Clearcam for iPhone is an app that compliments the already existing camera app. Instead of tapping camera, you take your pictures through Clearcam. I found myself using this app when I wanted clearer pictures or when I was in an area that pictures came out either blurry or dark. The concept is quite simple, it'll take several shots of the same thing and either overlays the shots or chooses the best one (depending on what setting you choose). The app claims to up quality of the camera from 5MP images to around 11MP images.
When first loading Clearcam, it looks somewhat similar to the iPhone camera app. It adds a few options that are the basic foundation of what the app really does. You'll see the shutter button and then two options. One labeled "quick" and one labeled "enhanced".
The quick setting is just that. It will take 3 shots in rapid succession. It will save the best one to your camera roll. It works like it says it does and typically always gets a good shot.
The enhanced mode will take 6 shots quickly and it will take the best parts of each one, essentially stitching them together to create a better all around image. In my experience, it was somewhat touch and go. I also would take the same picture with my stock camera app. In some scenarios, it seemed like the stock camera app took better pictures than what Clearcam stitched together. It was rare, but it did happen occasionally. I'm not sure if maybe the app has trouble stitching certain pictures together or rendering them, but there's definitely a bug there.
The app performs better in low light settings than the default camera in all instances (at least in my experience). I'd probably attribute this to the fact that it's picking either the best picture or rendering 6 pictures together to create the best possible image. If the exposure was a little dark in some places, it will pull the better pieces from another picture. Having this app in low light settings is enough to justify purchasing it in my opinion.
(*Side note about pictures, most of them are better quality than shown here, we have a limit on image uploads so I had to downsize some of them which will reduce the quality a bit)
[iTunes Link (opens in new tab)]
Pros
- Increases the quality by a landslide, especially in low light situations
- App is responsive and doesn't take forever to save to the camera roll like other photo apps
- Increases quality in darker pictures
- Very simple to use
Cons
- Some photos come out blurrier than the default camera app (assuming this is some kind of bug)
- No settings other than Quick and Enhanced and tap to focus, would like to see some native contrast and saturation settings to make up for the lack of settings in the default camera app
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