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Halide's New Macro Mode Lets You Take Close-Up Photos Without an iPhone 13 Pro

MacRumors said:
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jz0309 said:
"the Halide app is priced at $2.99 per month or $11.99 per year, or $49.99 as a one-time purchase."
Click to expand...

Nice of macrumors to point this out. But it’s maddening to go to the App Store and try and find that information in the halide listing. Upfront they point out it’s not a free app and that there will be subscriptions but I’ll be damned if it was easy – I’m tempted to say even possible — to find what the prices are. I can’t imagine any other product I buy anywhere, any time where pricing is harder to find. It’s ridiculous. They should be specified clearly at the top of the product listing. Otherwise are we to suspect that the product features are as hard to find as the prices?
 
I suppose the interesting thing here is that Halide have proven that older cameras are fully capable of the features "reserved by Apple" for newer models. I use Halide on my Xr to give me portrait mode on non-humans and objects, something Apple wouldn't allow the stock camera app to do... yet it was fully capable... seems the 12 and older are capable of macro shots but I guess they want to reserve macro as a selling point for the 13!
 
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I paid the $50 for the one time. I'm interested in testing the app, and comparing it to Camera+ 2 on my iPhone 12 Pro Max. $50 is a fair Price as long as the app lives up to it, especially compared to buying a real stand alone camera which can be several hundred to several thousand for a good one. I've never hated the iPhone cameras, but I am not a big fan of Apple's built in camera app if you need manual control. So I'm willing to test things as long as they are reasonably priced.
 
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jz0309 said:
maybe read the entire article or sentence:
"the Halide app is priced at $2.99 per month or $11.99 per year, or $49.99 as a one-time purchase."
Click to expand...
I recall paying something around $4 for the original Halide. It's still fully active as Mark II, I never paid for anything else. If you can't see $50 value in a purchase with such long term value, then you don't need Halide. It does astonishing things that even Apple's software can't. I have an old iPhone XS and it does great macro photos with this update. I can tell it is somewhat computational, real optical rez would be better, but now I have less reason than ever to upgrade my hardware for an iPhone with new cameras.
 
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Macro mode looks awful on my new phone. Really disappointed with it actually. And the fact that it just switches automatically and you have no control is frustrating. Can't wait for the fix on this.
 
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Halide is probably the best
rtdunham said:
Nice of macrumors to point this out. But it’s maddening to go to the App Store and try and find that information in the halide listing. Upfront they point out it’s not a free app and that there will be subscriptions but I’ll be damned if it was easy – I’m tempted to say even possible — to find what the prices are. I can’t imagine any other product I buy anywhere, any time where pricing is harder to find. It’s ridiculous. They should be specified clearly at the top of the product listing. Otherwise are we to suspect that the product features are as hard to find as the prices?
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i just went to the AppStore and find this:
5E298D0A-B714-46E8-90B1-830DCEF5AB93.jpeg
 
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It looks like a really cool app. I had expected to see people complaining that Apple where conning them out of the feature for free... instead I find anti-developer people because the devs offer subscriptions and one time purchase.
 
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jml1982 said:
Macro mode looks awful on my new phone. Really disappointed with it actually. And the fact that it just switches automatically and you have no control is frustrating. Can't wait for the fix on this.
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Yeah, it’s the wide lens that needs macro. The 13mm is very soft and the macro images have only soso detail. Generally will be better off with 77mm zoom.
 
I’ve always liked Halide and this release takes some nice photos. But it’s getting increasingly difficult to navigate and if you want to take a quick photo of something, Halide is absolutely the wrong app for it and I always end up back with the stock app.
 
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rtdunham said:
Nice of macrumors to point this out. But it’s maddening to go to the App Store and try and find that information in the halide listing. Upfront they point out it’s not a free app and that there will be subscriptions but I’ll be damned if it was easy – I’m tempted to say even possible — to find what the prices are. I can’t imagine any other product I buy anywhere, any time where pricing is harder to find. It’s ridiculous. They should be specified clearly at the top of the product listing. Otherwise are we to suspect that the product features are as hard to find as the prices?
Click to expand...



IMG_1723.jpg
 
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Gonna get flammed for this, but given that the outright app purchase only saves money after four and a bit years… that’s a bit steep. Fully appreciate they need to eat etc. and it’s a “pro” app but come on? Maybe two years of subscription for lifetime membership?
 
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Meh, as for as iPhone cameras. They are incredibly slow to use for any manual settings. It is a complicated pattern of touching the screen here and there after you find the proper place to touch, and by the time that photo gets taken your once in a lifetime photo opportunity has long since past. Even their auto-focus seems flaky. So many out of focus photos which a moment before touching the shutter were in focus until you slightly move and the focus zone moves. Frustrating crap. I'll use my Sony cameras over an iPhone any day! They have enough dials and buttons to get the job done quickly even in full manual mode. I don't need an iPhone designed to do everything automatically to take photos, especially since it rarely gets thing right. I leave iPhone cameras for selfie takers and social media twerps. Give me a real camera for photography.
 
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imagine that, existing older hardware perfectly capable but limited by apple
 
Just tried it on my SE 2020. It gets blurry at the same distance as the iPhone's regular camera app. Followed the instructions of tapping AF and then the flower. 😐

Edit: I guess what's happening is that it gets blurry at the same distance, but when you tap the flower while it's still in-focus (before getting too close), it does what looks like a software zoom, thereby seemingly closer to the object.
 
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The app used to be reasonably priced, but Apple prop'd them up so much over the past years, I believe they simply concluded, let's run with it !

IMO, the fair value of the app is where it was originally, $5.99 USD.

And that was their One-Time-Price.

To go from $5.99 USD to $49.99 USD is simply ridiculous !

That tells me they aren't worried about competition, & that they are taking advantage of the fact that the two guys running the App Store, Schiller & Fischer, are NON-Techies, & really don't know any better.

I believe a "Critics Corner" (with comments posted by other App Devs in the same category) is in order for the App Store, to keep things "in check".

It's an idea I came up with just yesterday while driving back to San Diego after four night of camping north of Napa.

Will propose it to Cook later today, & use their app as a Prime Example.

Which illustrates two things, being prop'd up by Apple, & Apple NOT properly promoting other similar Single Shot Camera Apps.

I don't know that segment as well as I know my own, but I do believe there are 5-10 that are on-par with their app, OR close to it !

Apple's Cook & Fischer clearly "Play Favorites" !

Is it because of strategy, OR simply because they don't know any better ?

My guess, a combination of the two.
 
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