How to make the most of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus camera: tips & tricks

First, let's start with maximizing the built-in camera app in iOS. Our first tip here is to simply enable the grid. You do this by going into Settings > Scroll down to Camera > tap on the Grid toggle to enable it. The grid helps you get those lines straight and come up with a well-aligned photo. If you did not align your photo properly, there is an easy fix: open the photo in the camera roll, tap on Edit in the top right corner, and select the crop tool (first in the bottom row of icons). The iPhone will automatically straighten your photo or if it cannot do it well enough, you can use the blue arrow to straighten the picture yourself.

You also have a neat shortcut in the camera app: swipe up on the viewfinder to uncover the built-in filters.

Thirdly, we also recommend using the cool new option to scan QR codes with the camera. Go into settings > scroll down to camera > and tap on the QR code toggle to enable it. QR codes are particularly popular in Asia and in many business cards, so having the option to quickly decipher a QR code with the camera is definitely useful.

Next, did you know that you can scan documents with the iPhone camera? For this, you actually have to first go into the Notes application. Compose a new note by clicking the icon in the lower right corner, then tap the plus (+) icon in the bottom center, and select scan documents. The camera will then automatically recognize the shape of the document and cut it out for you and save it as a note. Easy!

Enough with the easy tricks, if you are a serious photo enthusiast you will need some serious camera controls. Those are not present in the stock iOS app, so you need to download a third-party application. We recommend ProCamera., a $5 app that allows you to set ISO and shutter speed (and lock them!), white balance (down to the Kelvin, with a guide that shows you which settings is appropriate for which conditions), exposure compensation, a histogram, and different other guides. Quite importantly, it allows you to shoot in RAW + Jpeg and select different aspect ratios, so you don't have to crop later. It features a tilt-meter and different grids, as well as additional stabilization. All of this in a package that runs solidly, without crashing.

Download ProCamera. ($5) here

Next up, we recommend editing the RAW photos you shoot with an app like Snapseed or Lightroom. Snapseed is free and works great on the iPhone. It detects RAW photos and allows you to quickly develop them, setting your white balance manually, and doing the important adjustments like bringing our lost detail in the shadows or exposing what looks like burned highlights.

Download Snapseed (free) here

For video, our first recommendation is shooting in 4K at 60 fps. Open Settings > scroll down to Camera > and select Record Video and set it to 4K at 60 fps. Not seeing this option? Then, open the Formats section and select the High Efficiency option. This will record videos in the HEVC (aka H.265) format that takes less space on your phone and enable 4K at 60 fps.

4K at 60 fps looks amazing. It has just a bit less dynamic range than 4K at 30 fps, but gives a much more ample, realistic sense of movement and looks absolutely stunning.

Remember that iMovie for iPhone does not support exporting 4K 60fps videos yet. We could not even get those videos to properly show in Adobe Premiere, so for the time being, you are limited in the way you can edit this type of footage. If you need to do complex edits, stick to 4K at 30 fps for the moment.

How do you share 4K at 60 fps? This is a problem since the YouTube app and the share option in Photos simply downsize the footage to lesser formats. Previously, you could simply open the video in iMovie and export it from there to YouTube in 4K at 30 fps, but this does not work with 60 fps. Unfortunately, the only way to actually upload 4K at 60 fps at the moment seems to be by downloading them to a computer and uploading to YouTube from a desktop browser.

There is a particular style to big production films: they are usually shot in 24 fps, they feature a very narrow frame with a different aspect ratio (usually, 2.35 or 2.39 to 1), and they are usually color graded to suite the style of the film.

With iOS 11, you can enable 4K at 24 fps in Settings > Camera, and that's the first step towards getting that cinematic look.

For all else, you will need a third-party app and the best one out there is FiLMiC Pro. It has a hefty price to it: $15, but it's worth it and the developer has actually been raising the price of this app (we got it a few years ago for just $5). Even at that price, it's a worthy investment for those serious about shooting iPhone video: it supports different bit-rates and it also allows you to select different aspect ratios, including that cinematic 2.39 by 1. It allows you to fine tune audio recording options, save all of your settings to a preset, add timecodes to footage and much more.


Download FiLMiC Pro ($15) here