Manual exposure control with iPhone?

[Majeed Badizadegan]

I'm new to iPhone. I have had no success finding an app that gives you full control over the exposure parameters.

There are lots of apps out there that false advertise, or mislead you to believe that you will have control over exposure. Most of them show the exposure parameters in live view, but you don't have actual control.

I'm trying to get decent pictures of my 18 month old running around. I'd much rather choose a faster shutter speed and live with the high iso. Problem is, I find the camera to be hovering at 1/15-1/20 sec indoors all the time. Usually shutter speed won't increase until its below iso 400. I mean, 1/15 sec is a pretty slow shutter speed. It's just simply not fast enough.

Anyone else noticed this with their iphone? I'd love Manual control. I have camera+ and its nice but doesn't give the added control. I see "slow shutter cam" has good reviews at $.99, really long shutter speeds not really what I'm looking for though. Anyone have any ideas or know of any apps?

 

[thetrue]

I have yet to find a legitimate one. Most of them are fraudulent. Adjustable camera shutter takes a full 1/15 second image but allows you to "freeze" the frame some.

 

[Light Guru]

I dont think that SDK that apple has released does not let you control the ISO. This means that app developers cannot make exactly what you are looking for.

I believe all that apple let's you manually control is the focus point and the exposure point.

Because you want to take photos of a little kid running around I would look into one of the many bust or continuos photo apps then you can just choose the photo that is most in focus and looks the best.

 

[gw2424]

I am working with some friends to program one, but it has a long way to go.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Hmm, pretty disappointing.


You'd think there would be an "app for that". Apparently not.

 

[table1349]

My coffee maker has a small clock on it, but I don't rely on it to tell the time or be my alarm clock. It's a phone with some smart features. A camera being a limited little side light, not a main feature. If you want to take pictures like you described get a camera. Buying a camera: everything you need to know | The Verge

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

My coffee maker has a small clock on it, but I don't rely on it to tell the time or be my alarm clock.

Exceptionally strong metaphor there gryphon. Wonder how long it took you to think that one up? Hopefully you didn't strain yourself. From the nonsense you've written here, it looks like this metaphor may have been an intellectual stretch for you.

Phones have changed and evolved to become more than just phones, thus our expectations of them have also changed. Even an Android phone I owned that is almost three years old allowed me to manually control some aspects of exposure, there is no excuse that I shouldn't have any manual control over my iPhone 5 camera.

I don't take my coffee maker everywhere with me, I don't rely on my coffee maker to take decent quality candid snapshots, I don't use the coffee maker to surf the internet or make calls, I don't use the coffee maker to calculate tips or to look up the latest scores. Wouldn't it be absurd if I did? Sorry, I'm still stuck on your brilliant coffee maker metaphor.

It's a phone with some smart features. A camera being a limited little side light, not a main feature. If you want to take pictures like you described get a camera. Buying a camera: everything you need to know | The Verge

That's incredibly ostentatious of you, don't you think? Being that this is a photo forum and I'm a regular contributing poster here. Wouldn't it be safe to assume that I already own a camera? Or perhaps your thought process didn't get that far because you were too busy thinking up crappy metaphors?

The reason I want manual control is because I know the value of it. I don't think the AI of the iPhone camera is smart enough to get good pictures in every condition.

Go be a tool somewhere else please.

 

[table1349]

Apparently the concept that the tool may not be capable of doing what you want has eluded you.

 

[Light Guru]

Apparently the concept that the tool may not be capable of doing what you want has eluded you.

Exactly.

Even an Android phone I owned that is almost three years old allowed me to manually control some aspects of exposure, there is no excuse that I shouldn't have any manual control over my iPhone 5 camera.

And you can control SOME aspects of the photo you are taking just not ALL.

The API that apple has developers for the camera ONLY let you set an exposure point and a focus point. And there are MANY apps out there that let you do that giving you manual control over the exposure point and focus point and letting you lock them or change the point.

So clearly you can have SOME control.

I personally think total manual control of the camera on such a small screen would be clunky and impractical to use. Think about it if the iPhone screen were to show all the controls that a you have when your DSLR is full manual mode in such a way that you didn't have to tap several times going into menus to set things it would take up the whole screen just to show you all your iso shutter speed and aperture options all at once thus not letting you see your image.

