iPhone Camera App Recommendations

I just use the native camera app because I’m lazy, but Halide has always gotten very good reviews. It’s not free, but I think offers a free 7-day trial. If you go for it, just remember if you get it from the app store, you have to cancel via iTunes, not the developer.

The Lightroom app has a camera that shoots in Raw.   As far as editing goes, the native photo App has really come a long ways, but the Lightroom app is still a little better

An explanation of the free vs subscription LR options

https://www.lifeafterphotoshop.com/is-lightroom-free/

+1 for Halide.

Also look at Camera +2. I found it easier to use than Halide.  YMMV.

Thanks, will look into them.

Yes, the installed editing software is pretty good…I’m impressed with this camera! I’d just like to be able to use some manual settings every now and then, mainly slow shutter speeds and large apertures for short depth of field.

If you are looking for an camera app (vs. a post processing app) that gives you all the functionality of a DSLR, check out ProCamera.  ProCamera also supports a RAW format that Lightroom can process and gives you multiple choices on which file format you want to save.  Sometimes I shoot jpeg+Raw and, if I like the jpeg, take the RAW into LR for post processing.

The ability to change aperture/DoF depends your model of iPhone.

Here’s a screenshot of the LR camera.   It does shoot raw but I’m not seeing a way to adjust the shutter speed.   My phone is older than yours and doesn’t have an adjustable aperture.   If they’ve added that as a feature, that’s really cool

So if it shoots raw, then you can send it to a computer for post processing in a raw editor? The would be a huge plus.

But I have a bigger concern. Does installing an app on a phone add weight?

Yes but phone apps are worn weight so it doesn’t count

FYI: No aperture settings on any iPhone – fixed aperture lenses without teensy diaphragms. You can control exposure time and ISO using directly with non-Apple apps. But non-Apple apps don’t apply computational magic to make things look better – like imitation DOF.

Many iPhone videographers are buying variable ND filters for daytime shoots when they want 1/24 exposure at 24 fps to get motion blur – not 1/2000 at 24 fps. Almost all of them use Filmic Pro.

— Rex

Another vote for Halide

So if there is no actual aperture adjustment, is the extremely shortened depth of field in Portrait mode created through digital trickery?

(I have pretty extensive darkroom experience, but digital is limited)

“FYI: No aperture settings on any iPhone – fixed aperture lenses without teensy diaphragms.”

Rex. Yes but the high end iPhones have multiple fixed aperature lenses. I have not used one but according to the documentation, the camera software allows you to change the aperture, control depth of field, presumably by compositing images with the in-camera software.

Exposure. Since I use ProCamera, I do not really use the Apple camera app but the app has an exposure compensation slider that opens when you touch the screen.  But AFAIK you cannot set a 1 sec of 1/100 sec exposure like you can with ProCamera. I have never owned a high end iPhone so I would expect the Apple app supports a few more features on the more expensive phones.

The other feature I like with ProCamera is that you can separate the focus point from the exposure point just by moving sliders on the screen.

The iPhone bokeh is a combination of optics and software.   You can achieve a minimal amount of bokeh by using the telephoto lens, more so when you stack a Moment telephoto lens on top of that, but the small sensor size will limit the results.

Using the iPhone for what it was intended, cat pictures, this photo will give you an example of the software’s shortcomings.   If you look at Eris Goddess of Chaos’s magnificent ears, you’ll see that the software was unable to replicate the focus falling off the fur on her ears and just awkwardly cuts them out.

You can achieve some fantastic results and I expect that software will eventually catch up with a forrealsies camera.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJHSf76ng_d/?igshid=1hgkgm6x1jt7v

“they want 1/24 exposure at 24 fps to get motion blur”

Oops, should be 1/48 at 24 fps to create film-like motion blur. Too many “24”s in one sentence :-(

— Rex