Friday 5 - Halide - manual camera controls in a simple package

Halide: A New Camera App with Manual Controls

The camera app market is constantly evolving, and recently, a new app has emerged that promises to revolutionize the way we take photos. Halide is the result of a collaboration between a former Twitter engineer and a former Apple designer, and it's currently available for download on the App Store at an unbeatable price of $2.99.

Halide boasts your typical automatic controls such as autofocus and exposure adjustments. You can tap to focus and set the right exposure for your subject, and Highlight will automatically adjust the exposure value to an ideal setting. However, what sets Halide apart from other camera apps is its manual control feature. This allows you to change the ISO values, white balance settings, and shutter speed with ease.

One of the standout features of Halide is its swipe gestures interface. You can swipe up and down to adjust the exposure manually, which makes it incredibly easy to fine-tune your shots. Additionally, if you want to get an exact focus on a particular item in your frame, you can use the manual focus controls with ease. The app's design is intuitive, and swipe gestures are the name of the game here.

Halide also includes a feature called focus peaking, which allows you to be more precise with your focusing. This is achieved by presenting an overlay with a little red outline of what's in focus, so you always know whether you have the proper focus or not. This feature is particularly valuable for those who shoot in manual mode.

For those who prefer a more guided approach, Halide also offers additional options such as a rule of thirds grid and a leveler. The rule of thirds grid helps with composition, while the leveler ensures that your shots are perfectly level. Furthermore, you can also use a swipe gesture to navigate through all the photos you've taken.

One of the benefits of using Halide is that it allows you to shoot in raw mode, which retains much more information in your photos for post-processing. This means that you can load your images into software like Lightroom and fine-tune them to perfection. Additionally, Highlight also includes a feature that quickly reviews your last image taken, along with a review window that displays metadata such as the shutter speed and ISO values.

Another benefit of using Halide is that it allows you to save photos as favorites, which appear in the stock photos app for easy access. This means that you can quickly view and manage your favorite shots without having to navigate through multiple apps.

The real appeal of Halide lies in its manual control feature. With the ability to change ISO values, white balance settings, and shutter speed at your fingertips, it gives you a level of creative control that other camera apps simply can't match. Whether you're an experienced photographer or just starting out, Halide offers a wealth of features that will help you take stunning photos.

Halide's manual control feature is particularly useful for balancing exposure levels. For example, if you turn the ISO value up too high, you may end up with an overexposed image that loses detail. Conversely, if your shutter speed is set too fast, it can lead to underexposure and lost details in the shadows. Halide's manual control feature allows you to adjust these settings with precision, ensuring that your images are well-exposed and full of detail.

Similarly, Halide's white balance feature is also a game-changer. With four presets available, such as daylight, tungsten, and indoor lighting, it can help you capture accurate colors in a variety of shooting conditions. Additionally, the app allows you to switch to Auto White Balance, which adjusts the color temperature based on the ambient light.

Finally, Halide includes a histogram feature that's incredibly useful when using manual controls. This feature helps you gauge the exposure levels and prevent overexposure or underexposure, ensuring that your images are well-balanced. When used in conjunction with other features like focus peaking and swipe gestures, Halide offers an unparalleled level of creative control that sets it apart from other camera apps.

