XP4N: I made a (photography) thing!

Luxthor

@Robin2 said:

@Luxthor said:

@Robin2 said:
It’s not about who’s happy and who isn’t, surely, it’s just about what is the closest emulation of the actual behaviour of the film stock in question.

It’s my personal preference, I agree with change, and everything is fine. 👍 But what you wrote looks like you wanted that change but were not exactly happy about it, or I’m wrong.

I still need one night walk to test the new patch. I can’t wait to see the result.

No, no, you’re wrong. I simply asked Bram whether the effect was that pronounced on the actual film stock. I personally didn’t think it looked very good in daylight shots before but that wasn’t a request for a change - if the answer had come back that that’s how the actual film behaved then it absolutely should have stayed like that. Personally, i think the results look much better now but that’s also irrelevant; the important thing is that it is now a better emulation of the actual film stock.

Anyway, it’s all good. Cheers.

I really like that forced red bloom, it’s crude and it should be tamed, no dub’t about it. Green acidic cast also. But in all that crudeness, it has that charm of “happy accident." 😅 You know, blatant, right in your face effect.

I’ll probably continue to experiment with this aesthetic with other tools.

brambos

@Tarekith said:
After music making, photography is my favorite pastime so I really appreciate this. Excellent work, always wanted to play with an Xpan myself as well. I bet someone like Thomas Heaton on YouTube would be really into this and generate more interest (he uses an Xpan), might be worth reaching out to him!

Thanks for that suggestion! I'll definitely contact him, if only to see if I can get some real-world insights and feedback.

On another note: I've just sent the new update to Apple for review...

• haptic feedback for all actions
• use volume keys to take pictures
• support for rotating the camera
• big labels to indicate the selected film type when changing films

richardyot

Just for comparison, this is the regular phone camera:

Same shot with XP4N. I think it really does make a huge difference to how you think about framing the shot, this one is with the Balanced Mode, which is my favourite for daylight shots:

And a few more from my walk on the beach this morning:

brambos

@richardyot said:
Just for comparison, this is the regular phone camera:
...
Same shot with XP4N. I think it really does make a huge difference to how you think about framing the shot, this one is with the Balanced Mode, which is my favourite for daylight shots:

Wonderful! I really love these.. those really shine in the panoramic format

richardyot

@brambos said:

@richardyot said:
Just for comparison, this is the regular phone camera:
...
Same shot with XP4N. I think it really does make a huge difference to how you think about framing the shot, this one is with the Balanced Mode, which is my favourite for daylight shots:

Wonderful! I really love these.. those really shine in the panoramic format

Thanks! And I'm looking forward to the update that lets me use the volume up button, I find it's much more stable to shoot that way rather than having to tap the screen.

brambos

@SinghSong said:

@brambos said:

@Tarekith said:
I bet someone like Thomas Heaton on YouTube would be really into this and generate more interest (he uses an Xpan), might be worth reaching out to him!

Thanks for that suggestion! I'll definitely contact him, if only to see if I can get some real-world insights and feedback.

Just sayin’ could be the perfect guy for an XPAN shutter sound 😉…gift him Koala, use Brusfri, then run a version through Hilda for an alternative option 🤐

I definitely looked into custom shutter sounds. Apparently it will be possible to suppress the standard sound in iOS 18 , but it’s not allowed now as far as I can tell.

There are regions where it’s illegal to to silence the photo sound to make it impossible to take secret shots. So it’s all managed by the system.

lasselu

Great shots, @richardyot! Also, I'm seriously jealous now...wish I could walk my dog there...

richardyot

@lasselu said:
Great shots, @richardyot! Also, I'm seriously jealous now...wish I could walk my dog there...

The dogs love it! (mine is the darker brown spaniel, from this morning)

sch

@brambos said:
On another note: I've just sent the new update to Apple for review...

• haptic feedback for all actions
• use volume keys to take pictures
• support for rotating the camera
• big labels to indicate the selected film type when changing films

Sounds great!

Please also consider the following:

• ability to switch to Photos from within XP4N
• exp comp (it looks +2/3EV bright to me) to keep highlights
• save RAW crop for PP

Cheers

Luxthor

@richardyot said:
And a few more from my walk on the beach this morning:

This one is fantastic, put that person into a spacesuit, and it’s an image from a different planet. 🤩

Svetlovska

At Blea Tarn, Langdale this morning:

iPhone 15, XP4N

brambos

@Svetlovska said:
At Blea Tarn, Langdale this morning:

Oh my.. that's magnificent! If I lived near a place like that I wouldn't have a lot of time to make apps

Svetlovska

The Lakes do make it easy…

drez

@Svetlovska i am, like XP4N, tinted “green” with envy. What a lovely universe you live in.

Luxthor

@Svetlovska said:
The Lakes do make it easy…

Oh, I like what I see, 🤩 please share more…

sch

At the Douce Diner, North Van, for lunch.

Makes me realize that I’d love a horizon level too.
Ciao!

sch

Evidence of Cat

(PP on Lr on iPhone 14 Pro Max)

skiphunt

.

