The iPhone, photography and iOS 5

With this years Apple Worldwide Developers Conference well underway, I can report that iOS 5 will bring the following new features that will be welcomed by almost every iPhoneographer, and send shivers through some developers and start-ups.

First up, iOS 5 will place a camera icon on the unlock screen, which will make launching and taking photos with the default camera app that much quicker. Then comes the real shutter button, with Apple enabling the "volume up button" to take pictures, which will spell disaster for the recent Kickstarter project from Beep Industries, and their "Red Pop".

And finally, Apple have added an AE/AF [exposure and focus] lock to their camera app, along with pinch to zoom, and a basic photo enhancer which will let you crop, rotate, reduce red-eye, or with one click enhance your photos, which could spell trouble for apps like Camera+, ProCamera and the newly introduced King Camera, as these are the features that most of these apps are bought for.

Comments

[HarryMonmouth]

Don't forget the twitter integration for when you take a photo, and also instantly syncing with your mac via icloud.

[PositivePauly]

Interesting that they pilfered the volume snap from Camera +

Apple won't eff things up for us iPhoneographers. Maybe some app developers, sure, but iOS 5 and the iCloud is a very, very good thing for us.

[ClevelandRob]

There is a lot here to be excited about as an iPhoneographer. I don't think it will effect too many developers, but with just the ease of use, the default camera app may be my camera app of choice. I'll still use others for some processing. I don't have much faith in a magical "enhance" button (well except for Camera+ and the Clarity Scene!).

[T-Will]

I wonder if Apple will allow a custom "camera" app to be assigned to the lockscreen button? And open up the volume up shutter button to 3rd party devs? We can only hope; they've made good progress.

[Jezlyn]

The "volume snap" feature is interesting, but even when it was an Easter egg feature in Camera+ I wasn't that enthused about it.

#1. The volume button isn't that easy to press, so it will often make you shake your camera when taking the photo.

#2. The placement of the vol+ button, at least the way I tried to hold my phone, makes it easy for your finger to be in the way of the lens. Yes, I can learn to hold the iPhone so this isn't a big problem, but it just doesn't feel that solid to me. YMMV.

The Red Pop attachment is at the opposite end of the phone, so when it's attached and your finger/hand is curled around the shutter button and grip, it'll be nowhere near the lens. Plus the Red Pop adds a grip to the iPhone 4, not just a shutter button. I don't work for them, but I just wanted to point out Red Pop's benefits beyond the volume snap feature. I am hopeful that Red Pop makes funding, because I'd really like using it. :)

As for the other camera-related announcements, I am quite excited! Even though I like using 3rd-party camera apps (I currently shoot photos with Camera+ most, since it seems to be the quickest to come up, even quicker than QuickPix), I think these updates to the stock Camera app will benefit 3rd-party devs. At least I hope they do!

[Charles]

I'm paying for MobileMe now. I wonder if I might save that money by using the iCloud

[Gordon Fraser]

Charles: I\m sure that Steve Jobbs said yesterday that from today onwards MobileMe is free...till it's dropped and replaced with iCloud

[Donkey_Monkey]

This is what I'm wondering about the volume snap feature: given that the volume buttons are currently placed on the opposite side of the shutter button, how do you handle taking pictures with the default camera and other camera apps? If you use both for landscape pictures, you will end up with some pictures displaying upside down in your photo album. I imagine most people would use one or the other (default vs. camera apps). For me it's more natural to turn the phone counterclock wise to take a landscape picture. And I can't imagine that the placement of the shutter button onscreen would change. So I'm just wondering how you would reconcile the two.

For me Red Pop would still be a much nicer option that the volume snap feature. The only thing about Red Pop that would hold me back is that it could not be used with a camera case and (I assume) with camera apps?

It leaves me wondering if as things progress, the default camera may become iphoneographers' default camera again and if camera apps will be mostly focusing on post-processing.

[JIm Moore]

The new camera option to launch from lock screen is great - and launches pretty quickly on my test device. Grids are a welcome addition and the AE/AF lock is a welcome addition.

For many developers, this won't have too much of an impact and I am pretty sure the guys at the Camera Replacement dev houses (Cam+ etc) are smart enough to push things on to the next level and develop new ideas...

Delighted about the whole iCloud and Twitter integration, which if set up in the API for iOS5 will allow a more seamless form of image management for iPhoneographers out there (still to check the API out).

An iCloud plugin for Aperture or Lightroom would be a bonus and I guess we'll see if/when that happens - as I use Aperture purely as a means of archiving images from my device.

As for the volume button, I have a sneaky feeling this is a halfwayhouse until the 4S/5 comes out when it will have a dedicated camera button... and this will be the legacy function for iPhone 4's

[John Hodges]

My response to the volume + button being used to take photos is similar to a few others. I don't see how that makes sense for taking shots. Not only does it make you hold the iPhone in an unusual way to take the photo, you would also have to use your thumb and that will cause it to shake. Not upset about them deciding to make this change, but unless there are major hardware changes planned on the iPhone 5 (like non-mechanical, capacitive buttons for volume) or a different placement for the camera, I'd rather buy a Red Pop.

[Kate]

Hey there,

Thanks for the comments on Red Pop. We posted our reaction to the iOS5 news.

We still believe that Red Pop has a place in the world.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/786496402/red-pop/posts

Thanks for the comments above.

Kate