If you were to include the image on the screen you would have to put settings under menses that pop up when up I press a single button this would require you to tap several times and even scroll though a list of things like ISO, shutter speed, aperture. By the time you picked your settings on the touch screen through several menus the photo moment would be gone.

It's just not practice on such a small screen. To have full manual control. Plus the iPhone is a consumer device and what apple has given access to in the API of the focus point and exposure point are more then what 99% of consumers want or need.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Problem is the iphone has this really, really bad tendency to sacrifice shutter speed for ISO. Anywhere indoors between ISo 50 and ISo 3200 the shutter speed is no faster than 1/20 sec. Shooting a moving subject at 1/15 sec is not fast enough.

Now if i could manually bump to 800 ISo like I could on my android and see an increased shutter speed id be all for it. Same concepts of photography apply on the iPhone as they do cameras. You can fight noise and grain a lot more easily than getting blurry pic after blurry pic because the shutter speed isn't fast enough.

Focus and exposure locks are a "band-aid fix" to a bigger problem.

Just saying that iPhone is not capable or people don't want the added functionality is making excuses. Saying that you're going to miss the moment because your fiddling with controls is a very weak argument. I'd much rather have control over exposure and it be my fault if I miss the shot. But at 1/15 second between ISo 50-3200 with apples very "dumb" auto mode, I'm guaranteed to miss the shot most of the time anyway.

 

[Derrel]

Problem is the iphone has this really, really bad tendency to sacrifice shutter speed for ISO. Anywhere indoors between ISo 50 and ISo 3200 the shutter speed is no faster than 1/20 sec. Shooting a moving subject at 1/15 sec is not fast enough.

Now if i could manually bump to 800 ISo like I could on my android and see an increased shutter speed id be all for it. Same concepts of photography apply on the iPhone as they do cameras. You can fight noise and grain a lot more easily than getting blurry pic after blurry pic because the shutter speed isn't fast enough.

Focus and exposure locks are a "band-aid fix" to a bigger problem.

Just saying that iPhone is not capable or people don't want the added functionality is making excuses. Saying that you're going to miss the moment because your fiddling with controls is a very weak argument. I'd much rather have control over exposure and it be my fault if I miss the shot. But at 1/15 second between ISo 50-3200 with apples very "dumb" auto mode, I'm guaranteed to miss the shot most of the time anyway.

Yeah, the part I quoted and then bold-faced is indeed the crux of the problem with the iPhone; both the 4 and the 4S and the 5 have GOOD high-ISO capabilities, and backside-illuminated sensor technology, and so, there is enough possible ISO "quality" to bump the danged shutter speed up at lower EV levels....but...the numb-nuts who programmed the iPhone's exposure program keeps the danged ISO low-low-low, and what results all too often are slow-speed "blurs" at lowish ISO values, when what a "real photographer" would have done would be to have bumped up the damned shutter speed around two to maybe even three full EV values, and bumped the ISO up commensurately... "Do'ah!"

A slightly-noisy ISO 1,000 shot made at f/2.8 (yes, the iPhones 4,4s,and 5 all have FAST, multi-element lenses!!!) at 1/50 second would be SO MUCH BETTER than a well-exposed shot that was filled with MOTION blur, or camera SHAKE, because the original programmer decided that 1/15 second is a viable shutter speed in low-light situations. Again, whoever decided upon the preferences for the shutter speed-to-ISO parameters was a numb-nuts...and now that the iPhone 5 has ISO values up to and including ISO 3,200 and pixel-binning available, the stupidity of this longstanding iPhone design blunder is even more annoying.

One of the best apps I have found is Camera Plus Pro, which has an anti-shake mode that prevents the shutter from firing until the camera is stabilized enough for the shutter speed in use; however, all that does is prevent camera shake; it still gives PLENTY of blurred faces and blurred movement in all sorts of common phone-camera-shot scenarios. Once again, we see the utter stupidity of that "use the lowest ISO possible" mantra, repeated idiot-like, without the corresponding understanding of the value of a SHARP, blur-free shot, with a slight bit of extra accompanying ISO noise. Again...we see yet again the dangers of allowing geeks to design products that they really do not TRULY understand fully...

 

[nycphotography]

Hmm, pretty disappointing.
You'd think there would be an "app for that". Apparently not.

