The developers of the popular iPhone app Camera+, LateNiteSoft, have launched a new iOS app called Photon. This new app is focused on pro image shooting. The developers are banking on the app’s simple interface and multiformat support to attract users.
The app will let you shoot in auto mode from the get-go, but it also has easy access to controls for adjusting focus, shutter speed, ISO (sensor’s sensitivity to light) and white balance (a way to adjust how “warm” or “cool” your image is).
Users can download and shoot in auto mode for free, but they will have to pay a subscription to use the pro features — $3.99 per month or $19.99 per year. The company is also offering a lifetime subscription for $39.99 for a limited time. At the moment, the makers of the app are also offering a seven-day trial for the app.
From the main interface, you can quickly access buttons to change the format of an image, the resolution of the photo and flash control, and switch between lenses like wide, ultra-wide, telephoto and selfie.
On top of the viewfinder, there is a flash control on the left with modes like auto, on, off and torch. On the top-right, users can see a histogram — a graph that represents different light tones in the photo.
By default, the camera also offers a 3 x 3 grid, which could help you capture an object using the “rule of thirds.” For the uninitiated, the rule is often about placing a subject in such a way that the other two-thirds of the frame is open.
All manual controls — focus, shutter speed, ISO and white balance — cab be tweaked using sliders to adjust the measures. The screen will also show numeric values of things like white balance in degrees Kelvin and the percentage of maximum focus distance offered by the camera.
The app supports JPEG, HEIF, True RAW and ProRAW formats, and users can save a combination of JPEG/HEIF with RAW. Users can also easily look at all photos they took in a session without leaving the app and discard the ones they don’t want.
LateNiteSoft, the company releasing the app, has also prepared a detailed manual for Photon so that anyone — even photo beginners — can learn more about using manual controls to take pictures.
The app will directly compete with incumbents like the popular Halide app, which offers a relatively cheaper subscription at $2.99 per month and $11.99 per year.
However, Noël Rosenthal, a product manager at the company, believes the learning curve for this app is steep. With Photon, the startup wants to make it easier to learn pro photography.
“Photon is the product of our more than 10 years of experience in the photography business, without all the baggage. We took the time to rethink every aspect of the shooting experience, considering all of the feedback we’ve received and the impacts of all of our choices in the past. What we have produced is, in our eyes, simply the best, most intuitive, accessible, but powerful way to shoot photos on the iPhone,” he said.
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