App Store » iOS APPS
Spectre Camera
Take iPhone shots to the next level.
$2.99 | CHROMANOIR.COM | NEEDS IOS 11 OR LATER (AUTO SCENE DETECTION REQUIRES IOS 12)
Spectre Camera enables you to
create images with light trails,
dreamy-looking water or shots
which appear to have no people or
traffic in them.
Rather than your iPhone’s camera
running a single exposure for a long
time, it shoots hundreds of
exposures for your chosen time,
then blends them.
You just compose your frame,
press the shutter and let it go to
work. You can cycle through shutter
speeds, and the on-screen stabiliser
uses a device’s accelerometer to let
you know when the camera’s stable
enough to get going.
Our test images were adequately
(rather than extremely) sharp – fine
for online sharing or small-scale
printing. The app also records the
entire process and saves it as a Live
Photo.
The developer claims that it can
be used to shoot long exposures
handheld. We found that this
resulted in very blurry images.
Using a tripod gave the best results.
Spectre is easy to use, affordable
and fulfils its purpose well. If you’re
looking to elevate late-night
photographs or shots with moving
subjects, this app is for you.
Dave StevensonCapsicum
Planner, notebook and tracker.
$1.99 MONTHLY/$19.99 ANNUAL
SUBSCRIPTION | CAPSICUM.APP
| NEEDS IOS 12 OR LATER
Capsicum combines a daily planner with a
habit tracker and notebook. The Planning
section allows you to view events, to-do list
items, notes and a weather forecast for the
day. And tabs along the top of the screen
make it easy to swap between weekly or
monthly views.
Swap to Habit Tracking and you can
add items like exercise or meditation, and
set alerts for each. The Loose Leaf section
allows you to add lists or notes. You can
create multiple notebooks, customise
covers, and change font and text colour.
You can also create Siri Shortcuts to log
your habits.
Things then get a bit muddled. While
you can add to-do list items in Loose
Leaf or Planner, those you add in Loose
Leaf don’t show up in Planner. You must
also choose the correct notebook before
viewing what’s lined up for the day. The
cover and font options are also a bit cheesy,
and the iPad version doesn’t make good
use of the additional screen space.
There are more elegant planners (such
as Moleskine Timepage, for example) and
better productivity apps (like Things).
Capsicum doesn’t do the whole job well
enough to tempt us away from those.
Kenny Hemphill