I learned a long time ago that there will be NO APP for anything that Apple might disapprove of, such as using your phone as a hotspot for your laptop, enjoying an app with a sense of humor that amuses you but might offend grandma, or might make it possible to use your device in ways that Apple has decided should be reserved to a different device.

If you're disappointed that the apps and extendability is limited, all I can offer is "that's what you get for buying an Apple product".

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Yeah, the part I quoted and then bold-faced is indeed the crux of the problem with the iPhone; both the 4 and the 5S and the 5 have GOOD high-ISO capabilities, and backside-illuminated sensor technology, and so, there is enough possible ISO "quality" to bump the danged shutter speed up at lower EV levels....but...the numb-nuts who programmed the iPhone's exposure program keeps the danged ISO low-low-low, and what results all too often are slow-speed "blurs" at lowish ISO values, when what a "real photographer" would have done would be to have bumped up the &&&&-damned shutter speed two or three full EV values and bumped the ISO uop commensurately...

A slightly-noisy ISO 1,000 shot made at f/2.8 (yes, the iPhones 4,4s,and 5 all have FAST, multi-element lenses!!!) at 1/50 second would be SO MUCH BETTER than a well-exposed shot that was filled with MOTION blur, or camera SHAKE, because the original programmer decided that 1/15 second is a viable shutter speed in low-light situations. Again, whoever decided upon the preferences for the shutter speed-to-ISO paramenters was a n*&b-nuts...

One of the best apps I have found is Camera Plus Pro, which has an anti-shale sensor that prevents the shutter from firing until the camera is stabilized enough for the shutter speed in use; however, all that does is prvent camera shake; it still gives PLENTY of blurred faces and blurred movement in all sorts of common phone-camera-shot scenarios. Once again, we see the utter stupidity of that "use the lowest ISO possible" mantra, repeated idiot-like, without the corresponding understanding of the value of a SHARP, blur-free shot, with a slight bit of extra accompanying ISO noise. Again...one of the dangers of allowing geeks to design products that they really do not TRULY understand fully...

Amen! FINALLY someone taking some sense.

This is an extremely well-worded summation of the problem.

It's not that the iPhone physically CAN'T produce quality pics across various real-world situations, its that the designers have programmed the auto mode so horribly that it utterly fails at utilizing the full capability of the camera.

The problem is the "Intelligent" exposure choices we as photographers make in less than ideal situations we simply cannot with this phone or any app. It begs the question, why not?

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

I learned a long time ago that there will be NO APP for anything that Apple might disapprove of, such as using your phone as a hotspot for your laptop, enjoying an app with a sense of humor that amuses you but might offend grandma, or might make it possible to use your device in ways that Apple has decided should be reserved to a different device.

If you're disappointed that the apps and extendability is limited, all I can offer is "that's what you get for buying an Apple product".

Definitely something I knew getting into the Apple arena. Goes against my personal philosophy on some levels, that the App Store is so restricted by "Apple approved" content.

Just a disappointment that the auto mode is so dumb, and there are no alternatives.

 

[Derrel]

SNIP>It's not that the iPhone physically CAN'T produce quality pics across various real-world situations, its that the designers have programmed the auto mode so horribly that it utterly fails at utilizing the full capability of the camera.

The problem is the "Intelligent" exposure choices we as photographers make in less than ideal situations we simply cannot with this phone or any app. It begs the question, why not?

Yeah...the iPhone's lens is actually pretty GOOD. With a 5- to 8-MP, backside-illuminated sensor behind a multi-element f/2.8 or f/2.5 lens, the "imaging" parts of the iPhone 4,4s,and 5 are pretty good,actually. I suspect that the majority of snapshooters will use the built-in flash in "many" indoor lighting conditions. And it does "okay". But I agree, the designers have made a truly regrettable decision with the relationship between Exposure Value level, and ISO, and shutter speed...

Looking through over 15,000 of my own iPhone 4 shots I have made since August of 2011, the VAST,vast majority of the clunkers are due to the shutter speed being too slow because the ISO value has been kept "low". In low-light levels, the typical 1/15 second shutter speed leads to a LOT of blurred shots. Even indoors in say, a well-lighted McDonald's dining room...the speed the camera will pick is too slow to stop motion of a kid eating a cheeseburger...(real-world example from yesterday!!!)