I have a ton of camera apps on my iPhone, even though I would never claim to be anything but a mild hobbyist when it comes to taking photographs. This makes culling this type of app the ideal place to start in the Decluttering iStuff series.
First off, when decluttering any of my iStuff, price isn’t part of the equation. If I factored it in, I’d have a harder time letting go. It’s what works best for me that determines which apps stay and which go, and (while it sounds cliché) money is no object. In fact, I don’t even mention price on the apps — you’ll have to find them on your own.
Secondly, I’ll always leave two of an “app type” on my devices, merely as a backup in case my first option cacks out. Everything else is removed from my device and only reappears if it warrants moving into one of the top two spots, which can happen if an upgrade is significant enough.
Thirdly, while there are over 2500 apps list in the App Store under the Photography mantle, I’m looking at the ones that take still photos (and may also do video, but I’m going to do a cull of my video apps later in this series) and not ones that simply edit or manipulate existing photos. I’m also not going into ones that have photo capabilities built into an app that does most of service in another niche, like Facebook or PicPosterous. We’re talking about standalone photo apps that I have installed here.
Finally, if I could rid myself of the native iPhone camera app, I would. It pales in comparison to countless other camera apps out there, with its only real advantage being that it (obviously) plays so nicely with the device and iOS in general. But it lacks a ton of function that I’ve gotten used to on other apps, so it’s going to be buried in a folder that you’ll all become familiar with: “Dead Weight”.
Now that I’ve taken care of that, let’s start decluttering my iStuff.
The native app aside, I have the following camera apps for my iPhone:
- Camera+
- Everyday
- Hipstamatic
- Camera Plus Pro
- Gorillacam
Camera+ has received a ton of notice, and I have played with it quite a bit during its residency on my iPhone. It allows for zoom, offers manipulation controls and first stores any photos in its “lightbox”, which is where photos can be kept for safekeeping until the editing process is underway. It’s a solid app with a lot features that I actually use. It may very well be one of my top two choices.
Everyday is a great app in its idea and execution, but I’m not using it as much as I thought I would. Taking a photo of myself everyday is more of a hassle than not these days, so it has fallen by the wayside. However, I think that I may start taking photos of my kids with it to see how they grow over time…that to me has a wider appeal. It’s on the bubble — but barely.
Hipstamatic was cool at first, but the fad wore off on me pretty quickly. And it isn’t as easy for me to use, either. Maybe it’s because the controls are too simple, but I seem to get hung up after taking a photo…the interface didn’t seem too terribly intuitive to me. This app is going into iTunes storage.
You know, I never got into Instagram. Don’t know why, but I think it might be because I was already well invested in some photo apps. Maybe the “insta” in the app’s name reminded me too much of Hipstamatic. Instagram isn’t making the cut, which may have you shaking your head — but it just doesn’t fit into my overall “app flow” right now.
Camera Plus Pro is a solid app, but it has fallen into the “it doesn’t do much more than app X” realm. I really don’t want to spend time learning a new app that doesn’t offer me a compelling reason to do so.1 So long, Camera Plus Pro…I hardly knew ye.
Which brings us to Gorillacam. This one makes the cut, and it does so because it caters to a specific need: it draws my son’s attention. The loud tone before the shutter clicks gets him looking at me, and with the app taking 3 photos with every shot instead of just one, I’m able to get some really special moments captured. It’s really that one simple thing is what elevates Gorillacam to the top spot in my camera app category.
So, the two camera apps that stay on my iPhone are Gorillacam and Camera+. Now maybe I can go from being a mild hobbyist to a medium one.
Next week: iOS Twitter Apps
1 This is going to be a common reason throughout this series.
