iPhone applications for analogue photography?

polyglot · Jul 26, 2009

Hi guys,

Due to an encounter with unemployment that will be starting for me in a week, I plan on writing some iPhone apps (I'm a software engineer, amongst other things) to pay for my lunch if nothing else. I know about the Massive Dev Chart app and use it myself; I'm posting this here to see if there are any other applications that you think would be useful.

I have a handful of ideas so far that I intend to implement over the next few weeks assuming I can get XCode sorted but more ideas are always welcome, particularly if it's for some burning need you have.

When pondering this, try to think if there's some annoying process that you'd like automated; don't worry too much about how to solve it (though obviously I will not be selling an iPhone app that implements an E-6 minilab... there are hardware limitations!), just give me a list of all the annoying crap that you'd prefer you didn't have to do and hopefully I can maybe make some of it easier.

Large-format people in particular, I'm looking at you: bellows correction factors, scheimpflug-rule angles, etc.

Also, what's the deal with announcing such apps on APUG? I don't want to spam and annoy people but I want to make people aware of my apps on the presumption that you'd find 'em valuable and send me lots filthy lucre.

thanks.

E76 · Jul 26, 2009

I'd like to see a logbook style app that lets me keep track of my exposures and other notes. As an added bonus, it would also record the location at which the photograph was taken using GPS.

polyglot · Jul 27, 2009

Yep, that's in the pipeline. With note-taking, what sort of information do people want to record other than the shutter/aperture/ISO? Multiple light readings? Required zone-system adjustments for that frame?

A reciprocity calculator (free) and reciprocity-failure adjustments (paid for) as an upgrade from that will probably be my first app. I have a "killer feature" I'm going to add to that that's pretty specific to it being in a smartphone but I don't want to talk about it too much here as there are other reciprocity apps out there that could add it pretty quickly and I'd like to be first.

domaz · Jul 27, 2009

I wrote a reciprocity and exposure adjusting (bellows extension etc..) app for Windows Mobile that I planned on releasing for free. If anyone actually has Windows Mobile and is interested that is. Reciprocity correction is done using formulas I found around the web for common films.

philosomatographer · Jul 27, 2009

If you can get access to the raw data from the camera (before it hits the image processing pipeline) I would imagine you could make an app that would turn the iPhone (or any camera phone) into a killer light meter. One would simply need calibration data for the different CCD sensors in the different phones.

I am also a software engineer, and have played around with this a little bit, but I am pretty sure it's possible, one could make a fantastic multi-spot meter, and even an incident meter if one markets a little diffuser dome attachment to clip onto the lens.

I am confident that the hardware is there in order to exceed what any existing hand-held meter could do - wouldn't that be grand?

polyglot · Jul 27, 2009

So much for keeping my killer feature under my hat: the plan is to support spot, average, matrix and flash metering, though the latter is hardest and may require an ND on the camera as their apertures don't get very small. Perhaps integrate it with some zone-system calculations to tell the photographer what contrast expansion/compression they might want to use. If it can be an incident meter (just need any old white plastic as long as its spectrum is OK) then the phone-cam can be a print analyser too but I suspect I'd make that a separate app.

Any non-metering suggestions? I've spent a fair bit of time planning that particular area of functionality.

darkosaric · Jul 27, 2009

Maybe not only for analog, but also for digital photos: to make statistic - how many photos in folder was shoot with this and this shutter speed, how many photos are with this iso value, how many photos with this aperture... It could be interesting to see what is your most use iso, f stop, shutter speed, etc... Is there a program that is able to calculate statistic from exif values?

polyglot · Jul 27, 2009

darkosaric: that is actually very easy to do with digital (or scanned film if you put EXIF in there) and there are many scripts out there which will pull the relevant info from directories of jpegs. I can PM you some Perl scripts I wrote that do just that if you like. If you have a DM-9 (data back for Dynax 9), then I can also PM you a script which will manufacture EXIF from the stored data and insert it into a directory full of scanned images.

Bit difficult with a folder full of negs though.

darkosaric · Jul 27, 2009

polyglot said:
darkosaric: that is actually very easy to do with digital (or scanned film if you put EXIF in there) and there are many scripts out there which will pull the relevant info from directories of jpegs. I can PM you some Perl scripts I wrote that do just that if you like. If you have a DM-9 (data back for Dynax 9), then I can also PM you a script which will manufacture EXIF from the stored data and insert it into a directory full of scanned images.

Bit difficult with a folder full of negs though.

