iPhone

Ready for iOS 7 – Camera+

/ Photography, Technology / , ,

This post is about Camera+, but I need to start by talking about the WordPress app.

It seems that every time I turn my iPhone on apps want to update to “ready for iOS 7”. This has to be a good thing – unless they make a mistake see here. The look and feel of the new WordPress app is good, but some mistakes have crept in, I have found a missing button and as I am writing this post, add a link does not display well in horizontal mode. As I write most of my blog, on my iPhone with this app I hope they fix it soon.

Camera+

The developers of Camera+ have also released an update – ready for the updated iOS – plus adding some great new features.

I used to use Camera+ as my main iPhone camera but a couple of updates back (when I had my iPhone 4) it really slowed down, so I stopped using it and switched to the iPhone camera app, which improved greatly when I later switched to an iPhone 5.

I still used the image editor, Light Box, included with Camera+. I particularly like the Clarify function and the Golden Section crop option.

The new Camera+ offers a couple of new options I want in a camera app.

Quick access to a square format image. I often crop my photos to a square, I like the influence a square frame has on my images. Now I can see the effect, in the camera, as I take the photograph.

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a screen capture of Camera+ app showing the square format

The second feature I like is the exposure compensation control. I can now add and take away the exposure in 1/3 stops, just like I could on my real cameras. The results of this manipulation can be seen on the screen before the photo is taken.

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a screen capture showing the ev control, right under my thumb

I am looking forward to using this updated Camera+ app and it looks like it will go back to being my “go to” camera app.

For more details about Canera+, visit the website here.

If you are going to update to iOS 7, make sure you read this article on Mashable – click here.

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iPhone 5 – camera test

/ Photography, Technology / ,

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I went for a short walk today to test the quality of the Apple Camera app. The weather was against me being very misty. I used the church here in the village as a test subject.

In this shot I chose to expose for the church.

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These two were made using the apps HDR option – I choose the save the orignal shot with the HDR version.

The original image:

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The HDR image:

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There is a new panorama option which I tried out on the church. It works by panning the camera rather than stitching a number of shots together. This was an easy way of making the shot and there is an on screen guide to assist with that.

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I have taken some great panoramic shots using the Pano app so I will give this option a better try out in Scotland next week.

All the church shots are uploaded in full resolution – click on the images for the full size versions.

The tiles were shot using the Camera+ app in high resolution mode and then resized for the post so it will display in Facebook.

I am looking forward to trying all my camera apps during my trip to Scotland and the coming weeks – looks like it may be a photo everyday for 2013 – I haven’t missed one yet!!

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Last photo on my iPhone 4

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I am about to swap my phone over to an iPhone 5. So having used the iPhone 4 to both take the photos and post articles to my blog for the last two years – this is probably my last photo and post using it.

The phone has been reasonably reliable – except for the reoccurring speaker issue, so I have bought an AppleCare Plan with the new phone just in case I have a similar hardware problem. I have been pleased with the phone and after we get it serviced Diana is going to start using it.

Why change? I really wanted the better camera the iPhone 5 offers.

I am writing a series of articles for the Octagon website about changing and setting up an iPhone – read more here. and watch out for the first photo and blog post from my iPhone 5.

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So you want to get Podcasts back in the Music app?

/ Technology / ,

I listen to many podcasts on my iPhone when walking and driving, and subscribe to more than fifteen to ensure I have a constant supply – this does not include the books I have subscribed to at Podiobooks.

My Top Five Podcasts

When I saw that Apple had released a Podcast app – that I could use to download podcasts as well as get them to my iPhone via the iTunes sync, I thought I would try it out.

Now there was nothing wrong with the app – but once it was installed on my iPhone the podcast option in the phone’s Music app had gone! This I did not like as my preference is to have access to all my audio in one app. However when I deleted the Podcast app the podcast option did not return – but a trip to Google gave me the answer and the link below will take you to a “how to” page that describes how to get podcasts back in the Music app.

http://www.mactrast.com/2012/09/how-to-bring-podcasts-back-into-the-music-app-in-ios-6/

Thanks Katie

So you want to get Podcasts back in the Music app? Read More »