Anyone who knows me will tell you I am not a fan of Apple computers. Those same people will testify to the fact that I don’t often put down my iPhone. Double standard? A little bit. But there’s a good reason for it and it’s mostly (surprise surprise) to do with photography.
There are a ton of fun and quirky apps out there but for serious photographers of all types there are a few that you really must have and this handful of apps almost single handedly convinced me to continue on with an iPhone when it came time to upgrade a few weeks ago.
I’ll skip the cutsie ones that everyone likes to play with (like Hipstamatic) and give you the four apps that I don’t leave home without.
1. Camera+
Easily my most used photo app because I use it to shoot and edit every photo I take with my phone. It’s a big step up from the standard Apple camera app and lets you get the most out of your phones camera. Aside from shooting and editing it also makes sharing photos quick and easy.
2. Light Meter
Not much to explain here. It’s an app that essentially slaves the iPhone camera’s built in light meter and give you the exposure information. It’s not a replacement for a real light meter in serious circumstances but as a backup or when you’re shooting for fun it’s one of those ‘good enough’ replacements that will get you in the ball park. It just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know I always, always have a light meter with me. Now if they would just add a PC jack…
3. Viewfinder Pro
Same as before, pretty self-explanatory but incredibly handy. Sure you look less artsy using this app to frame up your shots rather than your fingers in a little square. But then again, you also look like less of a suicide risk.
4. PhotoBuddy
This one is a gem. Need to know something? This app can tell you. Sunset? Guide numbers? Bellows and filter factors? Got you covered. My personal favorite feature is the ‘slate’ which gives you a screen with the date, time and location (including GPS coordinates) for easy inclusion in a shot with your colour checker or something. It has a ton of other features as well and is really the definition of indispensable.
So there’s the quick and dirty on iPhone apps every photographer can benefit from.
Now some housekeeping. I’ll be posting articles once a week between now and Christmas and if you follow Nikon at all you probably already know there are big things in the works as far as tantalizing (we hope) new gear. So there will probably lots of news, opinions and comments to post as well between now and the New Year.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is that summer is kind-of-sort-of-pretty-much over. Back to the grind folks.
Cheers,
Trevor Lewis
