Keep Calm and Shoot On by Holly Temple
Nokia Lumia 920 Tricks and Tips
I came into this Windows Phone challenge gung ho. Like a freight train. Like a bull in a china shop. You get the idea. I was excited and ready to go! I shot my first decent picture within 2 hours of opening the box and was chomping at the bit to start posting. Apparently, I’m also an eager beaver with metaphor usage.
I’ll be honest. I had a good few days of shooting, mostly with the native camera, when I decided it was time to try some other camera apps. And I started struggling. The excitement was waning with each unfocused-missed-the-moment-just-not-right shot. I think that happens to all of us at some point though, not just in mobile photography. Actually, I’m pretty good at jumping into things only to fizzle out shortly after. Not happy to admit that, but there ya go. It’s just how I work.
Around that time, I decided to step away for a minute. What I didn’t mean to happen was stepping away for about 4 days. I didn’t realize it had been that long, but when I picked up my Windows Phone again, I had a missed call from an unknown number 4 days old. Oops. It was time to get serious again. That day I installed several more camera apps and took my little (not so little) neon yellow girl for a spin that evening. The mosquitoes had a good dinner as I stood in a field behind our neighborhood trying every single camera app I had. I don’t have specific complaints about some of them, they just didn’t feel right to me. On the other hand, I’m not fond at all of apps that make you choose a filter right then or you can’t save it and move on. Unless I was using it wrong, which is totally possible with the phone’s learning curve.
Then it happened. I opened Clever Camera and took a shot. And I got that feeling. I fell in love with that camera so hard it’s ridiculous. I’m actually dreaming of taking trips to different countries just to shoot with Clever Camera. No joke. Autofocus is great, but manual focus really lets you get in closer. I love being able to control it. There aren’t many editing capabilities within Clever Camera, but it does have a lovely soft vignette. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with each shot.
Will I abandon my other smartphone for the Lumia 920? Not quite. But, because of the awesome chance to participate in this challenge, do I plan on always having the Windows Phone with me from now on for photo opportunities? Heck yes.
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What was it specifically about Clever Camera that you liked so much? Looking for a new camera app in WP8 also, but want to hear from you before paying the $2. Thanks.
I really like the clarity and ability to get such great depth of field. Most camera apps I tried had great clarity, but it was the DOF that blew me away. The manual focus is so great and I never felt any shots taken with Clever Camera required any additional editing, except maybe upping the saturation a little.
Stop Nokia Lumia Music Player.
Watch solution at forllowing youtube video:
http://youtu.be/uTyhAdTJMpI
Thanks for the tip! Would defintely try out Clever Camera.
3 Questions
• What’s keeping you from using the 920 as your daily device?
• Did you try ProShot? Is Clever Camera superior to that?
• Did the metaphors come easy or did you have rack your brain to shake the tree to get those metaphorical leaves to fall into your article? 🙂
1. It’s just personal preference and bull headedness. I am used to the layout and prefer using a different operating system for everyday use.
2. I did try ProShot but I like to keep it simple. If there are too many instructions or adjustments to make then I usually don’t stick with it. I found Clever Camera 10 x easier to use.
3. 🙂 That was the easiest part of the article to write