Manual controls in ProCamera

ProCamera works as an easy-to-use point-and-shoot camera, so you can take great photos without worrying about the technical details of photography. Whenever you want more creative control, you can switch to manual settings and adjust ISO, Exposure Time, White Balance, and Focus yourself. You do this from the Manual Controls panel, a compact strip of buttons in the lower right corner of the viewfinder, next to the Lens selector.

Enabling manual controls

Manual control of ISO, Exposure Time, White Balance, and Focus requires switching from automatic A mode to semi-automatic SI mode or manual M mode:

1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Tap the ISO & Shutter button.
3. Select semi-automatic SI or manual M exposure mode.

Auto adjustments in manual modes (M/SI)

Even in SI or M mode, ProCamera keeps adjusting settings automatically until you take over a specific control. The focus and exposure control elements work just as they do in automatic A mode; on top of that, you can enable manual control of focus, exposure, and white balance individually or all at once.

By default, the app starts in AUTO focus/exposure mode (the focus and exposure control elements sit in the center and fade out after a few seconds) to give you a sensible starting point. Alternatively, you can choose to preserve your manual camera settings (Settings > General Settings > Preserve Settings) in order to still use the saved settings when you come back to the app.

Semi-automatic SI versus manual M mode

In semi-automatic SI mode, you either set Exposure Time or ISO, and the camera determines the other value for you. In manual M mode, you set both Exposure Time and ISO manually.

The Manual Controls panel

In semi-automatic SI or manual M mode, the Manual Controls panel appears in the lower right corner of the viewfinder, next to the Lens selector. It holds three buttons that switch the individual manual controls on and off — exposure (M or SI), White Balance (WB), and Manual Focus (MF) — each detailed below.

In automatic A mode the panel is reduced to a single WB button, which lets you lock the White Balance or switch to manual White Balance. 

When premium features are unlocked you can also switch to EB Exposure Bracketing via the first button of the panel (it activates the Exposure Compensation dial with exposure brackets); the WB and MF buttons stay the same.

Long-press a panel button for more options:

• Long-press M / SI / A / EB — opens the exposure-mode menu and your custom exposure presets.
• Long-press WB — opens the default and custom White Balance presets, Greycard calibration, and the auto/manual White Balance selector.
• Long-press MF — opens your custom focus presets, the Macro focus preset, and the auto/manual focus selector.

How to operate the manual controls

or	SI and M (and EB) - manual exposure control for ISO and Exposure Time
	WB - manual White Balance control
	MF - manual Focus control

When you enable any of these options, the corresponding dial(s) will appear, allowing you to set the desired value manually.

The currently active control is highlighted in blue which indicates it can be adjusted.

or	Exposure control is active and adjustable
	White Balance control is active and adjustable
	Manual Focus control is active and adjustable

An underline indicates that the corresponding camera settings are locked (=saved) and the control is in manual mode.

A button that is not underlined means the camera is still adjusting that parameter automatically. In the graphic above, the M and WB buttons are underlined — custom values for ISO and Exposure Time (M button) and White Balance (WB button) are in place — while the Manual Focus (MF) button is not, so focus is still set automatically when you scene changes.

Adjusting ISO and Exposure Time

Tap the SI or M button on the Manual Controls panel.

In semi-automatic SI mode (SI button tinted in blue), only one of the ISO and Exposure Time dials is visible at a time. To choose which one is active, tap the ISO button or Exposure Time button in the top bar of the Capture Screen. The EV dial is always shown next to the other dial, to control overall brightness.

With manual M mode active (M button tinted in blue), both the ISO and Exposure Time dials are displayed.

Adjusting White Balance

Tap the WB button on the Manual Controls panel to activate the White Balance dials (color temperature and tint).

       

Adjusting Focus

Tap the MF button on the Manual Controls panel to activate the Manual Focus dial.

      

Resetting any manually adjusted parameter

To reset Exposure, White Balance, or Focus to work automatically again, simply tap the corresponding underlined button. When a button is not underlined anymore, the corresponding camera settings will be adjusted automatically.