[ad_1]
Halide today announced a major update to its award-winning photo app. IPhone users can update to version 2.5, which enables iPhone 13 macro mode on iPhone 8 or newer.
In a blog post, Halide’s Ben Sandofsky explains how great it is to have a macro camera, showing a ton of examples. Sandofsky also explains that this feature was available for a while thanks to third-party lenses, but these implementations are not as powerful as the iPhone 13 solution.
Now, Halide offers a macro mode feature for all iPhone 8 or newer users, and users can choose whether or not to enable the mode.
Macro mode is easily accessible. Unlike the built-in camera, we decided to really make macro photography a deliberate “mode”. While Halide’s ultra-wide camera will always automatically focus on very close subjects if desired, we believe it’s best to shoot macro photos in a mode that supports a particular style of photography.
To access macro mode, users need to press the “AF” button and then the flower icon, which in Halide’s case is a tulip “because our designer is Dutch”. This is how it works:
Upon entering macro mode, some smart things start happening in Halide. To begin with, Halide examines your available cameras and switches to the one with the shortest minimum focus distance. Then it locks the focus to the closest point. You can tap anywhere on the screen to adjust the focus; unlike our standard camera mode, we configure the focus system to only search for objects that are very close to you.
Halide also allows you to adjust the focus by hand. Additionally, the app created a feature called Neural Macro, which converts images in a way that produces “much sharper, smoother results than what you typically get in an editor.”
The app also allows you to go back to the original photo and crop the image by opening it in the iOS Photos app, pressing “Edit” and “Restore”. Halide 2.5 also brings the possibility of taking photos with macro mode as a RAW file.
Oh, what about RAW files? RAW files are RAW, and we respect that. They are left intact and untreated. This means that shooting in pure RAW will just give you the added control of Macro mode, but not the sophisticated neural macro technology. In RAW + JPG mode, you get the best of both worlds, with an unprocessed RAW file and Neural Macro enhanced JPEG shooting.
This update with macro mode is available on all iPhones with neural engine, i.e. iPhone 8 or newer, and it produces full 4K resolution JPEGs with magnification 2x or 3x. Apple’s macro photography feature is only available on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Halide is a free app but requires a subscription to unlock all features. Find out on the App Store here.
FTC: We use automatic affiliate links which generate income. Following.
Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:
[ad_2]
Source link