Have you ever wanted an easier way to take photographs on your iPhone? Something that takes the simplicity of the Camera app and mixes it with features of a traditional DSLR? While the Apple camera application only offers a few features, perhaps you wanted an easy way to create a time lapse or take a family self portrait. With Canopy Camera Tools, a new iPhone app, you can do all that and more.
While many camera applications offer hundreds of bloated features, Canopy focuses on bringing you easy to use features without having to read a manual. Its combination of accurate icons and intuitive controls make it easy to use, while its Time Lapse features and integration with the Kopok case make it fun.
All the Basics
Canopy features a similar interface to the Camera app.
Canopy contains all the basic features you’d expect, plus a little more. Take advantage of the iPhone 4’s camera flash, adjust the white balance, adjust the focus detection (turn them on or off), record video and more. Now, these all sound like features you’d expect from an photography app, but does the default Camera.app include a timed delay for taking pictures? Canopy does, allowing you set your iPhone down and enable the timer.
This makes for perfect family portraits where you would need to set the iPhone across the room. Just open Canopy and set it down on a level surface. Toggle the time delay button and push the camera button, starting the timer. You’ll have 10 seconds to get in frame and prepared.
Canopy will even set off the flash a few times before it takes a picture, allowing you to get ready for the shot. Time delay works when using the regular still picture mode and the video recording mode. No more trimming the beginnings of the video as you set the camera down. Just enable the time delay and start recording. It’s as simple as that.
Easily share your snaps to Facebook
Time Lapse
Time Lapse photography is easy with Canopy.
Canopy has a unique feature that hasn’t quite made it into mainstream iPhone camera applications. It has a time lapse function which enables you to easily take photos a set interval. Capture the movements of a crowd or measure the growth of your plants by setting your iPhone or iPod Touch in view of the plants. Control how long it should record, how many pictures it should take, and even the frequency of how often it should take picture.
Canopy is even smart enough to bypass the iPhone’s automatic lock, allowing it to run for hours without interaction. I setup my iPod Touch near a window and captured a time lapse as it started to get dark. I just aimed my iPod Touch at the window, propped it against something and enabled the time lapse mode. Canopy automatically stitches the pictures together into a video, preventing you from having a camera roll filled with hundreds of time lapse pictures. Time lapse has never been so easy.
Kopok Case
When I started to experiment with Canopy, I noticed something about photography on the iPhone. Propping an iPhone up while running a time lapse or even while on a time delay is hard. In fact, holding and shooting video with the iPhone is hard when your main objective is to keep it still. If you find yourself recoding video on your iPhone quite frequently, then you probably wish you could attach it somehow to a tripod. That is how the Kopok case for iPhone came into creation. It combines an iPhone 4 case with an attachment for a tripod.
The Canopy Kapok Case
Easily mount your iPhone 4 to a tripod and use it for extended time lapse or video recording. But, that’s not all the Kopak case can do. It adds buttons to your iPhone. That’s right, it adds the ability for you to take pictures and videos via a physical button built into the case. This is accomplished using their Kopok case API, an API that Canopy takes advantage of and uses. Put your iPhone in the Kopok case and Canopy will recognize the accessory. Then you can start taking pictures with the push of a physical button. The greatest benefit of using a physical button is keeping your phone still. Normally, pressing the iPhone’s display will cause the phone to move, possibly ruining your shot. With a physical button, you’ll aren’t moving the phone at all. It’s that simple.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a more powerful, yet easy to use, camera application, look no further than Canopy. It manages to find a great balance of intuitive icons and controls that make it incredibly easy to use.
With features like Time Lapse, Time Delay, and integration with the Kopok case, it is a great application for photographers to use. Start snapping photos using the Kopok case hardware buttons, or film a time lapse using the Kopok’s tripod screw.