Apple’s built-in camera app leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, it does the basics, like taking stills and video, but that’s all it does -- which may explain why so many third-party developers thought they could do a better job and provide features that would become indispensable to many users.
QuickPix is one such app. Although it can shoot both video and stills, its primary focus is taking pictures. You can, for instance get it to take a shot as soon as the app is launched -- although since you can’t see what you’re about to capture, the results may not be ideal, but at least you’ll have taken a picture if timing was critical.
Our favorite feature is RapidFire Mode: keep your finger on the camera icon and you’ll keep taking pictures, helping you make sure you get that perfect moment. You can take more shots per second with an iPod touch, but that’s because the iPhone has a much higher-resolution lens, so the processing takes longer between shots.
QuickPix has many parameters you can switch on or off, like fixing the camera’s focus after the first shot. It's got a slider to zoom into your viewfinder, but since pinch-to-zoom is standard in other parts of iOS, it’s here too -- something Apple’s default Camera app should consider.
You can browse through your Camera Roll, but here, you have to tap on the previous and next arrows to navigate your images. For some reason, the more natural swipe gesture isn’t supported.
The video part of the app doesn't make it immediately obvious that you’re recording video since no timer is displayed, which we found annoying. But on the plus side, you can also take stills while the recording video, a nice feature.
The bottom line. QuickPix is a huge improvement over the default Camera app and can help make sure you don’t miss a photo opportunity ever again.
of 5
iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, fourth-gen iPod touch, iPad, iPad 2 running iOS 4.1 or later
Tap and hold the camera icon to keep taking pictures. Many user-definable parameters, like taking a shot as the app is launched. Pinch to zoom into your photo to frame it exactly. Universal app: works with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
Can’t swipe through photos in your camera roll (have to use buttons instead). Not immediately clear when you’re taking video. Icons don’t rotate as you change your device’s orientation.
