Turning Paintings into High-Resolution Prints with ProCamera

With your smartphone camera, pigments can become pixels — and artist and designer Lance Hewison reveals how.

Lance Hewison is an American-German artist and designer. Known for his atmospheric paintings in Prussian blue, he recently launched a new online shop offering high-resolution giclée prints of his works.

Since he didn’t have access to a fully equipped professional photo studio, Lance turned to ProCamera to photograph his works at home using just an iPhone, a gray card, and two LED lights.

INTERVIEW

ProCamera: It’s always a pleasure for us to see ProCamera in action — especially where professional photography and art meet. Lance, tell us about your new series Into the Blue and how ProCamera became an essential tool in the process.

Lance: Into the Blue is a collection of paintings in Prussian blue. It is inspired by classic analog photography and the sea. Each work is meant to feel timeless and at the same time dreamlike. Using ProCamera and the iPhone, I then ‘digitized’ my paintings and now offer them as high-quality prints in my online shop.

ProCamera: What were the challenges you faced when photographing your artworks?

Lance: Definitely light and color accuracy. I wanted my shades of blue to appear neither dull nor too warm. My goal was to reproduce the colors and character of my paintings as faithfully as possible. Without a photo studio of my own, I worked with what I had: an iPhone, a tripod, two LED panels, and of course, ProCamera.

ProCamera: How did ProCamera help you when photographing your artworks?

Lance: I didn’t want to leave anything to chance and needed full control over white balance and exposure. Other advantages of ProCamera were the ability to shoot in ProRAW format, which allowed me to work with extra precision in post-processing, as well as the option to calibrate colors using a gray card.

ProCamera: What advice would you give to fellow artists looking to capture their artworks on their own?

Lance: This is the setup I found most helpful:

• Use bright but diffused light (LED lamps with a soft box attached, or alternatively window light on an overcast day)

• Align the camera as parallel as possible to the artwork to avoid perspective distortion

• Avoid flash to prevent unwanted reflections

• Set white balance manually for accurate color reproduction (ideally via gray card calibration)

• Shoot in ProRAW or classic RAW format for maximum control in post-processing

• Use a stable tripod to avoid camera shake

• Use a remote shutter release (e.g. EarPods or Bluetooth headset) or the self-timer with a short delay to avoid shake from tapping the screen

• Edit photos carefully until they come as close as possible to the painting. I mainly adjust temperature, contrast, blacks, and sharpness.

Another practical tip is to place the already mentioned gray card visibly right next to the canvas when photographing. This provides a reliable reference during post-processing. In programs like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop, a single click with the white balance tool (eyedropper) on the gray card is enough to automatically correct color temperature and color cast. This way, the previously manually set white balance can be checked and fine-tuned, ensuring consistent and highly accurate color reproduction.

ProCamera: Does the photo have to be an exact reproduction of the artwork?

Lance: An exciting question! For high-quality prints, accuracy and proper preparation are crucial, yet I also see the photographs as independent representations of my works. They need to appear realistic and inviting. Sometimes that means slightly brightening the image or increasing the contrast to capture the effect of gallery lighting.

Lance, thank you for giving us an insight into your current series and working process. For everyone who also feels inspired by the motifs, it is now possible to order your favorite piece in the preferred edition at www.lancehewison.com.

Finally—An HDR Workflow That Works

A Guide for Filmmakers, Content Creators, and Video Pros using ProCamera for iPhone, Lightroom, and Premiere Pro

Make sure HDR is enabled in ProCamera

Note: Premiere Pro does not display HDR correctly in the preview window during editing—colors may appear washed out or grey. The true HDR effect will only be visible after export.

Tip: To improve color accuracy while editing, temporarily switch the working color space to Rec. 709. Before exporting, be sure to switch it back to Rec. 2100 HLG to retain HDR in the final output.

