I have not found much joy in iPhone photography of late. Between the flat, HDR-heavy image processing and the stagnant hardware compared to competitors, it’s rare that I’ll use my iPhone for anything beyond quick, functional snapshots. “Here is the price of eggs at the supermarket today” in a chat message. That sort of thing.
But over the past week, I’ve been having more fun with my iPhone camera than I’ve had in years. The reason for that is !Camera, a new app that completely reimagines the experience of taking photos on your phone.
Inspiring design
!Camera—no, I am not entirely sure how you’re meant to say that out loud—comes from Not Boring Software, which also makes a suite of iOS apps including a weather app, a timer, a calculator, and more. I’ve tried some of these in the past and admired their stylish, original design, but none of them really stuck with me; I tend to lean into functionality if I’m going to learn a new app.
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But cameras are the opposite. Unless I’m shooting professionally at a critical event, I want cameras to have their own personality and inspire me to use them. That’s exactly what you get with !Camera.
Although !Camera solely exists in software, its unique 3D interface makes your iPhone feel like a new device. The colorful, customizable UI is not intended to look realistic, exactly, but the combination of visual effects and haptic feedback is surprisingly believable. I set up a shortcut to open !Camera with the iPhone’s physical Action Button, which adds to the verisimilitude.
The chunky virtual dials show shadows in the knurls as you tilt your phone, based on input from the gyroscope. The iPhone’s haptic system lets you feel every notch along the dials, together with satisfying clunks when you swap between lenses or turn the flash on. And I can’t remember the last time I didn’t immediately turn off the beeps on a digital camera, but the stereo sound effects here actually add to the experience.
Simple UI
The UI itself is extremely simple. There is a huge shutter button that’s impossible to miss, plus two key dials: one for exposure compensation, and the other to select photo styles. You do have the option to switch to a manual mode, but it feels intentional that the two virtual dials are dedicated to accessible features that are more likely to make a real difference on a phone camera. There’s also a clever take on manual focus that brings up a loupe-like ring when you drag directly on the viewfinder. The UI is rounded out by two switches for the flash and to swap between lenses—there’s no option for 2x or any other “fake” digital zoom—as well as a settings button that takes you to a more conventional menu with all the customization features.
One feature you won’t find is the ability to view all your photos; they just get saved straight into your iPhone’s photo app. This is presumably so that you don’t spend half your time “chimping,” or immediately checking the pictures you took rather than concentrating on taking some more. It’s a good decision, especially since the photos themselves can take a second or two to process. After pressing the shutter button, you get a quick preview on the viewfinder that doesn’t quite match the final results but is enough to let you know whether you got the shot or not.
Great results
The results are usually great. !Camera can shoot in Apple’s ProRAW format or use the basic JPEG processing, but it defaults to its own SuperRaw system that adds a slight grain and goes for punchy exposure. These photos can all capture HDR data, and you can also save a regular RAW file at the same time for editing later.
!Camera supports importing LUTs, or lookup tables, the same kind of presets used by many pro photographers. It also comes with several styles of its own, including a couple of monochrome filmlike options by Tokyo-based AgBr, the collective behind the excellent Mac and iOS photo editing app of the same name. These aren’t just filters: They’re embedded right into the image-processing pipeline.
Last month Apple announced that it is shifting all of its operating systems to a new visual style built around a virtual material called Liquid Glass. Design chief Alan Dye said in a statement that it “combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve, as it transforms depending on your content or context.”
!Camera takes a similar approach in some ways, as it acknowledges the physical properties of the iPhone and reacts in real time. But you couldn’t make !Camera out of Liquid Glass—it’s already made out of something else. Its materials have a style and a charm entirely their own, and they make your phone feel like a timeless camera in the real world rather than something that exists only in the Apple universe.
More to the point, it is simply a heck of a lot of fun. I’d fallen out of love with iPhone photography, but !Camera has pulled me right back.
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