iOS 7 feature focus: Redesigned Camera app gains burst mode, filters
iPhone owners have always been among the most snap-happy on the planet — Apple's devices are far and away the most popular on Yahoo's Flickr photo hosting service, for instance — and iOS 7 brings a wealth of new features and enhancements for shutterbugs.
iOS 7's camera application gains a new, flat UI
Camera.app gets a facelift
The iOS camera app has seen a few aesthetic tweaks since the introduction of the original iPhone in 2007, but iOS 7 brings an entirely new look and new methods of interaction using touch. Gradients and three-dimensional buttons are replaced by flat black and simple shapes, and the stalwart shutter closing animation that signaled a photo being taken is eschewed in favor of a simple flash of light.
The options menu has been removed and the HDR and panorama selectors placed in the top-level UI. The HDR button joins the flash toggle and front-to-rear camera swap button in a black bar along the top of the preview pane, rather than in translucent buttons atop the image. Users can now enable or disable the grid overlay from the system settings app.
The camera application adds an additional "square" shooting mode — which natively captures a square format image, rather than cropping a larger one — to the holdover video, panoramic, and normal photo options. Mode selection has been moved to a three-dimensional "ring" just below the preview pane, and users can switch modes by swiping in either direction. Interestingly, the mode selector does not rotate when the phone shifts from portrait to landscape orientation, so users will need to use a vertical, rather than horizontal, gesture in that situation.
iOS 7's realtime image filters are available on iPhone 5 or newer. Older models can apply filters during post-processing.
Instagram that filter
The new square aspect ratio shooting mode is tailor-made for social media sharing and is a particularly good fit for Instagram. National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson called out this feature specifically when using the iPhone 5s as his primary camera during a recent trek through Scotland.
With the addition of image filters, Apple has integrated a tentpole feature of many third-party sharing or camera applications directly into the operating system, making for easier snapping and sharing of photos across services. Apple provides eight filters by default, and it is not possible for users to define their own.
The preview pane can overlay the filters onto the live image for iPhone 5, 5c, or 5s owners. Filters can be chosen on a per-mode basis and will "stick" with that mode after the user leaves the camera application.
Users who prefer to post-process images, or who want to apply filters to panoramas, can do so through iOS 7's photos application. Filters cannot be applied to videos.
iPhone 5s with iOS 7's slow-motion editing handles, top, and burst mode image counter, bottom.
Burst into slow motion
For iPhone 5s owners, iOS 7 leverages the handset's beefy 64-bit A7 processor and upgraded camera module to provide some additional imaging options that require the increased horsepower — burst mode for still photos and slow motion for videos.
Burst mode works much the same as it does on a traditional point-and-shoot or DSLR camera, where holding down the shutter button will take a rapid-fire series of shots. Apple's burst mode captures 10 photos per second, and iOS 7 will intelligently decide which photos or series of photos are best and allow the user to choose between them. A small counter appears above the shutter button while depressed to show the number of burst shots taken.
Slow-motion video is enabled by the iPhone 5s camera's ability to capture video in high-definition 720p at 120 frames per second. After recording a video, users can choose which portions of the video to slow down using the same touch selection handles Apple introduced with the iOS version of iMovie.
Another welcome addition for the iPhone 5s is the ability to zoom video while recording using a pinch gesture. Users are no longer required to set the zoom before pressing the record button.
iPhone 5s slow-motion video sample
Comments
An already great, much-loved camera just got better.
I'm curious about what the iPhone 6 will bring to the table in this regard.
Why burst mode can't be disabled in preferences is beyond me.
i'm more interested in the iPhone 11S'. i hear that's going to be a doozy, especially wrt the takeup reel and size of the teeth. *can't wait!*
For those keeping track, that’s the 19th iPhone.
Try doing that now. Your machine gun shutter will fire off a couple dozen rounds before you know what's happening, leaving you with 30 unwanted, blurred images. There is a time and place for burst mode, but a few of us are more invested in the refinement we have enjoyed since the days of the 3G until now %u2014 rather than casting our lot with the whim of lucky numbers.
We'd really like to have that option back on the phone.
That's not true as the CCD is rectangular. Sometimes your ded on, sometimes ded wrong.
My wife hates iOS7, and one of the main reasons is burst mode. She grew accustomed (as did I) to composing shots while touching the shutter button and quickly snapping the photo upon release. Now the camera goes crazy taking pictures while she's composing. Going back to sort through and delete the undesirable pics is a chore she has thus far declined to do. A real mess awaits the next photo upload.
Why burst mode can't be disabled in preferences is beyond me.
Didn't see your comment until I had posted mine, Cpsro. Thanks for expressing the same sentiments. I hope Apple is listening!
That's not true as the CCD is rectangular. Sometimes your ded on, sometimes ded wrong.
We all make mistakes...
article By Shane Cole
I haven't upgraded to iOS 7 on my iPhone 5 but that is really a bummer about the burst mode deal. Holding down the shutter release button while framing the shot is the way I always use the camera. I was so happy when I learned about that feature, reading about it here on AI from a poster, can't remember who, but it really does make a big difference in the quality of photos.
An already great, much-loved camera just got better.
I'm curious about what the iPhone 6 will bring to the table in this regard.
Just more improvements, faster processor, maybe more RAM, maybe IGZO screens, maybe a new case design, etc.
My wife hates iOS7, and one of the main reasons is burst mode. She grew accustomed (as did I) to composing shots while touching the shutter button and quickly snapping the photo upon release. Now the camera goes crazy taking pictures while she's composing. Going back to sort through and delete the undesirable pics is a chore she has thus far declined to do. A real mess awaits the next photo upload.
Why burst mode can't be disabled in preferences is beyond me.
Download a different camera app?
It's really not an iOS 7 problem.
Again, anecdotal. Based on general consensus, there's nothing particularly wrong with the stock camera app. You're free to download other camera apps. Apple knows this and they don't seem to mind.
Keep in mind that the stock camera app is not VSCO Cam, for instance. It's pretty obvious that a lot of folks just naturally move on from the stock apps over the years. Been this way since the inception of the App Store. And this has worked pretty brilliantly for Apple, and certainly not to the detriment of the platform, which has the most robust developer community in the biz.
I've been using the square mode to avoid these problems, but sometimes the camera defaults back to the full mode. Seems like the testing is happening more on the 4" screens.
Using the physical button on the side of the iPhone is far easier.
And that's so 2025.
Ha! Joke's on me, then. I really thought this was another article from Daniel. Secondly, why the hell don't these articles get a signature with date & time of publishing (Kaspers' slave isn't going to do it for accuracy, and please get rid of the word slave as it's still in effect) and the authors' name?