Make sure your footage contains HDR information after importing

Best Export Settings in Premiere Pro for HDR

Saving a Photo as an HDR Video Clip in ProCamera

If you’ve followed all the steps as outlined above, your video is ready to share with the world in its full HDR glory! Social Media platforms like YouTube will now recognize your video as HDR once uploaded. Keep in mind it might take a day or two for the video to finish processing and appear in HDR. So be patient! Be sure to check out our latest ProCamera video filmed entirely in HDR (with HDR photos too!) on the beautiful island of Crete.

Conveniently share the live video stream from your iPhone’s camera to devices like MacBooks or TVs

ProCamera v14.4 introduces our new “Stream” mode which allows you to share a clean video feed via HDMI-out or broadcast wirelessly via AirPlay

STREAM TO EXTERNAL DISPLAY

We are excited to offer the new “Stream” mode as a free upgrade for all users. It is a high-quality video solution for business meetings, online workshops, remote yoga classes, or video calls with friends and family. Streaming works fully automatically, yet you have control over focus, white balance, zoom and exposure when needed.

In Stream mode, you share the current live video feed of the iPhone’s camera (without sound and without interface buttons). For best image quality and high dynamic range, the virtual fusion camera is used on multi-lens devices. The option to use the ultra wide angle lens for a wider field of view can be especially useful in certain situations.

This video shows you step-by-step how to turn your iPhone into a high-quality webcam:

Webcam Setup

The following schematic shows the necessary equipment as explained in the video:

• A lightning to HDMI cable for iPhone. Make sure the cable has three ends: a lightning plug on one side, HDMI on the other, and a USB plug to connect to a power source.
• A video capture card (HDMI input, USB output)
• USB to USB cable (to connect the Video capture card with the display)

Based on your preference and the equipment you might already own, the USB plugs can either be the older USB-A standard or the newer USB-C type.

In our test setups, we used different models of Adhope branded capture cards. Based on your budget and demands, you can also find premium capture cards like the Elgato Corsair at a higher price point.

Additional tips and infos

• In most cases, buying the additional equipment is much more affordable than purchasing a high-end external webcam.
• When using a modern iPad with USB-C port (instead of the Lightning port on the iPhone), you don’t need an additional power source for the HDMI adapter as it will get the power from the iPad via USB-C. Be aware that this uses additional battery power.
• In case you are using Apple’s Lightning Digital AV Adapter, you will need an additional HDMI cable in order to connect the adapter to the video capture card.
• AirPlay: Our Stream mode works wirelessly with Apple TV, as well as with Smart TV devices and apps that can act as an AirPlay receiver. To activate streaming, open the iOS Control Panel and enable “Screen Mirroring”, then open ProCamera and switch to Stream mode to share the live camera video stream

FJORDEN CAMERA GRIP

Love ProCamera, but miss the feeling of real camera buttons? Meet Fjorden!

Fjorden is a pro-level iPhone camera grip that provides the tactile enjoyment of physical camera controls: a two-stage shutter button, zoom lever, and customizable dials. We have partnered with Fjorden to ensure that the grip is perfectly suited to be used with ProCamera!

Secure the launch offer and lock in a 25% discount off the retail price by backing Fjorden’s exclusive “ProCamera Edition” on Kickstarter.

If you are a ProCamera Up subscriber on the yearly plan, you will automatically get a free upgrade when opening the Kickstarter campaign via our in-app shop (Open ProCamera > Settings > Shop > Fjorden).

Picture-in-Picture mode lets you watch a thumbnail-sized video playback while you do other things on your iPhone

Multitask while the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) video player is displayed in one of the corners of your screen

Today, we want to provide some tips for this handy little feature which we introduced in ProCamera v14.3.4.

When playing a video in ProCamera you will notice a new button in the top bar of the video player depicting a larger screen being minimized. Tap this button to activate Picture-in-Picture video playback.

Once the video plays in the mini player in the corner of your screen you can swipe down on the background behind it in order to navigate to different areas of ProCamera – or swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen to go to different apps. On devices with a home button, you just need to push the home button to minimize ProCamera and go to other apps.

