The latest update to our Technical Camera app had been released about a month ago. Besides the usual device support updates (for new iPhones and iPads) and iOS 18 related stuff (dark mode icons and so on), there are a couple of things I’d like to talk about.
Ultra Wide Zooming
We use our own ultra wide camera distortion correction solution as it is far superior to Apple’s built in correction. For one, it allows precise simulation required in the Mark II Artist’s Viewfinder, and is behind the Framing Previsor in Tech Camera.
There is one limitation with the better correction, however: if the device’s ultra wide camera is way too distorted, then we can’t do the correction when one zooms in.
Fortunately the latest incarnation of Apple’s ultra wide cameras (in the iPhone 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max, 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max) are much better in this regard and thus we can do distortion correction when you zoom in.
Given the very short minimum focusing distance of these ultra wide cameras, this makes a formidable macro shooting solution.
Note however, that zooming is only available with JPG captures. For RAWs, you’ll have to crop afterwards manually.
Camera and Action Button Support
iPhone 16 models introduced the Camera button, which I honestly regard as a marketing gimmick. It reminds me of the Canon EOS R’s ill-designed touch bar… Since we have much better user interface solutions for camera control than this, we are not going to support it except for one thing: capturing images.
Speaking of initiating captures with hardware buttons, if you run iOS 17.2 or later, the Action button can also be used for this purpose. The only requirement is that you must assign the “Open Technical Camera” shortcut to it. But with this assignment, the Action button can be used to launch the app, and subsequently take pictures – without lifting your finger from the button. Pretty neat.
Highlight Alert Adjustment
There is a significant step back with recent iOS versions regarding non-HDR captures: the system lowers the dynamic range by about 10%… For no reason… It just stared to happen with newer iOS versions on more and more devices.
So since this is the new norm, we adjusted the highlight alert’s cutoff point to reflect the lower maximum. It’s sad enough that non-HDR dynamic range is reduced by iOS, but at least you can now see where will the system prematurely blow the highlights.
Capture Button Bonuses
One more thing. There are two minor, but nice things regarding the on-screen capture button. First, it has haptic feedback in case you enabled haptic feedback in both the app’s menu and on your phone in general.
Plus, try what happens if you disable Other Sounds in the app’s menu! Yes, you no longer have to put your phone or iPad into silent mode to avoid the ugly iOS shutter sound. Well, unless you live in Japan, where this feature is not available.
