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.