Please note that switching to any of ProCamera’s photo modes (capture screen) will automatically close the Picture-in-Picture video.

Use cases: Check your emails while watching a long video, type out the words of a speech you recorded, or respond to a video message while watching it.

Better Sound, Improved Image Quality – This Fall Is All About Major Video Upgrades

Following the recent introduction of manual exposure controls, external microphone support, and stereo sound – we are very pleased to announce that Dolby Vision HDR Video is now integrated in ProCamera!

DOLBY VISION: 10-BIT HDR VIDEO

ProCamera v14.1 is available worldwide and it includes support for 10-bit Dolby Vision HDR video recording on iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max!

The Dolby Vision video standard can record 700 million colors to make your clips more lifelike and vibrant. That’s 60 times more colors than in previous 8-bit video recordings! Until now, big film studios have adopted Dolby Vision HDR by making according adjustments in post production – the iPhone is the first camera capable of making these adjustments while recording.

On the latest iPhones, ProCamera will automatically record in HDR for frame rates up to 60fps (iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max) or up to 30fps (iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini).

We have also added a settings option to exclusively record standard, non-HDR 8-bit video on the latest iPhones (Settings > Video Quality > HDR Video: Off).

Since HDR video is such a big step for videography, there are some things to consider when adopting it at this point in time: You will need a proper HDR display (like the new iPhones have) to enjoy the increased dynamic range of HDR clips, some editing softwares are not (yet) capable of maintaining the HDR information, and your video portal of choice needs to be able to process HDR video files. YouTuber DailyTekk released an informative recap on the status quo of HDR video:

STEREO SOUND & EXTERNAL MICROPHONE SUPPORT

STEREO SOUND

We think great audio quality is essential for professional videography. That’s why we have introduced stereo sound for video recordings in v14.0 (iPhone Xs and up). When recording clips in stereo, the Audiometer in our video info panel will show two separate audio channels.

EXTERNAL MICROPHONES

To push the audio quality even further, you may use external microphones when recording videos. We wanted to give you maximum flexibility, and that’s why ProCamera can now connect to a wide range of external bluetooth, lightning, and USB microphones –  like Apple AirPods, Instamic Pro, Shure MV88+, Blue Yeti,…

Using external microphones with ProCamera

Our latest video tutorial shows you how to connect to and film with external microphones in ProCamera:

RECOMMENDED AUDIO EQUIPMENT

It’s easy to get lost in the wide range of available audio equipment for the iPhone, which is why we regularly test new hardware for you. These are the products we have used for our tutorial video above:

Instamic Pro* – The Instamic is a high-fidelity audio recorder that doubles as a waterproof bluetooth microphone (check video tutorial above to hear it and see how to connect it to your iPhone). It’s the microphone of choice of our team members – great build and sound quality, versatile, and compact!

*Disclosure: Affiliate link, which means we will earn a small commission – at no extra cost to you – if you click through and make a purchase. This allows us to continue testing new equipment and work on their integration into ProCamera for your added benefit.

Other recommended products: Shure MV88+ Video Kit (Lightning), Apple AirPods Pro (Bluetooth), and Apples USB-Lightning adapter to utilize compatible USB microphones like the Blue Yeti.

As with all new releases, if you find a bug or have a question then please let us know via in-app support or email us at support@procamera-app.com.

Launch ProCamera by simply tapping the back of your iPhone

One of our favorite features in iOS 14 is the brand new ‘back tap’ that allows you to perform a custom action by double or triple tapping the back of your device

The new back tap accessibility gesture is probably not the most talked about feature during Apple’s current iOS 14 release, but it might just be one of the most useful! There are some iOS default actions – like taking a screenshot or opening the Notification Center – but in this article we want to show you how to add ProCamera to the supported custom shortcuts.

All you need is an iPhone 8 or later equipped with the new iOS 14.

