![]() Top Ten iPhone Apps for PhotographersNov 27, 2009 By Dan Havlik, PDN's Technology Specialist
For the most part though, these photo apps are slight variations on the same thing—a basic, often unstable program that will let you tweak the cruddy little images you captured with your iPhone. Granted, this isn't such a terrible thing. We've spent many fun hours adding vignettes and blurred backgrounds to the spontaneous on-the-street images we captured with our iPhone's 2-megapixel camera. (So the iPhone 3Gs has a 3MP camera. Big whoop.) After a while though, these apps get kind of boring and don't do a lot to help your career as a photographer. There are, however, a few photo apps out there that seem to have the pro in mind. We've chosen the cream of the crop in our "Top Ten iPhone Apps for Photographers" list below. (If you have any other quality photo apps aimed at photographers you'd like to suggest, please email me at [email protected] for a follow-up story.) 1) DSLR Camera Remote Professional Edition When we first saw onOne Software's DSLR Camera Remote app which lets you wirelessly trigger a digital SLR from your iPhone, we thought: "Whoa." After we got a chance to play with a pro edition of the app and discovered it does a lot more than just let you remotely trip the shutter, we revised our opinion and thought: "Holy Smokes! This isn't just cool, it's actually useful." ![]() The other major caveat is that that app requires your DSLR be connected to your laptop by USB and have the app's Remote Server software running on that computer. You also need to have access to a wireless network. True wireless connectivity means you need to have a wireless transmitter connected to your DSLR. Far from perfect, but it's a start. Also, while the app was initially only for Canon DSLRs, it's now compatible with some Nikon models. But check the list of supported cameras before you buy. More info here. Get it here. 2) Best Camera When commercial photographer Chase Jarvis set out to create the Best Camera app, he wanted to build more than just a piece of software for the iPhone, he wanted to start a movement. Though that's rather ambitious for a $3 app, in some ways he's succeeded. ![]() The app also lets you automatically upload your iPhone images to Twitter, Facebook, email, or any online photo sharing service that allows uploading of images via email. Most fun, to us, is the The Best Camera photo community website (www.thebestcamera.com) itself which lets you share images and filter "recipes" with other photographers. You can also see a live gallery what other iPhotographers are shooting by touching the globe icon in the corner of the app. More info here. Get it here. 3) f/8 DoF Calculator The standard bearer for photo calculator apps out there, f/8 DoF Calculator ($4) seeks to provide a quick solution to that age-old question for photographers: how do I get the optimal depth of field in my images? ![]() Though this all might sound a bit wonky for an iPhone, it's important to note that these calculations are meant to be used while adjusting your traditional or digital SLR, not the phone's built-in camera. And that's also why we like this app so much -- it takes photography seriously. The app comes with a database of pre-sets for over 800 camera models from Canon, Nikon, Leica, and most of the major companies. If you're still shooting film, there are also pre-sets for various formats including 35mm, 6x4.5, 6x6 and others. You can store the cameras and lenses (and teleconverters!) you regularly use in the app's Camera Bag screen for quick retrieval. Though depth of field calculation can be tricky business, f/8 makes it fast and logical. More info here. Get it here. 4) Exposure Calc This app once bore the odd name iKspozher (sound it out phonetically) and we're happy they've changed it to the more prosaic Exposure Calc so it can be more easily found by photographers. ![]() To calculate exposure, the wheel lets you scroll through over 70 scene selections—hazy, cloudy, full sun etc.—and ISOs ranging from 3 to 3200. Users simply dial in the ISO of their shot and the scene condition they're shooting in, and the app will provide the correct shutter speed and aperture combinations. You can also pick between aperture and shutter priority modes. If you like long exposure photography, Exposure Calc also has settings for photographing star trails or lightning. More info here. Get it here. 5) iFolio The iPhone is starting to be used as a self-promotion tool by photographers and one of the best apps we found to showcase your work is called iFolio. This free app -- yes, free! -- lets you create an attractive portfolio of your work on your iPhone which you can share with photo editors, art directors, and clients. ![]() Even if you don't have an Internet connection on your iPhone or iPod Touch, the Cache feature lets you make a list of images that you can browse when your Wi-Fi or 3G is down. And because changes to a portfolio in iFolio are made in real time, photographers can update their work at a moment's notice. More info here. Get it here.
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