In conclusion, Halide is a revolutionary new camera app that promises to change the way we take photos. With its manual control feature, swipe gestures interface, and range of advanced features, it's an absolute must-have for photographers of all levels. Whether you're looking to improve your photography skills or simply want more creative control over your images, Halide is definitely worth checking out.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ena look at halide a brand new camera app with manual controls halide is the result of a collaboration between a former Twitter engineer and a former Apple designer and for the time being it's on sale for 299 on the App Store now of course this app contains your typical automatic controls autof Focus you can tap to focus and tap to uh set the right exposure on whatever subject you intend on shooting and highlight will automatically adjust the exposure value to an ideal setting now this app is built around swipe gestures and you can swipe up and down to adjust the exposure manually if you want to while in automatic mode you can also disable autofocus and focus manually if you wish to do so so if you really want to get an exact focus on a particular item in your frame you can do so using the manual focus controls and it's super easy again swipe gestures are the name of the game here so you can just swipe and lock in on the desired Focus but highlight also Al includes a focus peaking feature which you can enable right here and this allows you to be more precise with your focusing because it presents a overlay a little red outline of what's in Focus so you always know you have the proper focus by using focus peaking this is a very very valuable tool for anyone who shoots in manual mode now if you drag down from the top of the interface to reveal the full quick bar you'll find additional options such as the rule of thirds grid and of course the grid is helpful for composition but it also presents a nice little leveler in here as you see right there that turns yellow once you're exactly level and it goes beyond mere vertical and horizontal levels you also have a top down level as well now alongside your typical jpeg shots you can also shoot in raw mode which allows you to retain much more information in that photo for postprocessing so for instance you can load that image up into something like Lightroom which I have here and really fine-tune that image to your liking now it's no surprise that highlight allows you to quickly review an image you can use a force touch on the image preview box to quickly review the last image you took and the review window allows you to see metadata about your photo so you can see what type of photo when it was taken you can see the shutter speed ISO values very very handy you can also use a swipe gesture to either delete a photo or Mark a photo as a favorite and you can swipe up and down to navigate through all the photos that you've taken now saving a photo as a favorite actually has some real benefits because it appears in the favorites album in the stock photos app for easy access now we've talked about all these other things about a highight but the real appealing thing about this app is that you have real manual control so you can change the iso values you can change the white balance values you can change the shutter speed value and if you know how to use it it can be a very powerful tool that allows you to do things that the normal stock camera app simply can't do so for instance I can change the iso value which adjusts how sensitive the image sensor is to light so obviously if you turn that way up up you're going to have a much Griner image but you also want to make sure that the image is light enough so that it can be seen so it's a balancing act the same thing applies to shutter speed obviously if your shutter speed is slower you can allow more light in which can be better for low light or creative situations obviously you don't want it to be too slow without a tripod because you're going to get that real blur effect unless that's what you're going for lastly you have the ability to change the white balance now you can't di in a kelvin value here you only get four presets but you do get presets for things like daylight and tungsten indoor uh and things like that but you can also switch to Auto white balance which allows it to automatically adjust and then lastly you do get a histogram which is very very handy when using manual controls you can use it with auto as well but when using manual controls it allows you to dial in the exposure so that you're not Overexposed too much or underexposed or you're not clipping Etc so ladies and gentlemen that is highlight on sale for $2.99 on the App Store our Friday 5 pick of the week a great app for manual camera controls let me know what you think in the comments this is Jeff with 9 to5 Maca look at halide a brand new camera app with manual controls halide is the result of a collaboration between a former Twitter engineer and a former Apple designer and for the time being it's on sale for 299 on the App Store now of course this app contains your typical automatic controls autof Focus you can tap to focus and tap to uh set the right exposure on whatever subject you intend on shooting and highlight will automatically adjust the exposure value to an ideal setting now this app is built around swipe gestures and you can swipe up and down to adjust the exposure manually if you want to while in automatic mode you can also disable autofocus and focus manually if you wish to do so so if you really want to get an exact focus on a particular item in your frame you can do so using the manual focus controls and it's super easy again swipe gestures are the name of the game here so you can just swipe and lock in on the desired Focus but highlight also Al includes a focus peaking feature which you can enable right here and this allows you to be more precise with your focusing because it presents a overlay a little red outline of what's in Focus so you always know you have the proper focus by using focus peaking this is a very very valuable tool for anyone who shoots in manual mode now if you drag down from the top of the interface to reveal the full quick bar you'll find additional options such as the rule of thirds grid and of course the grid is helpful for composition but it also presents a nice little leveler in here as you see right there that turns yellow once you're exactly level and it goes beyond mere vertical and horizontal levels you also have a top down level as well now alongside your typical jpeg shots you can also shoot in raw mode which allows you to retain much more information in that photo for postprocessing so for instance you can load that image up into something like Lightroom which I have here and really fine-tune that image to your liking now it's no surprise that highlight allows you to quickly review an image you can use a force touch on the image preview box to quickly review the last image you took and the review window allows you to see metadata about your photo so you can see what type of photo when it was taken you can see the shutter speed ISO values very very handy you can also use a swipe gesture to either delete a photo or Mark a photo as a favorite and you can swipe up and down to navigate through all the photos that you've taken now saving a photo as a favorite actually has some real benefits because it appears in the favorites album in the stock photos app for easy access now we've talked about all these other things about a highight but the real appealing thing about this app is that you have real manual control so you can change the iso values you can change the white balance values you can change the shutter speed value and if you know how to use it it can be a very powerful tool that allows you to do things that the normal stock camera app simply can't do so for instance I can change the iso value which adjusts how sensitive the image sensor is to light so obviously if you turn that way up up you're going to have a much Griner image but you also want to make sure that the image is light enough so that it can be seen so it's a balancing act the same thing applies to shutter speed obviously if your shutter speed is slower you can allow more light in which can be better for low light or creative situations obviously you don't want it to be too slow without a tripod because you're going to get that real blur effect unless that's what you're going for lastly you have the ability to change the white balance now you can't di in a kelvin value here you only get four presets but you do get presets for things like daylight and tungsten indoor uh and things like that but you can also switch to Auto white balance which allows it to automatically adjust and then lastly you do get a histogram which is very very handy when using manual controls you can use it with auto as well but when using manual controls it allows you to dial in the exposure so that you're not Overexposed too much or underexposed or you're not clipping Etc so ladies and gentlemen that is highlight on sale for $2.99 on the App Store our Friday 5 pick of the week a great app for manual camera controls let me know what you think in the comments this is Jeff with 9 to5 Mac\n"