Say Cheese

Camera Genius, (US$0.99) is  a nifty little application, which takes the built in iPhone camera and turbocharges it (to put it mechanically). Camera Genius is developed by CodeGoo and they claim that with Camera Genius you can "Replace your default iPhone camera!" and that claim is supported by the features that are packed in to this one little app.

Firstly, there is the typical camera requirements, zoom and a photograph timer (and unfortunately there is no flash, but that is a hardware issue) that have been slipped in. The zoom function is effective, as it lets the user zoom in and out to the required level. When a potential photo is fully and even three-quarters zoomed it loses much of its quality and the image becomes fuzzy and distorted. The timer functions the way you would expect and can be set at two, five, ten, fifteen and thrity second intervals.

The application also contains the very useful anti-shake feature and a bizarre sound activated image capturing option. Whenever I use Camera Genius I always have the anti-shake feature activated. This feature will only take a photo when the camera is not shaking and, therefore, ensures a blur-free photo. Another feature is "Sound Capture" this feature will only take a photo after it recognises a sound which is louder than the preset sound limit. It is essentially a sound activated camera button, which sounds good in theory but really is impractical and awkward (unless you like coughing or yelling whenever you take a photo and do not mind having photos turn out with everyone yelling at apparent nothingness).

The app includes a "Big Button" feature which makes the whole screen turn into a button, so when you're trying to take that skanky Facebook display image you don't have to fiddle around trying to find the minute button that is provided. Some photography guides are also provided which split the screen into thirds and enable the user to be able to see which parts of the subject matter will be in which parts of the final image.

One of the most helpful features is the "Camera Manual" which essentially provides a crash course in photogrphy, which I found very helpful. The manual guides you through the best way to take certain photographs and even tells you which lines and angles to use when taking a photo.

Camera Genuis falters in one area, and this is; once an image has been taken by Camera Genius it cannot be deleted, zoomed in or out and the photo library cannot be scrolled through. This means that if you want to delete a crappy picture you just took, you must leave Camera Genius and go to the photo library icon on the iPhone's home page (horrific, I know). Even though this is a small fault, it can become quite frustrating and tedious.

As an addition to the iPhone's standard camera this application is certainly worth purhcasing, it is full of (mostly) useful features and with the 1.5 version soon to be released, it can only get better.

MyAppSource Rating: 4 Stars!