The 7 Best iPhone Camera Apps for Excellent Photography
The most excellent camera accessible is the one that’s always with you, in your pocket. You’re fortunate to have an iPhone if this is so. And while you may be ecstatic about this, it’s not something we should overlook when evaluating smartphones. That being said, the Camera app on your iPhone isn’t as versatile as others. Thankfully there’s an app for that. Seven apps, actually.
Here are the top iPhone photo-taking applications, in no particular order.
1. VSCO
This app has a lot of presets and filters, but the best part is its camera. It will give you a real DSLR feel to your pictures because it considers so many more features than the iPhone’s built-in one does.
They have over 100 presets for different types of lighting situations that can change up any picture drastically! In addition to great filters, they also have some light editing features that can save you time going into iPhoto.
This app allows you to:
- Set the desired ISO and shutter speed.
- Adjust white balance to achieve the desired colour.
- Set separate focus and exposure points for quick adjustment of focus and exposure settings.
- Manually adjust focus and expose
2. Camera+ app
It’s a fantastic all-around app that does include some decent filters, but what sets it apart is the editing capabilities. The fact that you can alter to whatever scenario your picture depicts is one of the iPhone’s greatest strengths when taking photographs in low light or fast action conditions.
It allows you to:
- Adjust exposure and focus settings after the photo has been taken.
- Select from a wide range of scene modes for great pictures in any situation, like sports or portraits.
- Create beautiful light trails with “slow shutter” and “lightning flash” effects! (iPhone version)
3. ProCamera App
ProCamera is an all-inclusive app with so many features; it’s hard to list them.
It has a separate manual focus and exposure, which makes adjusting your camera much easier than the stock one does. It also allows for live preview when cropping images which can save you from accidentally cutting off something in an image that should be there.
It gives you the ability of:
- manual focus and exposure
- live preview when cropping or adjusting settings
- HDR
- Self-timer
- intervalometer (for time-lapse)
- flash control
- Geotagging
- ISO priority mode, etc.
4. Halide
This app is probably the most well-known manual camera replacement. It has a very sleek design that doesn’t distract you from taking pictures, but it also allows for some great editing options once you’ve taken your picture!
It’s packed full of features, including RAW file support, focus peaking (which helps with manual focusing), and manual exposure control.
It also comes with image stabilization and, like camera+, can shoot in RAW format (which means you get to keep the full resolution of your images).
With Halide:
- Manual focus and shutter speed controls;
- Live preview while adjusting settings;
- Automatic rule-of-thirds grid for composing shots;
- Full capture histogram for perfect exposures;
- Exposure lock and dynamic range optimization functions.
And more…!
Halide also comes with a built-in image browser, camera roll import/export feature, the real-time light level histogram for capturing perfectly exposed images in any environment (including low light), as well as manual white balance, tonal rendering, colour profiles, noise reduction control.
5. Obscura 2
The Obscura app is great for taking pictures of large objects because it has an excellent depth effect. The closer the object, the more blurred everything behind it becomes, which allows you to get a cool bokeh effect in your photos!
This app comes with filters and all the basic editing tools that most users would need (cropping, exposure, brightness, etc.)
The Obscura app allows you to:
- Take photos with a DSLR-style depth of field effect, which blurs the background for creative portraits.
- Manually control ISO, shutter speed, and white balance settings.
- Adjust focus after taking a picture. This feature is called ‘focus trap,’ and it’s very useful for those hard-to-capture moments.
6. Moment Cam
When it comes to taking photos with a DSLR, one of the most important things is being able to adjust your lenses for different effects. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to expensive camera equipment, so this app brings these settings into an iPhone app!
It allows you to take pictures in RAW (for maximum image quality) and even shoot video at higher frame rates than the stock camera app.
It has all of the basic editing tools, but it’s also great for taking pictures with a DSLR lens adapter from Moment (they have adapters for almost every type of smartphone).
Moment Camera allows you to:
- Shoot in RAW format; get maximum image quality and more flexibility during editing.
- Adjust aperture, shutter speed, and ISO; control your depth of field (for DSLR-like images).
- Take photos with the Moment lens adapter to get that DSLR look on your iPhone.
- This can be used without Moment lenses too!
7. Muse Cam
This is the app that’s used to take IBIS (in-built image stabilization) photos.
It has a very simple, sophisticated, and user-friendly interface, but it still gives you access to manual controls like white balance and exposure compensation. The auto mode also allows for some great DSLR-style images!
With Muse Cam:
- Live preview while adjusting settings;
- Automatic rule-of-thirds grid for composing shots;
- Full capture histogram for perfect exposures.
It also comes with image stabilization, geotagging, and an inbuilt timer to take photos without touching your phone (useful when you’re taking self-portraits). Muse Cam allows the user to:
Take photos with a DSLR-style depth of field effect, which blurs the background for creative portraits.
Manually control ISO, shutter speed, and white balance settings.
Conclusion:
Camera apps are a great tool to have in your pocket when you feel like taking some really cool shots on the go! Don’t forget that their primary function is for snapping quick photos, but they also happen to be powerful editing tools, so don’t hesitate to experiment with them. Have fun and happy snapping!