Reallusion Big Lens iPhone App Review

Features
Performance
Verdict


The Reallusion Big Lens app allows you to set the aperture, blur levels and adjust background light to make your iPhone pictures even more creative. There are also a number of lens filters available. The software claims to turn your iPhone into a Digital SLR, find out in our review.

Reallusion Big Lens iPhone App Features

• Smart Focus System - use your finger tips to focus your images without any previous knowledge in Depth-of-Field. You can use basic geometric shapes or a lasso tool to auto-focus your target, or you can choose advanced mode to manually define your focus area.
• Aperture Control - instantly change the blur level of the out-of-focus area. 9 unique lenses that allow out-of-focus light points to blur into shapes like hearts and stars.
• Filter Effects - 18 filters that allow users to enhance color, increase contrast, or add Lomo effects.
• Instant Focus/Blur Tool - instantly modify the focus and blur area with your fingers. Enhance and retouch focal areas to make the subject of your photos really pop.
• Before & After Preview - review your images at any time during your make-over process.
• Save images - save in the Camera Roll in full size or can share through e-mail, Facebook, Picasa or Dropbox in 960x720.

Reallusion Big Lens iPhone App Performance

To get started you need to select a photo from your library or take one using the in app camera. For editing there are basic and auto modes, after a couple of practices you'll soon give up on the basic mode as the advanced mode is much more versatile, while remaining easy to use. To select the area you want to keep in focus you can use the brush, eraser, lasso and auto. This turns the area red, making it quite difficult to select a red area. It would be handy if you could see the area you are selecting in a different part of the screen as it is a bit of quess work, especially if you having larger fingers. You can enlarge the picture which makes it easier.

When you have selected your area you can then change the f-stop (selecting from f/1.8, f/2.0, f/2.8, f/3.2 and f/3.5). To further enhance the photos there you can add a filter of a special lens to change the out-of-focus area into blurred shapes. Following this you can fine tune the focus and blur then send your photo by email, upload to Facebook or keep it on your iPhone.

Original	f/1.8	f/2.0
f/2.8	f/3.2	f/3.5

Below are examples of the filters available on the app.

Lomo1	Flare1	Warm
Vivid	Gray BG	Lomo2
Lomo3	Lomo4	Flare2
Cold	Red Sepia	Blue Sepia
Green Sepia	B & W	Pop Warm
Pop Cold	Dark BG	Sepia BG

This picture has been taking setting the lens to f/3.2, using the Lomo2 filter with the star lens.

Reallusion Big Lens iPhone App Verdict

When Reallusion released the app they said the app "turns your iPhone into a professional camera!" This is quite a bold statement as the current iPhone's image quality is never going to compare to that of an SLR, but what the app does is give you a way to be creative with depth-of-field, which is otherwise impossible with the iPhone camera. The app is really easy to use and is a bargain at just £0.69.

The Reallusion Big Lens App is great value for money, easy to use and works really well.

Reallusion Big Lens iPhone App Pros

Easy to use
Adds a different look to your iPhone photos
Costs just £0.69

Reallusion Big Lens iPhone App Cons

Selecting area to keep in focus is a touch tricky

FEATURES
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
OVERALL

The Reallusion Big Lens iPhone App is available from the iTunes Store for £0.69. For more information please visit the Reallusion website.