Micro Blog: 12th March 2011 (iPhone)
The sound from the pressing of the standby button was music to my ears. After struggling with an ailing iPhone 3G for close to a year, I had the 4th version is my hands. It was a weird feeling having to re-install all the apps but it was really all iTunes's work and not mine.
Like a child getting his Christmas sock, I switched the camera on and was blown away by the 2 features it had over the 3G version. The ability to select area of focus and exposure (I skipped the 3Gs version). I do not really care for the digital zoom function but the choice of area of focus and exposure is just amazing. No longer are my images at the mercy of a tiny electronic chip that usually rendered my images less than satisfactory in quality in terms of exposure and point of focus. The megapixel boost helps but I would be happy with 5 and not more. Any more pixels and noise is going to be an issue.
The familiar shutter sound went off and the speed at which the recorded image appeared in the Camera Roll was light years ahead of the older phone. The quality blew the images from the older phone right to the other side of the planet. But I needed some in-camera app to squeeze every drop of creative juice, I googled and found Camera+. Costs less than a can of Coke and a minute later, it was in the phone and I was browsing its interface in no time.
What an app! It allowed the iPhone to fire a series of shots in quick succession aka motor driving (at a much lower resolution though). A smart alec I was though as I used that function on a teapot on the table. Seeing 7 images of the teapot was however impressive enough and I moved on to the Edit button. Plenty of effects here and in due time, I had a favourites such as Lomographic, Vibrant, So Emo (that's the name), Magic Hour and Fashion. Not that I could not bring these images into Photoshop and give them a workout but why do so when all you need is 30 secs on the phone? The fact that I saw a plain shot take on a new look revitalised me and I was walking around getting shots I never would have with a DSLR.
The phone now follows me on my Gary Fisher bike and it was sheer fun to be on the look out for any images that could be had and processed with Camera+. What used to be an hour ride doubled in duration and I was still not having enough! On the double decker buses, I was relishing getting aerial shots of vehicles and in lower light conditions, motion blur shots were an exciting new dimension. To be honest, carrying a DSLR and roaming the streets was never something I was at ease with. Holding a phone however is just simply natural and I look so much less inconspicuous. The weight different is of course huge and yes, image quality is definitely going to be in a different league but it's the spontaneity that counts here. What about the LX3? I still do bring it out for location recces and I love the images from that little package. It is just that i do not have it with me all the time unlike a phone.
Coupled with the Camera+ app which by the way is one of the top photography apps for the iPhone, there really is no reason whythe iPhone user cannot be taking pictures anywhere and anytime. The images displayed on the left are straight out from the iPhone (only resizing in Photoshop) and have gone through Camera+ for "post-processing."
*Setting up a iPhone gallery and will be pushing myself to see things from a different perspective (it can be noisy and of a wrong white balance). How will it work for my seascapes? Perhaps a ND filter in front? Polarizer? The possiblities are endless...