Technical Camera 2.2 Released

The latest update to my Technical Camera app is now available on the App Store.

Just like in case of the Mark II Artist’s Viewfinder, it concludes the fall release cycle for the app, adding iOS/iPadOS 16 and new device support.

But there’s more that makes using Technical Camera faster and more efficient.

First, the app now returns to shooting when you switch to it, closing any screens that you may have left open the last time you used the app. This stems from my own usage pattern, where I tend to put the app into the background with an album page open. In the past I subsequently cursed the developer that I have to manually close the damn album when I want to shoot immediately.

But we don’t pull the rug from under your feet – don’t close the screen – when you’re doing any of the following: creating and configuring an album, editing copyright information or navigating with the album’s map.

Second, you can now close camera and screen options by tapping their gray background.

And last but not least, when you are in the album browser, tapping the album’s name lets you change the current album with no need to close the album screen, go into the menu to do the change, and navigate back.

You can check out what’s new this year’s 2.x versions in the release notes.

The update is free for existing users.

iPhone 12 Pro Max Support Added to Artist’s Viewfinder and Technical Camera

Updates to fully support iPhone 12 Pro Max cameras in Mark II Artist’s Viewfinder and Technical Camera are now available on the App Store. This includes both lab-measured angle of views as well as Wide Mode support for the ultra wide camera.

But since the telephoto camera is longer than all other iPhone telephoto cameras were (2.5x vs 2x), the user interface of both apps had to be adapted to the new situation.

Changes in Artist’s Viewfinder to accommodate the 2.5x camera of the 12 Pro Max

The changes are consistent across both apps. First, the 2x icon on the Quick Control Screen in Artists Viewfinder and on Camera Options in Technical Camera changes to 2.5 in case your device sports the longer telephoto camera.

Second, the Smart Function Key formerly known as Switch Wide/Tele Cameras is now named Toggle Telephoto Camera, and the associated key label has been changed from 2x to T to be angle of view neutral. Well, the name change was long overdue since the old one was rather ambiguous on triple camera devices…

The Viewfinder Handbook has also been updated to reflect these changes.

And that’s it for now. Mark II Artist’s Viewfinder 6.8 and Technical Camera 1.9 are free updates for existing users.

First Batch of iPhone 12 Support Updates

Artist’s Viewfinder 6.7 and Technical Camera 1.8 now support three of this year’s four iPhone models: 12, 12 Pro and because it shares its camera system with the regular 12, the 12 mini. Due to camera differences between the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, we’ll issue another update once we have a 12 Pro Max in the lab and completed all the measurements.

Compared to 11-series devices, the new camera systems bring both a positive and a negative change. The ultra wide camera has optics that can be corrected more precisely than last year’s, but in exchange the wide camera has more distortion (clearly visible in the corners). You can’t have it all… Other that these, there’s nothing worth mentioning – the ultra wide inherited most of the flaws and limitations of its predecessor (no RAW, no AF, requires software distortion correction).

As usual, we’ve added a few new cameras to the Viewfinder Camera Database, including the Canon C70 and RED KOMODO 6K (for the complete list see the release notes).

iOS 14 Compatibility and Device Support Updates

During the last week we had issued updates to all our apps. These cover compatibility fixes with iOS 14 as well as new iPad and camera support. All apps will work on the new iPad Air, for example.

Bad news first: due to the fact that USB camera control is still completely broken in iOS 14.0.1, we advise Kuuvik Capture and ShutterCount users to defer updating from iOS 13 until Apple fixes the issue. People using only Wi-Fi connections to their cameras are not affected. We’ve added a message when a non-operating USB connection is detected, so you can see whether Apple’s bug affects you.

Update (November 6): The just-released iOS 14.2 finally fixes this bug.

Now the good stuff…

Both Artist’s Viewfinder and Technical Camera was updated with added functionality to be able to use the volume down button as a shutter release, and support the ultra wide camera in this year’s iPad Pro models. Artist’s Viewfinder’s camera database was also expanded with 23 new models.

ShutterCount as well as Kuuvik Capture 5 received a new progress indicator on iOS, displayed when connections take longer than a second. Connections may take a long time if you have numerous images on the memory card, and thus it is a good practice to have an empty card in the camera when using these apps on iPhone or iPad. We’ve also improved Wi-Fi pairing problem detection in all variants and platform versions.

Camera-wise, Canon’s 850D/Rebel T8i is now supported in both apps, and ShutterCount is also certified to work with Nikon’s D780 and Z5. Speaking of cameras, Kuuvik Capture 5 finally gets EOS R5 support!

Since the R5 firmware is still a bug farm, be prepared for some serious limitations. For example, multi-point live view is not available and the snail-fast Wi-Fi is not supported. We are continuously monitoring new firmware versions to see whether these issues are fixed. Honestly, we were waiting for v1.2.0 promised to be released in early September, but since it haven’t materialized yet, we’ve decided to release the app with these limitations.

If you noticed a theme that large companies, such as Apple and Canon, release manure-quality software these days, well, you are not alone…

Kuuvik Capture 5 also got a surprisingly useful new feature on both Mac and iPad: beep when a sequence or a bulb exposure is finished. It is on by default, but can be turned off in the app’s preferences.

These updates are available free of charge for existing users, and can be downloaded from the respective App Store.