By Graham K. Rogers

A couple of the really useful camera apps that I have installed on my iPhone were updated today: Wood Camera and 645 Pro Mk II. Wood Camera has had a couple of fairly comprehensive updates with some new features, while 645 Pro Mk II had some fixes following its last update a week ago.

Wood Camera

The latest update to version 2.0.3 has several new features concerned with sharing:

• Users can now share directly to Instagram without the need to crop images square;
• Enhanced facebook sharing - location and album selection possible;
• Improved Settings screen with direct links to the developer's profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The update also reminds users that among the improvements with the update to version 2.0 the app now provides 10 new lenses, 11 new textures and 6 new frames as well as improved speeds when using the in-app camera. The 2.0 update also optimised the app for the iPhone 5 and for iOS 6. A particularly valuable addition is the ability (in the Rotate tools) to straighten an image using a slider. Also useful is the Tilt-shift option, while in the same tools section is Vignette.

As before, I was able quickly to take a photograph, then apply several of the editing effects within the app, before saving the image to the camera roll (the original is also saved) and sending a full-size copy via email.

That email image (cropped to 5 x 7) was some 821 KB, with dimensions of 3211 x 2138. The same image saved to the iPhone image library (imported using Photostream to Aperture) had identical size and dimensions,

645 Pro Mk II

A few days ago, the app was updated and a number of filters were added: Sunset, Blue and Tobacco. Apparently the filters were not working, but this latest update has now fixed that, while some additions were made to EXIF data.

I took a photograph using the new Sunset filter (full strength) and the V50 film selection. The image that arrived in Aperture was some 22.86 MB with dimensions of 3264 x 2448 (8 MP). That size will, when exported as in 16-bit TIFF format, open as an image some 45" x 34".

The quality of images that can be produced with this $3.99 app, and with Michael Hardaker's other Medium format apps (particularly Pure Shot, 6 x 7 and 6 x 6), makes these apps especially good value.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.