For many people purchasing a smartphone, having a decent
camera is still one of the biggest draws. It seems forever ago that cameras
were first introduced on mobile phones, with 13 years being about 6 lifetimes
in the tech world.
Today's camera phones are modern wonders, and with more
photos being taken on an iPhone every day than any other camera, there must be
something that Apple is doing right.
The iPhone 5S now comes with an upgraded 8MP iSight camera,
which Apple says is 15% larger and 33% more light sensitive than the previous
model, the iPhone 5.
Apple has taken a similar approach to its newest camera as
HTC did on its UltraPixel tech debuted on the HTC One. An increase in pixel
size has lead to more light being taken in by each pixel, meaning better all
round photography, especially in lower lighting conditions.
But let's not forget the ageing iPhone 4S also has a really
decent camera that many would argue was better than many handsets released at
the same time. This understandably lead to a significant amount of camera apps
on the App store, should you want to get more out of your iPhone's camera, so
we've trawled through and rounded up our best picks for you to chew over.
Instagram
With the photo creation and sharing app being famed for both
the right and wrong reasons (anyone remember Insta-adgate?) it is easy to see
why Instagram became so popular, if only to share photos of dinners and cats.
Photo sharing can be argued to be the biggest draw of
Instagram, although an equal amount of people will argue its the range of
filters that Instagram allows you to apply to your photographs, allowing even
the most amateur of photographers feel like a pro.
The app also allows you to manage your Instagram account,
viewing photos from those that you follow, and make comments. There isn't a
whole lot we can say about the Instagram app, as its popularity means that most
of it has already been said.
If social photography is more your thing, why don't you
check out the Facebook Camera app. It is literally what it sounds like, with
the app allowing you to post photos to your Facebook account quicker than ever
and see what your friends are up to.
Flickr
Flickr is a photo sharing and editing site, with a
Coming with a terabyte of storage, it is popular service
amongst intensive photographers as a way of storing photos to the cloud, as
well as providing a level of photo manipulation that includes 16 different
filters.
Like Instagram, the Flickr app also allows you take to take
control of your Flickr account, meaning that you can connect with friends and
access their photo streams. For those that want a little more control over
their images, Flickr also allows you total privacy control meaning no Insta-ads.
If you're using Flickr for photo storage, why not consider
using Dropbox. Whilst not a photography app from the start, it does come with
the ability to instantly upload your photos from your camera, via Wi-Fi or your
data plan if you're feeling flush with the megabytes.
Text Camera
When it comes to internet photography, there are seven
things that we can all point to as defining this generation. Breakfast, lunch
and dinner, cats, cats and more cats, and the so-called "inspirational
quotes".
Text Camera can go some way to covering all three forms of
these, although the food and felines will take a back seat. As the name
suggests, Text is the main focus of the app. That said, filters are also
supported, helping make your images all the more inspirational.
There are already a variety of pre-installed doodles and
quotes, as well as the ability to write your own quotes which means that time
when your friend shouted Kettle for C in a game of 'I spy' can be forever
immortalised.
If you decide you like the idea, but want a different
implementation, why not check out InstaText. It too comes with filters and
stickers, and the ability to pop text over imagery. It does miss the quote
functionality though.
Camera Art FX
Filters are probably the most common features when it comes
photography apps.
Nigh on every app will pack in some sort of filter
functionality, as they can often cover up some of the more basic amateur
photographic mistakes.
They also add a level of fun. Apps like Camera Art FX can
make things look really interesting, adding more arty effects like comic style,
doodled or painted effects, or even allow you to make your own Obama-esque
'Hope' poster.
The free app contains 12 effects, with there being 13 in the
paid version.
All filters are applied in real time, meaning that you can
preview what you're going to snap before you hit the shutter button.
This isn't going to be for everybody, but for those that
want something similar you can always try Cartoon Camera Plus, which packs a
variety of image effects to choose from.
PowerCam
For those looking to add photo effects, filters, and mess
around with their images in other ways, you might not need to look further than
PowerCam. Allowing you to take photos in 8 different modes, with real time
view, PowerCam offers a lot.
These photo modes include Magic Shot, Colour Splash, and
Smile shot, meaning that you will always get the photo of your smiling child
(or baby sibling) that you really want.
It is also fast, with photos taken and effects applied in a
second. HD video recording with live effects is supported as well. Photos can
also be edited more traditionally, with various enhancements around. Photo
sharing via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr is supported.
If you're after a different photo editor, however, why not
try FX Photo Studio. It allows you to add varying filters and textures, as well
as text. There are over 190 effects, including black and white and colour
strokes, and you can change gamma, saturation and contrast levels to name but a
few.
Camera+
Camera+ pitches itself as an app that will appeal to both
seasoned professionals, as well as the most amateur of photographers. To do
that, it provides options such as being able to select your exposure level and
focus separately.
Other features allow you to use the horizon to eliminate
crooked shots, digitally zoom up to 6x and allows you to take a forward facing
photo whilst using flash. We can imagine that meaning a lot more dodgy selfies.
Camera+ also makes a song and dance about the Clarity
feature. This 'makes several intelligent adjustments', which is technical chat
for 'auto adjusts your images' to bring out the details in photos that you
might originally have thought were unusable.
For those that are looking for a more professional style
app, but don't wish to use Camera+, why don't you look at Camera Awesome. It
awesomises (again, read as auto adjusts) images, as well as allowing you to
select individual focus and exposure, and provides different compositions.
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