Things to consider…

Make sure your camera app’s toolset meets your needs

1 Shooting modes

Like DSLR cameras, pro camera apps offer a variety of modes and presets. For example, White Balance (WB) enables you to capture true colours in different lighting scenarios, while an Action shooting mode uses a fast shutter speed to freeze moving subjects.

2 Focus and exposure

We usually rely on our iPhone to automatically set the exposure to show detail in shadows and highlights. Histograms enable you to see the spread of tones more effectively and adjust the exposure accordingly. Zebrastriped warnings display areas that are overor underexposed. Focus peaking adds coloured outlines to indicate whether a foreground or background subject is nice and sharp.

3 File formats

Professional DSLR users tend to capture their images in Raw format. This gives them more colour and tonal information to work with. However a Raw file requires some processing in a digital darkroom before it looks its best. Raw files also need to be converted to .jpeg format before an image can be shared online via a social media site for example.

4 Post-production tools

Not every shot will turn out perfectly in relation to colour, tone, composition and focus. Some of our test apps also provide digital darkrooms or filters. If you prefer to adjust colour, tone and composition in Apple’s Photos app though, you may not need to have a suite of image editing tools cluttering up the app.