The initial set up is a two step process:

1. Adding a ProCamera shortcut
2. Assigning this shortcut to the double or triple back tap

1. Adding a ProCamera shortcut

There are two ways to add the desired ProCamera shortcut action to your device: Alternative 1 makes use of preset ProCamera actions – if the Shortcuts app isn’t suggesting those actions simply jump to Alternative 2 below.

Congratulations, you just created your first ProCamera shortcut!
Now you only need to assign the shortcut to the new back tap gesture.

2. Assigning the ProCamera shortcut to the back tap

Your ProCamera action will now be available in the accessibility settings:

a) Open the iOS “Settings” app on your iPhone

b) Go to: Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap

c) Choose either the Double or Triple tap and select your custom ProCamera action under “Shortcuts” (it will show the exact same name you entered in step 1e)

You’re all set!

Now you can back tap your iPhone to quickly launch ProCamera from other apps, your home screen, and even the lock screen!

Want the option to quickly launch ProCamera in another camera mode, too? No problem! Just create an additional shortcut for the desired second camera mode following the steps above. After that, assign one action to the double back tap and the other to the triple back tap.

Exposure bracketing is a proven technique that ensures proper exposure even in difficult lighting situations

Instead of a single photo, an exposure bracket comprises a series of photos – all captured at different exposure levels

In addition to the “normal” exposure, you will get (one or more) underexposed as well as overexposed photos to also capture detail in the very bright and really dark areas of the scene. When merging these photos later using specialist software, you can create an optimized final photo that is more detailed and more true to the human vision.

What’s the benefit of exposure brackets?

The general purpose of exposure brackets is to avoid having large areas in your photos without information – like blown out bright white skies or shadows without visible detail.

In post-processing, you can merge the bracketed photos to create an image with (more) detail in the highlights and shadows. Depending on your workflow and your editing software, you may either create an HDR image or a compositing (stitching/blending together the best pieces).

Since the bracketed photos need to align to create a seamless final photo, the technique is not well suited for moving subjects (street traffic, sports, etc.). Also, you’ll want to hold the iPhone as steady as possible during the capture process or use a tripod.

Side Note: In case you prefer a quicker and easier process to get a proper high dynamic range (HDR) image, try our HDR camera mode. It also takes multiple photos but merges these images right on the device in no time.

How does Exposure Bracketing (EB) work in ProCamera?

To capture a manual exposure bracket, go to Photo mode and make sure that M/SI (manual or semi-automatic mode) is activated in the Control Panel. When you have a running ProCamera Up subscription, you will see an Exposure Bracketing button (EB) in the viewfinder.

When tapping the EB button, a special EV dial is displayed with blue markings indicating the different exposures. By moving the outer blue bracket markers on the Exposure Bracketing dial, you can set the maximum over-/under-exposure for the series – optionally up to 7 f-stops apart! You may even dial in an EV value other than 0 for the medium exposure.

Which advanced settings are available for the EB feature?

For advanced users, we have incorporated additional features and settings:

FILE TYPE: Our exposure bracket capture supports all available photo file types. This means you are not limited to JPEG series, but you may also take HEIF, TIFF, RAW and even RAW+JPEG brackets!

LENS: You can shoot brackets with all available lenses of your device – from ultra-wide to tele. As usual, the front-facing camera and the ultra-wide lens don’t support the RAW file format (iOS limitation).

NUMBER OF PHOTOS: Via Settings > Exposure Bracketing you can choose to take brackets consisting of 3, 5, or even 7 photos. When brackets of more than three exposures are captured, you will hear two shutter sounds.

ASYMMETRIC BRACKETS: When activating Settings > Exposure Bracketing > AMEB (Advanced Manual Exposure Bracketing) you can set the amount of over- and underexposure independently. This allows you to capture “lopsided” brackets like -2, 0, +1.

Should I always shoot 7-photo exposure brackets?