Luxthor

@sch said:
At the Douce Diner, North Van, for lunch.

Makes me realize that I’d love a horizon level too.
Ciao!

Lovely photo! The shot looks like it came from a Coen brothers movie. 🤩

brambos

@skiphunt said:
A few in Mexico City

Awesome! Especially that bookstore is amazing!

Luxthor

@skiphunt said:
A few in Mexico City

Mexico City looks freaking exotic to me. I wish I could make one day/night walk with my camera to explore every corner and small alley. Gorditas de chicharron in one hand and camera in another. 😅

wim

How funny that the Chinatown district in Mexico City is far more alive than the once iconic San Francisco Chinatown district is today.

Svetlovska

@brambos : I’m sure someone else will have mentioned this for the inevitable wish list, but might you be able to offer the option to save photos in RAW format? (Just basic RAW - my iPhone can’t handle the Apple extra version) ? I like to mess with my photos and print them out for framing, and RAW gives me the best flexibility for that.

klownshed

@brambos said:
I don't really want to compromise on the original "frame and forget" concept by adding all sorts of camera option widgets to the UI, so here's a neat compromise.

You'll still need to commit to the normal wide angle or the ultra wide angle lens in a way, but you'll be able to swap to your preferred lens (really, as if you're changing lenses on the original XPAN ):

Hiding it here also makes it easier because I don't have to explain that 48mpx mode and UW lens usage are mutually exclusive (at least until the iPhone 16 models come out) etc.

Would, say, pinch to zoom or swiping on the viewfinder to switch lenses be too much of a compromise?

I don’t want to ask for extra features, but some kind of way to switch lenses in app that doesn’t dilute the original vision would be very useful. I appreciate you wanting to keep the vision/concept focussed and not add unnecessary bloat.

skiphunt

@klownshed said:

@brambos said:
I don't really want to compromise on the original "frame and forget" concept by adding all sorts of camera option widgets to the UI, so here's a neat compromise.

You'll still need to commit to the normal wide angle or the ultra wide angle lens in a way, but you'll be able to swap to your preferred lens (really, as if you're changing lenses on the original XPAN ):

Hiding it here also makes it easier because I don't have to explain that 48mpx mode and UW lens usage are mutually exclusive (at least until the iPhone 16 models come out) etc.

Would, say, pinch to zoom or swiping on the viewfinder to switch lenses be too much of a compromise?

I don’t want to ask for extra features, but some kind of way to switch lenses in app that doesn’t dilute the original vision would be very useful. I appreciate you wanting to keep the vision/concept focussed and not add unnecessary bloat.

This is really the only issue I have with using the app more. I’ll commit to ultra wide, but then I’ll have a shot I need normal.

I then have to quit out of the app, launch settings, scroll all the way to the X’s, change the setting, relaunch the app, take my shot, then do it all over again to get back to my preferred ulta wide.

By that time I’ve often missed the shot anyway.

Sure, on an analog camera 📷 you’d have to manually change lenses, but that was always faster than all this settings changing.

brambos

I have implemented “double-tap the viewfinder to change lenses”.

Now if Apple would review the app already that would be great. They’ve become dog slow (perhaps it’s related to category and they take longer to review camera apps than music apps because there’s privacy matters involved?)

skiphunt

More Mexico City

@brambos said:
I have implemented “double-tap the viewfinder to change lenses”.

Now if Apple would review the app already that would be great. They’ve become dog slow (perhaps it’s related to category and they take longer to review camera apps than music apps because there’s privacy matters involved?)

YESSSSSS! Gracias 🙏

sch

@Svetlovska said:
@brambos : I’m sure someone else will have mentioned this for the inevitable wish list, but might you be able to offer the option to save photos in RAW format? (Just basic RAW - my iPhone can’t handle the Apple extra version) ? I like to mess with my photos and print them out for framing, and RAW gives me the best flexibility for that.

YES! I've asked for this too! I'd even be satisfied with, and prefer a cropped RAW that would require less memory for storage and faster file saving. The main feature of this app, for me, is that beautiful aspect ratio crop. I appreciate the work Bram has done on his presets, but for me PP is always such an integral and enjoyable part of the photographic process (and is less messy and smelly these days too!).

BTW, just to reiterate, we also need a quick in-app way to switch between XP4N and the Photos app for checking the captures.

And possibly a horizon line indicator, and Exposure Compensation to better preserve the highlights for JPEG output (no matter what I'm shooting with, I virtually always have Exp Comp set to -2/3 to -1EV).

And then of course there's...

Keep refining it @brambos, it's just getting better and better, my friend!

klownshed

@brambos said:
I have implemented “double-tap the viewfinder to change lenses”.

Now if Apple would review the app already that would be great. They’ve become dog slow (perhaps it’s related to category and they take longer to review camera apps than music apps because there’s privacy matters involved?)

:-)

Luxthor

No one asked for “tap to focus” for close-up shots like this one?! Sorry @brambos! 🫣