CameraAwesome
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Camera Awesome is now iPad native
I liked Camera Awesome for iPhone (free) when I tested it last spring. It's a feature-rich app that helps you compose an excellent shot and then edit your image to perfection. Camera Awesome is now universal and ready for the iPad. If you already have the iPhone version, look for it to show up on your iPad. I never thought much of the iPad as a camera platform, but I've learned over time that many people do use it as a camera, and appreciate the larger display for the viewfinder and when editing. The app presents several guides while you compose your shot, including moveable focus and exposure points. It also helps you get the horizon level, and offers overlays to assist in the overall composition of your image. There is also a helpful slow and fast burst mode for capturing action, as well as selectable timers for triggering the photo. %Gallery-167510% Once the picture is taken, you get quite a few editing tools, including a button called "awesomize" which adjusts white balance, color saturation and curves to give you a pleasing image with just a tap. There are some basic filters, cropping tools and some frames. The app also supports video. If you want more from the app, there are in-app purchases. Those purchases can add presets and filters. If you want them all, it's a US$10 toll. Pictures can be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, SmugMug (the creator of the app), Picasa, Photobucket and Flickr. Camera Awesome is a very capable app, even at the free level. SmugMug sees it as a portal to the many other services it offers, like printing and sharing, but you can certainly use it as a standalone app. Having this app finally be universal is most welcome. It's worth a download. The app requires iOS 5 or greater.
Camera Awesome for iPhone has some clever features for a mostly free app
Camera Awesome is a nicely appointed, just released free app for the iPhone from photo sharing site SmugMug. In many ways it goes beyond the built-in camera software Apple offers, and I think many iPhone users will find it useful. It does a lot of things faster than Apple's software, and supports timed shooting with up to a 60 second delay, a rapid burst mode (at a slightly lower resolution), and a slow burst mode. It has pretty effective image stabilization, and a variety of processing options, filters and frames to enhance your photos. It also shoots video in addition to still photos. You can email your photos, or share them with SmugMug (natch), Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picassa or Photobucket. You can set these options up as one-touch saves, which is a big plus. Using Camera Awesome was a positive experience. The user interface is easy to understand and encourages experimentation. In some circumstances, I could get a better photo than I could with the Apple on-board software, especially using stabilization and burst mode. The one-touch awesome-izer button instantly fixes white balance and levels, and improved many of the photos I tried it on. The biggest negative is based on my intense dislike of apps that try to upsell you with in-app purchases. Although the app is free, there are many upgrades to buy including black and white presets, more filters, vintage photo presets etc etc. If you buy them all, this free app becomes a $10.00 app. It's certainly usable in the free, stripped down version, but many users will want more. These in-app purchases really do bother me, and I'd prefer it if developers would offer a complete package at a fair price. Other than that, Camera Awesome is certainly a competent app, and it gives you some similar features to Camera + and some other apps that aren't free. My best recommendation would be to download it and see if it works for you. %Gallery-149348%