The new and advanced option to take brackets consisting of 5 or 7 exposures ist great for scenes with extreme differences in brightness. Yet there are still good reasons to pick the standard 3-photo bracket on some occasions:

CAMERA MOVEMENT: For series of 3 photos, the capture process is shorter, which means it’s easier to avoid camera shake. This is especially true when shooting without a tripod.

MOTION IN THE SCENE: Because all bracketed photos need to align, any kind of motion in the scene (birds, cars, swaying leaves, etc.) poses a problem. With the shorter capture process of the series of 3, you increase your odds of avoiding motion.

Post-Processing Example: Photoshop (Adobe Camera RAW)

There are various specialist programs available to process the bracketed photos in order to create an optimized final image. To conclude this post, we will show one exemplary post-processing workflow using Adobe Photoshop:

• Open Photoshop and select File > Automate > Merge To HDR Pro
• Browse, select, and open all the photos of one exposure bracket
• Check “Attempt To Automatically Align Source Images” in case you didn’t use a tripod
• Choose the bit depth for the final image (32 Bit can store the entire dynamic range in the merged photo)
• Select 32 Bit and check “Complete Toning in Adobe Camera RAW”, then tap “Tone in ACR”
• Make exposure adjustments in Camera RAW. You will notice that you are able to drastically darken/brighten the image without losing details.

How to Turn One Piece From an Old Computer Into a Strong Macro Lens

This hack allows you to recycle one tiny component from a CD or DVD drive and transform your smartphone into a powerful macro camera

During these last couple of lockdown weeks, the entire ProCamera team has been working from home. Team member Nicolai Boenig found this to be the perfect time for a fun little do it yourself photo project. This challenge allowed him to take photos at home, sort out a no longer operational laptop, and dive into an exciting new genre of iPhone photography.

Q: Why is there a macro lens inside a regular CD/DVD drive?

A: Inside a CD/DVD drive or player is a movable component that reads data off the spinning disc. Somewhere in there is a magnifying lens that ensures that the laser is correctly focused. Luckily for us, this little lens is about the size of the current iPhone lenses. By placing the stripped off piece of glass in front of your smartphone camera, you are suddenly able to focus on objects less than an inch away.

Q: How did you get a hold of the tiny lens?

A: Since I was stripping an old, broken down laptop that I was going to recycle anyway, I didn’t need to be super careful to not break anything. Most of the work was removing loads of minuscule screws. First, I opened up the laptop case, then detached the actual DVD drive, and finally took apart the reading head inside the drive.

Q: What did you do next?

A: Step by step, I came across various little glass bits of different shapes and sizes inside the drive. The biggest one of the round shaped elements was the right one for my iPhone 11.

Q: How did you attach the little lens to your iPhone?

A: There are various options reaching from adhesive strip to modeling clay – but in the end I went for more of a „MacGyver fix“: I clamped the lens into a regular bobby pin and simply taped the clip to the back of the iPhone. This enables me to quickly remove the macro lens in case I wanted to take a regular, non-macro photo. This approach also doesn’t require any plastic tape above or underneath the lens, which would degrade the optical quality. In the end, it’s most important to find a solution that keeps the macro lens exactly in the right spot (which is a matter of a fraction of a millimeter) and doesn’t scratch or harm the built-in iPhone camera.

Q: Is there anything to consider when shooting with the DIY macro lens attached?

A: It’s definitely a different experience – but it’s a lot of fun!

• First, you have to get used to getting so close to your subject. My fingers on the back of the iPhone would usually touch the subject when taking a photo. Make sure not to bang your lens on your subject (scratches, cracks, residue,…).
  To give you an impression of the magnification and resolution: this is a close up photo of my computer screen displaying the small ProCamera logo up here on the website. You can see that each white pixel of the logo graphic is actually made up of bars of red, green, and blue (RGB).

• Also, shadow is a major issue. Since you are so close to your subject, you are likely to cast a harsh shadow with your iPhone and/or your hands. Therefore, it’s favorable to shoot in very bright environments, so that there is a lot of indirect light bouncing around. You can try to add in light from external light sources, but then you are more or less limited to back lighting.