Thanks. I would like a script my email is darkosaric {at} yahoo.com

I don't have DM-9 , so only first script.

thanks,

jd callow · Jul 27, 2009

Waht comes to mind... The meter would be great.
long exposure timer, calculator for bracket sets of 3 and 5 in full, 1/2 and 1/3 stop increments, log book for (catalogue shots especially where the fields can be created so as to be more useable/out put to a db), colour meter, level, bellows factor calculator and dof calculator for multi formats.

SMBooth · Jul 27, 2009

Pinhole exposure calculator

polyglot · Jul 27, 2009

Darko: check your email.

JD: cheers - didn't think of bracketing. Exposure timer is a good idea. Colour meter... am pondering that for screen-calibration purposes but I don't think the phone will have the accuracy, though I'll look into it. DOF calculators are already free on the app store, though I don't think any of them will do the adjustments necessary when using tilt - might build that into an LF calculator later.

nuckabean · Jul 27, 2009

There is an exposure meter (called light meter) but I haven't played with it too much. Seems ok though.

MattKing · Jul 27, 2009

If the application could port the data seamlessly into negative/slide/print data archiving software, it might convince me to get an iPhone.

Oh and by the way, an interface with calendaring and contact software would be great as well.

Matt

polyglot · Jul 27, 2009

MattKing: did you have any particular neg/slide/print archiving software in mind? And what purpose the calendar/contact integration?

photovestad · Jul 27, 2009

platform

Good on you for spending your time in such a productive manner. I've spent a bunch of time over the last few days looking for aps that will help ease me into lf. Just downloaded photobuddy which seems to have at least a few useful features but their sister program, a light meter, only works with the 3gs. So, my request for the app is that it be fully functional, ar at least that there be a version that operates on the older 3G phone.

polyglot · Jul 27, 2009

Yeah it'd have to work with 3G as that is what I have There might be a hardware limitation or something though as the 3GS camera is a lot better than the 3G one. Might be that there is no exposure information (EXIF type stuff) from the older camera so no way to meter. We'll see.

2F/2F · Jul 27, 2009

D of F calculator for various formats that lets you manually enter a circle of confusion if desired would be useful.

I don't have an I-Phone, however...

MattKing · Jul 28, 2009

polyglot said:
MattKing: did you have any particular neg/slide/print archiving software in mind? And what purpose the calendar/contact integration?

Polyglot:

With respect to your first question, just something easily accessible and flexible. Others will have a much better knowledge of what might be available than I do. What I do care about is that you don't want two, incompatible systems that require duplicated data entry, different modes of data entry, and duplicate and/or inconsistent searches

With respect to the calendar/contact integration question, I bring it up because photographs often correspond with schedules and people, so it is really irritating to have to store information about times and dates and people that relate to photographs in a different location and in a different way than the information you store about other, non-photographic times and dates and people.

Matt

MVNelson · Jul 28, 2009

how about a quick port of BTZS to iphone . the Basic program was published/distributed freely by phil Davis.

AgX · Jul 28, 2009

Reading this all I realize how oldfashioned I am.

thafred · Jul 29, 2009

what I would love to see if you do some kind of log-book app (in addition to what all the others said) is the possibility to take a snapshot of the szene and have a thumbnail attached to the log entries. would really speed up finding the data to a specific negative.

bellows correction factor would be nice to have too! oh, and id like to see a bubble level integrated

Curt · Jul 29, 2009

Now if we could get the next version of the iPhone to have an actual light meter in it that would be gravy. And a color temp. meter too, I still have a Gossen Sixty Color, but don't use it that much.

delphine · Jul 29, 2009

Curt, there is an existing light meter application for the 3GS models at £1.79.
This said, I don't have it myself.

I like the idea of the log book as suggested by "thafred". Also, a table with the filter correction factor would be nice, I can never remember mine.

polyglot · Jul 29, 2009

thafred: yep, logbook definitely has plans for cam-phone thumbnails in it. Bubble-level is a good idea - there are free apps that do that but I can certainly integrate it.

iPhone applications for analogue photography?

polyglot

E76

polyglot

domaz

philosomatographer

polyglot

darkosaric

polyglot

darkosaric

jd callow

Moderator

SMBooth

polyglot

nuckabean

MattKing

Moderator

polyglot

photovestad

polyglot

2F/2F

MattKing

Moderator

MVNelson

AgX

thafred

Curt

delphine

polyglot

iPhone applications for analogue photography?

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Moderator

Moderator

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