Spectre Camera app review: Easy user interface, clicks stellar pics; eliminates the need to carry a tripod

Get it for: Rs 249 on App Store
Highlight: AI-powered shutter

The ‘best iPhone app of 2019’ impresses with its machine learning-driven long-exposure shots but takes time to master.


There are lakhs of apps on the App Store, many of them downloaded millions of times. So, when Apple picks an app called Spectre Camera as “the best iPhone app of 2019”, there is bound to be some curiosity. We used Spectre to find out.

The app is made for long-exposure shots and it uses artificial intelligence and computational photography to deliver quality images.

Spectre is by Lux Optics that earlier developed Halide, a popular iPhone camera app with a gesture-based interface.

Spectre’s user interface is simple and easy. Just below the viewfinder, you can spot a set of buttons that can flip the camera, allow you to access settings and stabilise the sensor.

The app clicks images in 3, 5 and 9 seconds, which is ample time for the shutter to open. Note that you have to keep your iPhone really steady to shoot high-quality images.

What Spectre basically does is that within the chosen timeframe, it clicks hundreds of images and then compares them to perform tasks like removing objects or people that may have moved within the frame. The app is the perfect platform to showcase the power of AI, which also helps the user take long-exposure shots without using a tripod.

The app has some nifty features. By just tapping on the screen, you can set the focus. There is a preview mode where you can share images or mark them as favourites.

There is also an option to turn light trails on and off. Some of the images we clicked in this mode were stellar. You can simply make people disappear from images. If you are taking photos of a crowded street, you can make the traffic vanish as well.

The big plus here is that the app eliminates -- but not fully -- the need to carry around a bulky tripod.

But it does take one some time to get used to Spectre and click great images. This app, priced at Rs 249, is meant for those who value the subtle nuances of photography.