• Yet the most challenging aspect is nailing focus, because you are working with an extremely shallow depth of field. Delicate macro subjects – like flowers – tend to move in the wind which doesn’t make it easier. You will find yourself constantly moving your iPhone around. Still, getting anything in focus isn’t enough – most often you will want to have a very specific part of the image in focus, like an eye of a fly or a stamen of a flower.

Q: Do you have any tips on how to focus?

A: Besides a steady hand and a lot of patience, ProCamera’s manual focus feature comes in very handy. I generally like to pre-focus on a specific distance and then move the iPhone back and forth to get the desired part in focus. As you can see in the screenshot, the focus magnifier of the manual focus helps you check sharpness before taking a photo. Bear in mind that you can only focus on a certain short range, this means many subjects are simply too big to get enough of them in focus to make them recognizable or photographically interesting…

Q: All in all, did you enjoy this DIY macro challenge?

A: Quite a lot! It allowed me to explore an exciting and beautiful new miniature world that holds a lot of big surprises when viewed up close. Photography can be quite an expensive endeavor, but for this project everything I needed I already had at home!

Nicolai, thank you for sharing your tips and images with us! To explore more of his photography, go check out his Instagram account (@nicolaiboenig).

The underwater world is a magical place. Wouldn’t it be great to take photos with your iPhone in this beautiful landscape?

Last week we tried just that: We put an iPhone loaded with ProCamera inside an underwater housing and jumped into the Mediterranean Sea. Grab your snorkel and come with us!

INFO: This is a follow-up post to our previous subsea iPhoneography article.

What equipment did you use this time?

We used an iPhone 7 Plus inside a Watershot Pro housing. The main benefits of a professional housing are the robustness and the underwater control. This means you don’t have to worry about penetrating water (depth rating of 195 feet/60 meters) and physical buttons allow you to reliably trigger the shutter button subsea.

How did you set up ProCamera before the dive?

The physical buttons allow you to control the most important features once the iPhone is inside the housing (shutter button, exposure correction, 1x – 2x zoom switch). Yet, some settings need to be entered before storing the iPhone in there:

Continuous Autofocus: Tap in the middle of ProCamera’s Capture Screen to activate. The switch to Continuous Autofocus is indicated by the larger blue reticle and the word “AUTO”. This way, the camera will continuously adjust focus and you are not limited to one fixed focusing distance. This setting is important, since you won’t be able to manually focus once the iPhone is inside the housing.

Aspect Ratio 4:3: Precise framing isn’t that easy under water due to shy and speedy objects, water movement and limited view. Therefore, we went for the maximum resolution (4:3) and cropped our favorite images afterwards.

Rapid Fire: For fish and other agile sea dwellers, our Rapid Fire settings can be quite useful. By holding down the shutter button, the camera will take a burst of photos. This will give you a variety of captures to choose from after the dive.

High image quality: The intrinsic properties of water make it harder to capture crisp and contrasty images. Most of the time, underwater photos need at least basic editing. To get as much image data as possible, set the JPEG/HEIF quality level to 100% or directly switch to TIFF file format.

Do you have more tips for people, who haven’t tried it before?

The most important tipps are already listed in the previous post. But these are additional things to consider:

– The housing is extremely solid and durable. Still, washing the case after a dive in the ocean is recommended, so that the clear front and the glass lens are freed from the layer of salt.

– When snorkeling, applying sun cream (to your back) is advisable. Just wait a few minutes before you touch the housing afterwards. Otherwise, you will cause unpleasant finger prints that obstruct your view at the iPhone display or you will put smudge marks on the lens.

– Try not to directly expose the housing to sand or tiny stones at the beach. The sand grains might scratch the acrylic front of the housing, which could affect the display visibility and the quality of selfies negatively. We put the kit inside a pouch in our beach bag before and after each dive and had no problems.

– Attach the little hand strap to the housing. You don’t want to loose your precious kit and all those wonderful water photos in crushing waves.

