One of the lacking points of the iPhone is often the camera. Even though there have been improvements made with the 3GS camera, it is still lacking. Many apps are available to change the camera UI, edit photos or improve the experience. I have used many of these apps with mixed results. One problem with the camera is getting clear shots without blur from shaking. Lets face it, holding the small phone still enough to get a great shot is not like bracing yourself with a nicely weighted DSLR. ProCamera Basic proves to address some of the basic photo taking issues and is on sale for FREE for a limited time.
Lets take a look…
I will give some quick notes over each of the features and how well they work.
ANTI-SHAKE: Utilize the anti-shake feature by clicking on the shaking camera in the middle of the screen. The camera will automatically take the picture when the camera is still enough. I found this to work really well. No more blurry pictures because the phone was moving. This must be used if the zoom is used.
5x DIGITAL ZOOM in FULL-RESOLUTION: To zoom in and out click the + or – signs on the corners of the screen. I am not a huge fan of digital zoom, but the resolution is actually quite nice if not zoomed too far. Below are 4 shots. One with no zoom, two with several clicks of the + and the final is full zoom. As you can see, the full zoom is pretty pixilated, but is viewable for a special shot. These are random shots from my desk at school so yes the lighting is bad and photo is of a wall in my classroom.
TIMER (1s-20s): Set the timer length in the settings. Click the camera with the standard timer icon on the bottom right corner to start. If the timer accidentally starts, simply click again to turn it off.
FULLSCREEN-TRIGGER: Click anywhere on the screen to activate the shutter. Much easier than tapping a specific button.
GRID-GUIDE: Turn on the grid guide in the settings. A full grid is overlaid on the screen. Use the grid to take straight pictures or to abide by the law of thirds. I like having the grid personally.
Additional features allow for direct emailing from within the app. Always nice to send a pic quickly. The settings also allow for automatic saving pics or the ability to preview before saving.
ProCamera Basic is a nice change from the native camera app. There are many apps with even more features including from the same developer, but being on sale for FREE made this a great option if you are interested in searching for a camera app replacement. Get it here in the app store for free.
What I like: Simple controls and a nice upgrade over the native app.
What could use improvement: Maybe a crop feature.