iPhone camera | FUJI X WEEKLY

I broke RitchieCam… but then fixed it.

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Ritchie Roesch

Above: Aurora Borealis captured in Central Park NYC on an iPhone 13 using the Vibrant Color filter in RitchieCam.

I’m very proud of my iPhone camera app, called RitchieCam. But this last weekend I broke it, and I’m very sorry about that. For some of you, the app stopped working a couple days ago. But now it’s fixed! Let me explain what happened and why.

When Apple introduced the iPhone 16 and iOS 18 a couple of months ago, they included some new features. I wanted to incorporate those into RitchieCam so that you could take advantage of them. Whenever Apple introduces something new, that doesn’t mean that it is easily implemented into third-party apps. Sometimes they exclude it from even being available, and in order to include it one must take unconventional and roundabout paths. The volume button as a shutter release is one example of that: it was only fairly recently that Apple officially supported it for third party apps like RitchieCam, and so (until they did) it was quite crazy the programming necessary to make it work. Some things have been figured out, and some things haven’t. RitchieCam has a very small team working on it in their spare time, yet we’ve been able to do a heck-of-a-lot, all things considered. There’s a lot more that we’d like to do, and are currently working on.

Thankfully and amazingly—and really because of Sahand Nayebaziz, who is an incredibly talented app developer—we were able to get most of the new iPhone 16 and iOS 18 features added to RitchieCam. We finished it up late last week, submitted to Apple for approval, and over the weekend it went live. I was really excited, but then reports began to come in: the app keeps crashing and is unusable. Yikes! I’m very appreciative of all those who reported the problem.

The issue was actually very small, but it was a matter of finding and correcting it. It was related to iOS 17—if you were on iOS 18, you didn’t experience any issues; if you were on iOS 17, simply updating the iOS would clear it up. Some people hadn’t done that yet, and also some people have older devices not capable of updating to iOS 18. Those are the folks who experienced the problem, which essentially rendered the app useless—I apologize for the problem and inconvenience. We figured out the issue, got a new update built, submitted it to Apple, and yesterday afternoon it was approved and made available. If RitchieCam isn’t working on your device, make sure to update it right now.

Above: Various photos captured on an iPhone 13 using the RitchieCam app.

We didn’t find the problem while beta testing because all of our iPhones were updated to iOS 18. There’s a simulator that allows you to test the app on various devices and iOS versions, and it had worked well on it with no problems—the simulator didn’t catch the crash. Once we found an iPhone with iOS 17 to test it on, the problem was immediate and obvious. Figuring out why and resolving it was another issue, but we got it done. It’s now fixed, and RitchieCam should be working just fine for you (if you’ve updated it).

For iOS 18, one cool new feature is launching RitchieCam directly from the Lock Screen. It’s easy to setup, and makes accessing the app much quicker. If you have an iPhone 16, you can use the new Camera Control Button for various functions, such as exposure adjustments. This isn’t a major update, but hopefully these new features will be helpful to some of you. I don’t use RitchieCam for serious work (although people do use their iPhones for such, so it’s certainly possible…), but it’s very convenient for casual images that most likely will be sent in a text or posted to social media. In particular, I like to use it for the 65:24 XPan aspect ratio (something Fujifilm should include in their 40mp X-series cameras). RitchieCam is available for free in the App Store; become a Patron to unlock all of the features and filters, and to support future development.

RitchieCam App Update — New Filters, Features & Improvements!!

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Ritchie Roesch

I just released a brand-new RitchieCam App update! If your iPhone didn’t automatically update the App, be sure to manually do it now. There are two new Filters, plus some improvement and feature changes that I believe you’ll appreciate, but I need to explanation some of it—I think it will all make a lot more sense afterwards.

First, the two new Filters: Slide Film and Negative Film! These are both only available to RitchieCam App Patrons, and are not unlocked in the free version.

Slide Film

The Slide Film Filter is reminiscent of color reversal (slide) film. Vibrant and contrasty—yet still versatile—with a touch of analog nostalgia. Set EV anywhere from 0 to -1 for best results.

Negative Film

The Negative Film Filter is bright, warm, and slightly faded, with some similarities to overexposed color negative film by Kodak. Great for sunny daylight situations. For a more faded and retro rendering, try reducing the EV between -0.6 and -1.3.

Next up is Favorites, which has been significantly revamped. Favorites is a Patron-only feature that improves the way you select Filters. You can Star as few or as many Filters as you’d like (including all of them), and arrange them in whatever order makes the most sense for you—providing you with a customizable experience. Whichever Filter is in the first slot is the one that the App will open with when in the regular view (with the tray of Filters).

One thing that’s new is Favorites will now stay open until you close it—even if you close RitchieCam entirely and relaunch, Favorites will still be open until you close it. The Filters (that you have added to Favorites) are activated by scrolling right or left, and the one in the center is what’s selected for use (if you’re not on iOS 17 or newer, you’ll have to tap to select… this might be a good opportunity to update the operating system). This is a more intuitive way to switch between filters, and makes Favorites quite useful for regular use. If you prefer the Filter tray, which gives you access to all of the filters, including the “i” information icon which provides some samples and a brief explanation, simply tap the Star icon to close Favorites. If you are a Patron, you have two different approaches to how you interact with and select the Filters; however, I anticipate that many of you will use Favorites quite often now, and the regular view less.

Another important note is that long-pressing on the Star icon opens the Favorites menu, which is where you choose the Filters that you wish to Favorite and organize them in whichever order you prefer. This is a quicker way to access the Favorites menu.

The Drag-to-Select Filter option, where you press-and-drag your finger across the screen to quickly scroll through the filters, can now be toggled on-and-off. By default it is set to Off. If you prefer this method, be sure to tap the Gear icon and enable Drag-to-Select Filter. This feature didn’t go away, but you must take this step in order to use it. For those who have had issues inadvertently switching the filter when attempting to tap-to-focus, you might consider leaving it Off.

A couple changes were made to Filter Intensity. First, the icon looks a little different (it’s now three parallel lines, where the top line is longer and the bottom line is shorter). RitchieCam will now remember the Intensity you selected for each Filter (previously, it was a global adjustment). Additionally, the icon gives you visual feedback as to the level of intensity you have selected for that Filter (this is pretty slick, in my opinion).

Last but certainly not least, in the Photos view (where you review the pictures you’ve captured), you can now tap or pinch to zoom in and out. This will make culling a lot easier.

I hope that you enjoy this update!