mau's blog

“Best Camera” by Chase Jarvis & Ubermind

Fans of Chase Jarvis found a nice surprise this morning when they checked his blog for the latest news. It seems Chase has been working on an iPhone App for a while and it has finally seen the light of day this morning.

The App is called Best Camera and the name comes from the popular phrase “The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You”. This App gives you a bunch of filters and tweaks you can apply to the photos taken with your iPhone and is similar to other Apps on the iPhone (Camera Bag comes to mind) where you can get creative with your shots. The big advantege Best Camera has is that it has included a social aspect to the process. Any images you create you can then share with all the popular social networks from within the App.

You give the App permission to access your Facebook, Twitter, etc. and then using the Share button your photos get sent to all those sites at once. This really is a reflection of the whole philosophy that Chase has promoted for a long time. He is one of the most, if not the most open and generous photographers out there when it comes to sharing his knowledge and experiences.

Here’s a couple of images from the App in action:

The icon for Best Camera

This is the startup screen. A nice simple interface. I really appreciate good design and this just works.

Here are the main sections explained

I first went into the Settings and approved all the logins for my social media sites (Facebook, Tweeter etc.)

Then it was time to try things out. I loaded an image into the App by tapping on the second icon at the bottom. This takes you to the Camera Roll on your phone. You can also take a shot with the camera. I selected an image and I was ready to start checking some effects.

The first effect I tried was Candy. It gave the shot a nice saturated and contrasty look. I really like the intense orange colour of the beer.

I applied the changes and was brought back to the main screen.

I tried the Vignette icon and this is what I got. Cool.

If at any point in the creative process you want to remove a filter or go back to where you were a few steps back, you just press the icon with the two circles in the upper right hand side of the main screen (looks like 2 filters one on top of each other) and you are taken to this screen where you can tap on the “x” above each filter. It’s like having an “undo” command.

Finally when you are happy with your image you click on the big arrow at the bottom of the main screen and you select which social media sites you want your shot to appear in. It’s that simple.

Overall I really like this App. It is super simple to use, the interface is perfectly designed and it runs great. I think the social aspect is what’s going to make it a bit more popular with users than the other Apps that do similar things.

There are a couple of filters that I wish Best Camera would offer that you can find in it’s direct competitor Camera Bag but that’s a minor thing and I’m guessing that future versions of this one may offer more filters and effects. My ideal App would be Best Camera and PhotoGene (the other App I use on every shot I take) rolled into one. That would be iPhone camera heaven.

This is a great App and at 3 dollars it’s a must buy in my book.

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