Magic Shutter iPhone App Review

Features
Performance
Verdict

The Magic Shutter app uses your iPhone to take long exposures and repeated exposure photos. Photos can then be edited and shared. It is available now for just £1.99.

Magic Shutter iPhone App Features

• Magic instant preview
• Set the shutter speed to 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60 seconds or B (unlimited)
• Range of photo filters
• Choose exposure and focus points
• Repeated exposure function
• Flash synchronisation to freeze moving objects
• Exposure compensation to control exposure
• Smart exposure to avoid over exposure
• 5 shooting modes
• 4 flash synchronization options
• Share by email and Facebook or save to library

Magic Shutter iPhone App Performance

When you first open the app you have a number of options along the bottom of the screen. The aperture symbol gives access to the multiple exposure modes and allows you to set the shutter speed and exposure compensation.

The second button, represented by two rectangles overlaying each other, switches to preview screen so you can see your picture being created as you are shooting. This means you can stop shooting as soon as you happy with the result.

The next button gives access to settings which includes options such as grid, timer, autosave, autoclear and quality. The last button starts and finishes shooting.

Within each of the five shooting modes there are four flash synchronisations; front (trigger the flash at the beginning of exposure), rear (trigger the flash at the end of exposure), on (flash stays on while shooting) and off (flash stays off).

Smart Exposure - Uses a slow shutter speed and is ideal if you're unsure how to set up the other exposure modes.

Motion Blur - Ideal for shooting moving targets and making them appear blurred.


Motion Blur

Light Trail - This is ideal when in very dark conditions and allows you to be creative with an LED light for light painting or shooting fireworks.


Light Trail

Manual Exposure - This is used to control the camera's exposure conditions completely. Ideal if you want to capture an image in a way which is not feasible by using all of the above modes.

Double Exposure - Similar to manual exposure, but this mode is only take one shoot. You can then take another shot which is automatically overlaid. As with manual exposure, this mode allows the use of exposure compensation.


Light Trail 2

When you have finished shooting there are two buttons which appear - reshoot and edit. Reshoot clears your picture whereas edit photo allows you to apply one of seven photo filters or save, email and post your image to Facebook.

Magic Shutter iPhone App Verdict

The Magic Shutter App is useful if you want to shoot images with long shutter speeds in a similar way to how you can with a DSLR. There are a large range of features and even after some substantial testing, I still don't grasp every thing the app can do. It is fun to create light trail images with the app and users with a creative imagination will be able to produce superb results, although it is vital that you use a tripod.

Magic Shutter iPhone App Pros

Allows long shutter speeds
The image preview window is great for viewing your image as it is created

Magic Shutter iPhone App Cons

Quite a complex app
Image quality isn't fantastic

FEATURES
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
OVERALL

The Magic Shutter iPhone App is available from the iTunes Store for £1.99. For more information please visit the Anistar App Studio website.