MacNews

Although my hobby is photography and I have a few DSLR cameras as well as a couple of point and shoots, I would say the camera that I actually use the most is the one on my iPhone. It’s the one that’s always with me. I don’t look at it as a replacement for my professional bodies, but I do look at it as a replacement for about 99% of what I used to carry a point & shoot for. I find that I only use my point & shoot these days for concerts. Needless to say I was happy to see a much improved camera on the iPhone 4s. The one on the iPhone 4 was a bit of a let down with early white balance problems (yellow tint) and shots that didn’t look that much better than the 3GS I had before it. The iPhone 4s is a big improvement across the board AND iOS 5 has a few tricks up it’s sleeve too.

1. Double Tap the Home Button on the Lock Screen

I have missed my share of shots. By the time it takes me to unlock my screen, find the camera app, fire it up and what for it open, many times the action was over. Now, in iOS 5 on the iPhone and iPod touch all you have to do is double tap the home button to get right to the camera. BONUS TIP: The Volume Up button also fires the shutter!

2. Swipe to get to the Camera Roll

One of the nice and hidden iOS 5 features is the ability to switch between the camera and the camera roll to see the shots you just took. When the camera is up, you can swipe to the right anytime you want to see your shots and swipe right back to continue shooting.

3. Tweet it right from the camera roll

If you took a shot and want to immediately Tweet it, you no longer have to fire up your Twitter App. Just use the Share menu and Tweet your shot right from the camera roll.

4. Edit your images right from the camera roll

You can do basic edits right on your iDevice without having to launch another App. You can crop, remove redeye, rotate and Auto Enhance just by tapping the Edit button.

5. Move your images into Albums

Finally on iOS 5 you can take images with your camera and then create and move those images into albums. Unfortunately you still can’t edit the albums sync’d via iTunes, but this is a good step in the right direction.