The original iPhone had a very simple camera that lacked user-directed focus, zoom, or a flash. The iPhone 3GS added one-touch focus features, but it took until the iPhone 4 for the iPhone camera to add important features like flash and zoom. The iPhone 4S added a few nice features besides. Now that all of these features have arrived, here's how to use them:
Camera Zoom
The iPhone camera can not only focus on any element of a picture when you tap it (you'll see a target-like box appear over the area you're tapped; that's where the camera will focus), you can also zoom in or out.
To do this, open the Camera app. When you want to zoom in on an aspect of the image, simply pinch and drag to zoom in as you would do in other apps (i.e., put thumb and forefinger together on the screen and then drag them apart towards opposite ends of the screen). This will both zoom in on the image and reveal a slider bar with a minus on one end and a plus on the other will appear at the bottom of the image. This is the zoom. You can either keep pinching and dragging, or slide the bar left or right, to zoom in and out. The image will automatically adjust as you do this. When you have just the photo you want, tap the camera icon at the bottom center of the screen.
Works with: iPhone 3GS and higher
iPhone Camera Flash
The iPhone camera is often pretty good at picking up the details of an image in low light, but thanks to the addition of a flash, you can get great low-light photos. Once you're in the Camera app, you'll find the flash icon at the top left of the screen, with the lightning bolt on it. There are a few options for using the flash:
- Off - This is pretty self-explanatory, I think. And is the default setting for the camera.
- Auto - Tap the flash icon to reveal its options. Select "auto" if you want the flash to be used only when needed, as determined by the iPhone.
- On - When you select this, the flash will be used with every picture you take.
Works with: iPhone 4 and higher
Using HDR Photos
HDR, or High Dynamic Range, photos take multiple exposures of the same scene and then combine them to create a better looking, more detailed image. HDR photography was added to the iPhone 4 with iOS 4.1.
If you're running iOS 4.1, when you open the Camera app, you'll find a button reading HDR On at the top middle of the screen. If you're running iOS 5 or higher, you'll see an Options button at the top of the screen. Tap it to reveal a slider to turn HDR photos on.
To turn them off (you'll want to do this if you're trying to save disk space), tap the button/move the slider so it reads HDR Off.
Works with: iPhone 4 and higher
AutoFocus
To automatically bring the focus of a photo to a particular section of a photo, double tap that area of the screen. A square will appear on the screen to indicate what part of the image the camera is focusing on. Autofocus also automatically adjusts exposure and white balance to attempt to deliver the best looking photo.
Works with: iPhone 4 and higher
Grid
There's another option in iOS 5's Options menu: grid. Move its slider to On and a grid will be overlaid on screen (it's just for composition; the grid won't appear on your images). The grid breaks the image up into nine equally sized squares and can help you compose your photos.
Works with: iPhone 3GS and higher
Switch Cameras
The iPhone 4, 4th generation iPod touch, and iPad 2, and all later models, all have two cameras, one facing the user, the other on the back of the device. Choosing which camera you're taking a photo with is easy. By default, the higher-resolution camera on the back is selected, but to choose the user-facing one (if you want to take a self portrait, for instance), just tap the button in the top right corner of the Camera app that looks like a camera with rotating arrows around it. The image on the screen will change to the one picked up by the user-facing camera. To change back, just tap the button again.
Works with: iPhone 4 and higher
AE/AF Lock
In iOS 5 and higher, the Camera app includes an AE/AF lock feature to let you lock in auto-exposure or autofocus settings. To turn this on, tap on the screen and hold until you see AE/AF Lock appear at the bottom of the screen.To turn the lock off, tap the screen again.
Works with: iPhone 3GS and higher
Shortcut to Camera
If you're running iOS 5 or higher, there's a shortcut to access to the Camera app from lockscreen. Instead of having to unlock your phone, locate the Camera app and tap to launch it, you now have a much quicker option. If you're running iOS 5 and 5.0.1, simply quickly double click the home button while the phone is locked. In the lockscreen that appears, you'll see a small camera icon in the bottom right corner. Tap that and jump right to the Camera app without sliding to unlock your phone. In iOS 5.1, just swipe up from the bottom of any lockscreen (no double click of the home button needed) and you'll jump right to the camera.
Works with: iPhone 3GS and higher
Volume Up Button to Take Pictures
Beginning in iOS 5, you can snap photos using a physical button just like on other cameras. Instead of only using the onscreen button in the Camera app, you can also click the volume up button on the side of the photo to take a picture.
Works with: iPhone 3GS and higher
Recording Video
The iPhone 4S camera can also record video at up to 1080p HD, while the iPhone 4 camera records at 720p HD. To change from taking still photos to video, look for the slider at the bottom right corner of the screen. There you'll see two icons, one that looks like a camera, the other that looks like a square with a triangle coming out of it (designed to look like a movie camera). Move the slider so that the button is under the movie camera icon and the iPhone camera will switch to video mode.
To begin recording video, tap the button with the red circle in it. When you're recording, the red button will blink and a timer will appear onscreen. To stop recording, tap the button again.
Some of the still photography features of the app, like HDR photos, don't work when recording video, though the flash does.
Video shot with the iPhone camera can be edited using the iPhone's built-in video editor, Apple's iMovie app (Purchase at iTunes), or other third-party apps.
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