Daily iPhone App: ProCamera is a best of breed photo app for iPhone
It takes some work for a photo app to stand out from the crowd, but I think ProCamera does just that. The US$4.99 app has assembled a very strong feature set that will give you the best chance of getting excellent photos out of your iPhone.
The app includes some anti-shake software, a self-timer, rapid fire shooting, both still and video modes with auto and manual exposure, focus lock, alignment guides, full HD recording in movie mode (1080p at 30fps), geotagging with an extension for the direction your were facing when you took the picture and much more.
Not all features will work on every iPhone due to hardware limitations. Obviously full-resolution video recording needs an iPhone 4s or 5. There are some other hardware-based limitations, and the company provides a helpful chart showing which features work on which iPhone.
With all the camera features, I was surprised and happy to see full editing features as well. The editing tools are divided into several groups: ProFX with a variety of filters that can be applied; ProLab for brightness, saturation and contrast settings; and auto-adjustment options that are quick and easy. Finally, ProCut lets you crop, change aspect ratio and straighten photos.
The app also features a unique Exhibition Mode. It lets you submit your prized photos in the IPA Quarterly Gallery Exhibition.
Using the app was a pleasure. Screen controls are easy to figure out without a manual, although instructions are included with the app. The control labels rotate in for portrait and landscape mode, a nice feature many camera apps forget. You can display a live histogram of your image, which pro shooters will like, and there is a night ISO setting for dark environments. The only thing missing is an HDR function, and I'll bet the software wizards who created ProCamera could do that well.
When your image is done, it can be easily shared to Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox and Flickr (Flickr coming in iOS 7 update), and of course to the camera roll. Images can be shared one at a time, or in groups.
ProCamera is optimized for the iPhone 5 and will run on any iPhone that can run iOS 6. This is an impressive camera app for those who want to go beyond the usual point-and-shoot routine.