– If possible, snorkel or dive more than once. Within a day or even a few hours, an underwater scene can drastically change. You may encounter different wildlife and you may get an even clearer view. A spot that wasn’t very interesting on an afternoon, was fascinating just the next morning.

And last but not least: please take care down there!

In ProCamera, you can now save photos and videos to three different save locations.

Camera Roll, Lightbox, Private Lightbox – let’s see when and why changing the file location is a great advantage.

What is the difference between the three options?

1. Camera Roll: The iOS default and your system-wide save location. After you turn on iCloud Photo Library in iOS Settings, it is called “All Photos”.

2. Lightbox: A special folder for photos and videos inside of ProCamera, which is not provided by iOS.

3. Private Lightbox: An additional folder inside of ProCamera, which is protected. It can only be accessed via Face ID or Touch ID authentication.

To determine where new captures are saved, go to: Settings > General Options: Save Location. When Lightbox or Private Lightbox is currently selected, you will see a little indicator displayed at the edge of the preview thumbnail on the capture screen.

What is so special about ProCamera’s Lightbox and Private Lightbox?

Unlike the iOS Camera Roll, the two internal Lightbox folders will only be visible in ProCamera. Other apps, like social media apps or iOS Photos, can’t see or access photos and videos saved inside these folders. In ProCamera’s album view, you will see the three save locations as three separate entries.

Since Lightbox files are only saved inside ProCamera, they will not be uploaded to the iCloud Photo Library or other cloud storages.
You can conveniently “AirDrop” your photos or videos from the (Private) Lightbox to your Mac or export them to your Camera Roll or other destinations.

What are the benefits of the Private Lightbox?

The Private Lightbox is a protected folder specially designed for personal files. Photos and videos that are saved to the Private Lightbox can only be accessed via Face ID or Touch ID authentication or password entry. Even the little thumbnail on the capture screen doesn’t tell if or what files are currently saved in the Private Lightbox once you minimized or closed the app or locked your iPhone.

How can I activate the Private Lightbox?

The recently introduced Private Lightbox is an advancement, rather than a replacement for our existing Lightbox. It is available as an In-App Purchase and can be unlocked in two different ways:

a) In the App Store app:
Go to the ProCamera page > scroll to the list of available In-App Purchases.

b) In ProCamera:
Go to Settings > General Options: Save Location > select “Private Lightbox”.

How can I transfer files between the three save locations?

As already mentioned, you can save new captures directly to one of three save locations. In addition to that, you can also transfer existing files from one location to another. This even works for multiple files at once and export settings can be applied (convert to JPEG, remove geo tag, adjust file size). After the transfer, a dialog will appear, which allows you to delete the duplicate file(s) in the previous location.

To transfer files to a new location, tap the iOS sharing icon in the bottom left corner and select the corresponding activity:

“Hide” > Transfer from Camera Roll or Lightbox to Private Lightbox.

“Copy to Lightbox” > Transfer from Camera Roll or Private Lightbox to Lightbox.

“Save to Camera Roll” > Transfer from Lightbox or Private Lightbox to Camera Roll.

What are popular use cases for the in-app storage locations?

The (Private) Lightbox is designed as a temporary storage for files that you don’t want to mix with all the other photos and videos on your iPhone. Either it’s personal files, you want to keep private – or a pre-screening step, where you narrow down the choice, before exporting your selection to the Camera Roll.
Please bear in mind: If you were to delete the app at some point, you would need to export photos and videos to the Camera Roll prior to doing so. Otherwise, those photos and videos would be lost.

Use cases for the Private Lightbox include:

• Photographed passwords – Keep track of complex codes

• Presents & Parties – Hide details about upcoming surprises and celebrations

• Sensitive documents – Carry a digital copy of your ID card, driver’s license, etc.

• Company devices – Avoid mixing your corporate and private captures

• Metadata – Keep embedded locations and data secret

• Karaoke nights – Conceal videos that could cause some embarrassment… ;D