CRITIQUES

CameraKit is a photo processing app created by Tetsuya Chiba.  In this app you can process photos with a myriad of treatment options.  You can choose to either process an image that is taken directly with the camera from within the app or from an image that is saved in your camera roll.

At the bottom of the main screen you will see 5 options.  The two options on the left side deal with how you import the image you will be working with.  Touch the camera icon to launch the iPhone camera to take a photo from within the app, or touch the photos icon to be taken to your photo library where you can choose your photo.

The center button labeled "Develop" is where the magic happens.  Touch the Develop button to be taken to the screen where you have all your treatment options.  A full list of all the treatment options is listed below.  When you take a photo, or you import one from your camera roll, it will apply the settings that are saved in the Develop menu.  Once you see the effect the settings has on your image, you can go back into the Develop menu and tweak the options to get the look you want.

When you have an image you are happy with you can touch the 3.5" floppy disk icon (do kids even know what these are?) to save your image.  You can either save it to your camera roll or send the image via email.

Touch the button on the far right of the screen to access the settings menu where you can adjust settings like image size for saving and for emailing.  You should take a look at these options before you begin working because some of them will have an effect on your final product. 

There is no autosave, undo, or a way to save different presets you like, so if you liked a look you had created in the past, you have to remember it.  When you close out of the app, none of the work will be saved from the previous session.  Your settings in the Develop menu will still be there, but your image will not, so if you do close the app in the middle of a session, you will need to reload the image and apply the settings.  I also want to note here, that if you take a photo from within the app, it might be a good idea to turn on the "save original" option in the settings menu just in case you have to close out of the app for some reason.  It would be a shame to take a killer photo from within the app, then close out of the app and lose the photo entirely!

There are also no other sharing features other than email.  It would be nice to see some more simple photo sharing options in future releases of this app.

Settings:

Save Original Photo - on / off option

Square cropping - on / off option

Max output size - see below

Startup screen - none, camera, photo albums

Jpeg Quality (at Email) - Low, Normal, High, Best

Links to flickr group and support site (takes you out of the app and opens in Safari)

Output Sizes:

427x320

640x480

800x600

1024x768

1280x960

1600x1200

Full Size

The app suggests "When you are using iPhone 3G, the size recommends 800x600 or less."  I had no problems working at Full Size resolution on my iPhone 3G.

Treatment options in the "Develop" menu:

Film - Color, B&W, Sepia, Classic

Vignetting - on / off option

Flash Lighting - on / off option

Soft focus - 4 different levels

Cross Processing - Normal, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow

Push / Pull Processing - 2 stops up or down

Signature - on / off option

This app review was written and submitted by Nathaniel Park.  If you would like to submit an app review to be featured in the App Critiques section, email django@iPhoneArt.com.

To purchase this app at the iTunes store click here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/camerakit/id302562237?mt=8