Why VSCOcam is the best Camera for iOS8 So Far

They say that the best camera you have is the one you have with you. For the most of you I bet you have your iPhone with you, your best camera. I myself always have my iPhone with me as well. But to tell you the truth I rarely use my iPhone as a camera. Why you ask? Well, because it is not a professional camera. I know what you are thinking. Why is this guy on his high horse saying that the iPhone is not a professional camera? Well most of the time I am in a situation where the lighting is not right and the flash on the iPhone is not strong enough to compensate for the situation and the phone will pump up the ISO to correct for the light. The result is a very pixalated and really grainy photo. There is no control over this… Until now with iOS 8 and VSCOcam.

When Tim Cook announce the release of iOS 8 in early June of 2014 he mentioned many new features in the new iOS SDK. One of the many new features mentioned was Photo Kit. This allowed developers to be able to develop tools to work directly with the photos app as well as the camera on an iPhone. As a photographer I got very excited about this. This meant developers could add more controls to the built in camera of the iPhone. And the day that iOS 8 was released,that is exactly what the developers at Visual Supply Company did. They upgraded their very popular free app VSCOcam with many features that made me leave my go to Camera+ app. It gives the controls of a professional level camera, right in your iPhone.

Let us start with the basics of VSCOcam. The interface is simple and easy to use. It takes on the flat look that was introduced in iOS 7. It is simple to focus by tapping. If you want exposure seperate from focus you can use two fingers at once to create two seperate circles, one for exposure and the other for focus.

These are features available in many other camera apps, but what sets VSCOcam apart from others are it’s new iOS 8 Photo Kit features these include:

Manual Brightness - This allows you to adjsut the brightness higher or lower - on a professional level camera this is equavilant to exposure compensation
Manual Shutter Speed - This allows for the shutter to be open for a longer period of time or a shorter period of time. This can allow for the faster shutter prevent less shake in your photo.
Manual White Balance - This can allow you to change the coloring of your photo, allowing you for to adjust if the image is too blue or too much orange. For professionals, you can dial in the correct Kelvin for the external light being use to compensate for the color casting.
Manual Focus - Sometimes you may want to manually focus to make an image out of focus on purpose for added Bokeh effects or you want to pre-focus for a moving object. This feature allows you to do this.
Manual ISO - My favorite new feature, the ability to adjust the sensitivity of sensor. The more sensative or higher the ISO the less light it needs to take a photo, but it makes the photo grainy. If you going to use the flash or dont want the image to be grainy you can then lower the ISO.

Using manual settings the image came out not bad

Overblow using the automatic settings

If you combine these settings, and experiment with some light you can make some amazing photos with the manual settings.

You tell me what do you think of the new VSCOcam? Perhaps you prefer a different Camera App? Tell us what you think. Leave a comment below, send me a tweet on twitter, or post on my facebook. Heck even send us a message. Let me know so I can help. Subscribe to our newsletter to gain even more tips. Happy travels

Erick Redcloud

A partially blind Graphic Designer, Freelance Travel Photographer, Artist, Buddhist and Vegetarian who loves to travel. Erick loves traveling by being with the locals and going off the beaten path. He is the founder and owner of Pathlesstravels and loves inspiring others to follow their dreams, whether it is to travel or something completely different. He started Pathlesstravels to hone is photography skills and to meet amazing people, and to help a friend break into journalism. Check out his photography at his link.