Since the inception of the iPhone, it has had a camera. Many users, myself included, relied heavily on the built-in camera app, mostly because it was the only application available with the introduction of iOS 1.0. The Apple-included Camera.app has rema
ined mostly unchanged since its initial release. Since the opening of the App Store, camera applications have been very popular. Just doing a quick search of ‘camera’ in the App store yields well over 15 pages of applications.
The Built-in Apple Camera application does some very simple things. It takes pictures, it can also take High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos, and it can take video. Outside of this, the application does not do much. This is one reason why camera applications have become so popular. One of the most popular of these other camera applications has been Camera+.
Camera+ takes the basics of Camera and expands on it to be a complete post-processing application. There are a myriad of options available. You can do the basics, like adjust the flash and crop a photo you’ve just taken with the application or even one that appears in your Photostream.
One of the most interesting functions of the application is the effects that you can use to change the look of your photo. These effects range from changing the tint to changing the depth of field to even making the photo look like it came from a toy camera.
For those who miss the ‘good ol’ days of analog,’ there is $0.99 in-app purchase called ‘I ? Analog.’ This add-on pack gives effects like chromogenic and pinhole. These can add a distinctly ‘old school’ feel to your picture.
To add to the ‘old school’ feel, Camera+ also allows you to put gridlines within the view so thatyou can use of one of the four corners to frame up your shot. This is something that many people do not learn about with digital photography.
You do not have to use Camera+ to take photos if you do not wish.You can just use Apple’s built-in Camera app and use Camera+ for post-processing. You can share the photos out to the world over Facebook, Twitter, and even Flickr.
One of the issues is that Camera+ is very processor intensive. It takes a rather long time to complete any operation. This is not necessarily a problem, but it can be rather tiresome having to wait all the time.
As of right now, Camera+ is an iPhone/iPod touch only application. It will work on the iPad, but there is no native iPad interface—it is just the iPhone application scaled at 2x. If the rumors of the iPad having a camera do pan out, I would hope that TapTap would provide an iPad interface as well.
If you like to add some variation and changes to your photos but do not wish to take the time to learn all of Photoshop’s intricacies, then Camera+ may be a good alternative. It costs $1.99 and there is the $0.99 in-app purchase should you choose to buy it. It’s worth the money just to have the various effects to be able to make your photos absolutely unique.
