Obscura Camera App Gets Major Update

[MacRumors]

Photography app Obscura was today updated to version 4, and developer Ben McCarthy says it's a revamp that has been in the works for more than a year. Much of the app has been rebuilt from scratch to make the app more intuitive to use.

Aimed at photography enthusiasts, Obscura has a wide range of features, but it is also simple enough that it can be used casually. The updated design puts the camera controls that you need most front and center so they're easily accessible, with additional tools packed into radial menus.

Exposure, focus, white balance, and other parameters can be dialed in using the control options, and haptic feedback makes it feel similar to using an actual camera. The new layout is meant to make it easy to reach controls one-handed, so a shot can be set up within a few seconds.

Videos, photos, Live Photos, and portraits are supported, so it has much of the same functionality that's available in the built-in Camera app on the iPhone, plus there are multiple filters that can be applied before a shot is taken so you know exactly what your image will look like.

The newest version of Obscura works not only on the iPhone, but also on the iPad. The camera controls on iPad are the same as the iPhone, but it has a sidebar for navigating through albums.

Obscura has been updated with a subscription model. It can be downloaded for free from the App Store, but unlocking all of the features will require the Ultra upgrade that's priced at $9.99 per year. Through September 11, the app can be purchased for $7.99 for the first year.

A free trial is available, and customers who already had Obscura 3 will have all of the features included in that update. New premium features will require an Ultra subscription going forward, however, and current users can upgrade for $4.99 for the first year.

Premium features available to existing Obscura 3 users and new Obscura 4 Ultra subscribers include RAW and ProRAW capture, Portrait and Live Photos capture, 48-megapixel images, image filters, manual exposure, and more, with more information available on the Obscura website.

Article Link: Obscura Camera App Gets Major Update

 

[mavere]

My biggest pet peeve with Halide is that the lens switcher overlays the entire UI. Sad to see that the same design is used here.

If framing is such an important photography concept, why make the easiest reframing tool so cumbersome to use?

 

[btbeme]

Great app. Use it all the time. That said, I'd much rather pay a one-time fee to buy a great app than use a subscription model, even one with a reasonable pricing structure like this. Gonna have to make a decision here, I guess.

I get it - great apps come from great talent and hard work, and that should be rewarded. But I like to own things, not rent them. I guess the generation(s) behind me are more apt to feel differently.

 

[Boeingfan]

Another subscription 👎

 

[jz0309]

I was getting excited until - Ultra subscription…

 

[The Barron]

Pay to access all the features 😰

 

[entropys]

What extra services do you get to justify a subscription model? Storage? An AI training service?
a subscription just to use the app?

Forget about it.

 

[Larsvonhier]

Obscure business model.
scnr

 

[sparky1499]

Subscription? No thanks.

I'll stick with ProShot .

 

[Azzamaurice]

Anyone else initially read it as Obscure Camera App and wonder why even write an article about it?

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

Subscription? No thanks.

I'll stick with ProShot .

What do you like about ProShot? Sell me on it!

 

[sparky1499]

Subscription? No thanks.

I'll stick with ProShot .

What do you like about ProShot? Sell me on it!

It's not subscription based for a start!

 

[jdavid_rp]

There is a jailbreak tweak that offers subscription and a one time buy. If you choose the one time you only get updates for 3 months since the day you buy it. I see it fair and something devs from apps like this could include. You like the actual state of the app and need no more? Just buy it, else go to the subscription

 

[hooptyuber]

I was getting excited until - Ultra subscription…

 

[leicaman]

The name Obscura Camera is just wrong. For any photographer, or artist, familiar with the term Camera Obscura, this name makes our brains hurt!

 

[akidd]

I get the dislike of subscription versus one time purchase on major things from say Microsoft, Adobe, Apple but $9.99 a year for a niche product that relatively low numbers of people will even know exists? That I do not understand. If people trial it and like it pay the $9.99. If not don’t. How much is a coffee in McD’s is the US? If you want the app to survive, pay.
I’ve had really useful apps from early App Store days that got the business model wrong by really cheap purchases (iTalk for one) that were great but never gave users the chance to pay a little bit more to ensure it carried on working.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Why can't we just own things anymore?

 

[thecatranch]

I was actually interested until I saw the subscription - I pay for exactly one streaming subscription SERVICE at a time, no more than that. How is this a service at all. I understand the developer deserves to be paid, so charge a fair price up front. The subscription model just feels like a cynical ploy that relies on people signing up and forgetting about it.

 

[iGMX]

It’s strange to be paying an annual fee for an app that only gets infrequent updates to the UI and rare updates to core functionality.

 

[fatTribble]

Probably not what everyone else is interested in, but I didn’t realize Live Photos could be taken by other camera apps. I thought it was Apple only.

 

[nutmac]

... customers who already had Obscura 3 will have all of the features included in that update.

If the developer can figure out a way to grandfather existing users for older features they purchased, can't the developer offer a similar scheme for new customers? That is, pay for 1 year of subscription and the user should be able to keep all the features released in that time frame even if they cancel the subscription.

 

[Smigit]

If the developer can figure out a way to grandfather existing users for older features they purchased, can't the developer offer a similar scheme for new customers? That is, pay for 1 year of subscription and the user should be able to keep all the features released in that time frame even if they cancel the subscription.

There are apps that do this. Agenda and WorkingCopy are two such examples that I am aware of.

The dev timestamps feature availability and then compares against prior purchase date to determine if the feature is available or not.

It’s a model I find far more fair.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I was interested, then I saw the subscription. Then I wasn't interested.

 

[zapmymac]

Looking for a new camera app that does macro well…such as Camera+ BUT their (Latenite) recent selling to a weird unknown company that does not answer emails (Heavyplumb) has me jumpy about letting them have total access to my photo library. To add to the weirdness, Latenite just debuted a new app (Photon) for a wicked high price OR sub…that is camera+ all over again.

Shenanigans

 

[abowlby]

I was ready and willing to purchase this app, but I'm beyond subscription fatigue at this point.