weird warning that I HAD to have Location Services approved for the App. Or I could not see the images... made me suspicious... especially after reading this: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/28/ios-photo-and-video-privacy-issues-highlighted-with-new-test-application/