Home / Tech / Buying Guides

Want to Take Better iPhone Photos? Get a Better Camera App

Your iPhone’s camera app is quite good. But there are others that can help you shoot even better photos and videos.

collage of apps on three iphonesApple

By Tucker Bowe

Published

·

Every product is carefully selected by our editors. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Learn more

The default camera app on Apple’s iPhone is actually quite good. It has an intuitive interphase, as well as a surprising amount features and manual controls. You can easily switch between lenses — wide, ultra-wide and telephoto (the latter admittedly only if you have one of the latest iPhone Pro models) — or photographic styles. You can adjust the aspect ratio, exposure, brightness, warmth and tone of photos. You can even shoot long exposures, time lapses or stabilized videos.

That said, budding photographers and (in particular) more serious ones demand even more options and more control over their videos and pictures. The good news is that there are a wide variety of third-party camera apps for the iPhone that can do just that: bring DSLR-level controls to your iPhone, so that you can take better photos.

These are the best third-party iPhone camera apps you can find on Apple’s App Store.

Read More

Camera+

Camera+ is a free app that’s simple to use and adds a lot of manual controls that the iPhone’s native camera app just doesn’t have. Essentially, it gives you similar manual controls to as if you were using a mirrorless camera or DSLR.

You can adjust the exposure, shutter speed, ISO, focus, zoom and white balance. You can also choose to shoot in full manual or shutter priority (the latter of which is nice stepping stone to learning how to shoot manual). Camera+ also has a macro mode (which you can use even if you don’t have an iPhone 13 Pro or 14 Pro), built-in editing tools, as well as other features that will help teach you how shoot better photos.

Price: Free

Halide Mark II

Halide Mark II is one of the most well-loved camera apps for the iPhone. Its interphase looks very similar to your iPhone’s native camera app, but it brings over all the manual controls (such as ISO, shutter speed, brightness) and menus that you’d find on a DSLR or mirror camera. It also has features that your iPhone’s camera app doesn’t have, like long exposures (up to 15 seconds, instead of just three), focus peaking, 14-bit zebra patterning and histograms.

It supports a macro-photography mode on all iPhones, which Apple’s camera app only supports for the latest “Pro” iPhones, and it supports RAW images, so you can take high-resolution images and edit them later on (via a different app, however, as Halide Mark II doesn’t really have any editing tools). The app also offers photography courses. While free to download, Halide Mark II does require a subscription fee. There is a week-long free trial for those that want to try it out.

Price: $1/month (or $60 one-time payment)

Slow Shutter Cam

This is a camera app that specializes in taking long exposures. Unlike the iPhone’s default camera app — which only allows you to take really short long exposures, which are up to three seconds, through Live Photos — Slow Shutter Cam allows you to take much longer exposures (up to 30 seconds) and gives you more manual controls.

You can adjust the ISO, shutter speed and light sensitivity. You can change the photo’s format, resolution and aspect ratio. And you can set self-timers and intervals (via a built-in intervalometer). And, once you’ve taken your long exposure shot, the app has a number built-in editing tools for tweaking things like contrast, brightness and motion blur. The only downside is, well, the app isn’t free.

Price: $2

Filmic Pro

Filmic Pro has been a go-to camera app for serious videographers for years. It has an intuitive interface (which has been vastly improved in recent years) and all the manual controls you’d want when shooting video, allowing you complete control over exposure, color, temperature, focus, frame rates, and video formats.

The app has features like focus peaking, zebra patterning, and histograms. It supports a wide variety of shooting modes, including slow-motion and time lapses. And it works well with a lot of external hardware videographers likely use, such as the most popular third-party gimbals (from DJI and Zhiyun) and lens ecosystems and accessories (from the likes of Moment). It can also work in tandem with the Filmic Remote app, which costs $10 but allows you to control and monitor what you’re shooting from a secondary device like an iPad.

Price: $3/month (or $50/year)

Read More

,