Camera M Manual

Default Screen

Camera M Default Screen is the center for all exposure-related functionality, and it is extremely powerful due to the control and tools it offers.

Overview

ISO and Exposure Duration Button

This button displays live ISO and exposure duration values while being the gateway to ISO and Exposure Duration Screen to adjust custom exposure values.

This button highlights in gray when exposure is custom mode (ISO and exposure duration set explicitly).


iOS Exposure Modes

iOS camera hardware has four main exposure modes:

  1. Auto exposure continuous

  2. Auto exposure

  3. Custom exposure (ISO and exposure duration set explicitly)

  4. Locked exposure

By default, when first launched, Camera M is in auto exposure continuous mode. Depending on the scene changes, camera hardware continuously adjusts exposure. When exposure mode is locked, exposure bias gauge is shown in orange color. Exposure lock/auto button turns to a lock symbol to indicate the exposure mode is locked.



Exposure Offset Gauge

Just as on Default Screen, this powerful gauge informs the difference between the metered exposure level of the current scene and the target exposure value. This gauge varies from -6EV to +6EV and active during auto and custom exposure modes where ISO and exposure duration values are set explicitly. This gauge is also present in ISO and Exposure Duration Screen.



Tap-to-Expose

Simply tap inside camera preview area to choose a specific exposure point. The system uses spot metering method using auto exposure mode to calculate the exposure for that specific point. Overlay for this point is illustrated by a simple circle to indicate that only the exposure point (not the focus point) is set.

Exposure Bias Adjustment

  • Touch inside camera preview area and drag up or down to adjust exposure bias. Exposure bias gauge indicates the bias applied to the target exposure value, in EV units.

  • Swipe or flick up or down to use intertia to move exposure bias in bigger strides.

  • If Magic Trackpad is used on iPad, swipe up or down using two fingers.

  • Touch and hold inside camera preview area to reset exposure bias back to 0.

If exposure is in custom mode (ISO and exposure duration set explicitly), exposure bias has no effect; therefore, exposure bias gauge will not be visible.

Exposure Reset

There are multiple ways to reset exposure mode back to auto while resetting the exposure point, if set, on Camera M. This would also reset exposure bias.

  • Touch and hold inside camera preview area.

  • Tap on Exposure lock/auto button.

  • Touch and hold on Exposure button on Control Center.

  • If a keyboard is used on iPad, press command + R.

Highlight and Shadow Alerts

Among many comprehensive tools to aid exposure adjustment, highlight and shadow alert function displays a live overlay of overexposed and underexposed areas. Just tap on Highlight and shadow alert button and the live overlay will begin.

  • Overexposed areas (255 luminance pixels) are displayed in red color.

  • Underexposed areas (0 luminance pixels) are displayed in blue color.

Adjust exposure accordingly to have the least amount of red and blue visible.

Highlights and shadow alerts function is not available under certain circumstances, for example, with Depth mode, Dual/Triple Photo mode, etc. Also not available when histogram display is on.

For maximum energy savings, avoid using this feature for an extended period.

Histograms

The histogram is a graph illustrating the distribution of each primary color's brightness level in the image. Tap on Histogram button to display RGB histogram.

Camera M offers two beautiful live histograms to aid exposure adjustment - when visible, tap inside the histogram area to toggle between different histograms.

Histogram function is not available under certain circumstances, for example, with Depth mode, Dual/Triple Photo mode, etc. Also not available when Highlight and shadow alerts function is on.

For maximum energy savings, avoid using histogram feature for an extended period.