Big Lens Brings DSLR-Level Depth Of Field To Your iDevice

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The iPhone camera is great (especially on the 4S), but sometimes we just want to have the same kind of focus that we’d get on a DSLR camera. That’s pretty hard to achieve with the iPhone’s native camera, but fortunately, there’s an app for that. Meet Big Lens, which promises to give you the best control over image focus.

When you launch Big Lens, there’s a quick tutorial that will guide you through the basics. It’s fairly handy, and once you get past it, the app is pretty intuitive to use.

An image can be loaded from your photo library or you can snap a new picture. When it’s loaded into Big Lens, you can edit focus in either Basic or Advanced mode.

Basic mode gives you several preset options. The first thing you’ll see, though, is a red circle – this is your focus area. You can move it around by dragging it, or resize it with multi-touch gestures. If a circular focus does not work for the image, you can change it to a liner focus.

The Aperture option allows you to change the strength of the depth of field, from f/3.5 to f/1.8. You’ll notice the unfocused areas become more blurry with a larger aperture. If you’re feeling rather artsy, you can even change the light glare in the background with the bokeh effect. This is done through the Lens option, where you can pick from regular bokeh to various shapes, such as stars, hearts, and snowflakes.

The last option in the Basic mode is the ability to add filters to your images. Yes, filters! Everyone loves filters, because it seems to be the latest trend, especially on iPhones. Love it or hate it, the option is there. Big Lens gives users the ability to add one of 19 different filters, with some classics, such as Lomo (several variations), Warm, Vivid, and more. There is also the ability to adjust the strength of the filter, which is always nice to have.

Once you have applied all the effects you want, you may want to wonder how different the new image is from the original. There is a button in the bottom right of Basic mode to do just that – tap and hold it to see the original image, and let go to see the new image. It’s amazing what a difference a few adjustments can make.

Now, I said in the beginning that there was two different modes for editing. The Advanced mode is very different from the Basic. With Advanced, users can customize the focus area by brushing a red “mask” on the specific area of the photo. An Eraser tool is there in case mistakes are made (and believe me, they are made). The Lasso tool allows users to draw around a specific area, and then the space inside will automatically be filled to be focused. The Auto option will have the app itself figure out what the focus area should be, if you are too lazy to do it yourself. The Clear option will erase all changes and allow you to start over.

Once you’re done with the Advanced mode, you will find yourself back in the Basic mode, in case you want to change the depth of field or filters.

The moment you’re done with your awesome photograph, just tap on the “Share” button for options to save to Camera Roll, send by email, or upload to Facebook, Picasa, or Dropbox. The latest update to the app allows your photos to be saved in full resolution, which is wonderful.

As an avid iPhone photographer, I believe that Big Lens is a great addition to my toolbox of iPhone photography apps. The filters are pretty good, but the real magic lies in the ability to create an amazing depth of field on photographs.

I would like to see the ability to upload photos directly to Twitter, Flickr, Posterous, or even Tumblr in a future update. If you’re going to include sharing to social networks, might as well include them all.

If you’re looking for an app to give your photos extra “oomph,” then give Big Lens a try. At $0.99 for a universal app for the iPad and iPhone, it’s a pretty good bargain.