Camera+ receives a massive update

Tap tap tap’s Camera+, my favorite go-to iPhone photography app which in September finally got a dedicated iPad version, today received a massive update, bringing a number of new features. Version 3.6, for starters, brings accurate framing on the iPhone 5 for capturing snaps exactly as you see them – no more viewfinder cropping. Advanced users will love the new Live Exposure feature which displays ISO and shutter speed change in real-time.

You also get flash of sorts when using the front-facing camera. It’s a trick akin to PhotoBooth on the Mac as the screen goes white for a moment to light up your face in darkness before the shutter-release. Another welcome addition: the horizon level feature for those who have trouble taking a straight photo. As you’d expect, the updated app also brings the obligatory bug fixes, minor improvements and a dozen tweaks that lead to a much better overall experience. Go past the fold for the full release notes…

The way overdue framing feature puts a horizon line in both portrait and landscape so you can accurately angle your device before hitting the shutter button. It’s especially useful on the iPhone, which lacks the horizontal leveling feature in post-processing.

As you can see, the interface for this feature couldn’t be simpler, as opposed to levels in other camera apps which “look like something out of a flight simulator”, as the team amusingly puts it.

This is Live Exposure in action. It’s really useful for experienced photographers who can now see how exposure parameters like ISO and shutter speed change in real-time as they setup their shot.

And this is what a typical duckface snap taken in darkness using the front camera and the ‘flash’ trick ends up looking.

As for feature parity, the team ensured in a blog post it remains a top priority:

I’ve been on a bit of a “hiatus” with Camera+ for the past several months, but starting with this update, I’m now back in the driver’s seat for both the iPhone and iPad versions of the apps. And the development team we now have in place is stronger and more driven than ever.

One of the things that we’re striving for is parity between both versions of the apps and we’ll be making a lot of progress toward that goal in the upcoming releases of Camera+.

Here, your release notes.

Camera+ 3.6 for iPhone

Front Flash
First off, we’ve made the impossible possible: we’ve managed to add a flash to your front-facing camera. That’s right… you can now take pics of yourself in total darkness! We predict that the number of duckface photos taken around the world will increase by an order of magnitude as a result. We apologize in advance.

Horizon Level
Are you that person who never takes a straight photo? Well, with this new level, you’ll never have to feel the frustration of taking a crooked shot again. And where levels in other cameras look like something out of a flight simulator, we went for a much different approach. We channeled the ghost of Jonathan Ive(s), said the magic phrase, “AL-LU-MIN-I-UM” three times, and this incredibly simple, elegant, and nonintrusive Horizon Level was the result.

Live Exposure
We didn’t forget all of you advanced iPhoneographers with this update. With the new Live Exposure feature, you get all the details of your shot before you take it. You can now see how exposure parameters like ISO and shutter speed change in real-time as you setup your shot. You always strive to take the best photos and Live Exposure in the new Camera+ helps you achieve them.

Accurate iPhone 5 Framing
An added benefit of Live Exposure is that on your iPhone 5, you now get 100% accurate shot framing. With Live Exposure turned-on, there’s absolutely no viewfinder cropping so What You See Is What You Shoot (or WYSIWYS, because the world doesn’t have enough acronyms).

Many, Many Camera Improvements
As great as Camera+ shooting is, there’s always room for improvement. We really wanted to provide the best shooting experience, bar none, with this update and we believe we’ve done that. Anything that didn’t feel 100% perfect was given a good overhaul. The end result is well over a dozen improvements that add-up to the best shooting experience on any camera.

Various Minor Improvements
Yeah, we’ve been calling this update Operation ÜberCam but we didn’t just limit ourselves to camera improvements. We’ve taken a look at all areas of Camera+ that could use a good tweaking here and there and made a bunch of small changes that lead to a much better overall experience for you.

Various Bug Fixes
Ah, it wouldn’t be software if there weren’t bugs in it. We’re always trying our best to make Camera+ as bug-free as possible and this update is as close to that as ever. Thanks to all of you who report any bugs you find to us as this really helps us achieve this goal.

The iPad build has been updated to version 1.1. With all of the above goodies, the iPad versions is now finally way more in line with the refreshed iPhone version in terms of feature parity.

In case you didn’t know, both versions support iCloud sync of your Lightbox, meaning any snap or edits done on your iOS device gets automatically pushed to all your other devices.

Camera + for the iPhone and iPod touch is a 99-cent value . The iPad version is on sale right now and will run you an additional 99 cents, but you may want to hurry before the price goes up.

What’s your favorite iPhone photography app?