Pearla - Professional Camera 4+

Not there yet

I really wanted to like this app but two things stopped me from subscribing.
1. The dials to adjust shutter speed, iso etc are awful. You move your finger one way and the dial goes in the opposite direction. Incredibly frustrating.
2. To change the focal length you have to go into the settings, too much hassle when you’re trying to get a quick photo. I would like the option to move iso to the settings and have focal length on the main screen (with a useable dial of course).

Developer Response ,

Thank you for the kind words, and I'm sorry you experienced some difficulties with Pearla.

Regarding the dials, we have received similar feedback from a few users. In all cases, we identified that the behaviour you described happened when the dials were not used as intended.

The dials work when you tap and hold a dial and then move your finger left or right (like dials on camera devices). However, if you try to rotate your finger (like in old dial phones), they will not work as expected.

That said, we value your feedback and will assess the intuitiveness of this aspect of our user experience.

There's a tappable lens icon at the top of the viewfinder. If you tap on it, a bottom sheet allows you to select a different focal length. You don't have to go to the settings page to change it.

In addition, one of Pearla's unique features is that the buttons are all customisable. Most settings are assignable to custom buttons, and we regularly add new ones.

We hope that addresses all your concerns with Pearla. If you have any more feedback for us, it's always best to contact us at support@houseofmars.io.

We respond to support emails within hours, but we are only notified of reviews 48 hours after they are posted, and it takes another 48 hours for our responses to appear on the app store,

Great App, just needs some small tweaks

Positives:
The simulations and ability to customise recipes like on a Fuji camera is something I’ve been wanting for a long time. The SOOC images look fantastic. Way better than the native camera app. It’s nice not to have to edit each image I take in Lightroom before sharing.
Things to improve:
-The dials are a bit fiddly
- I like to hold my phone upside down to take reflection shots. In the native app, it keeps the image the right way up. In pearly, the image rotates and becomes upside down making it almost impossible to take reflection photos.
- I can’t seem to find a direct link from the app, to the gallery. I have to leave the app and open my phones gallery after each picture I take. It would be nice, if after taking a picture, it would either appear on screen for me to see, or at least get a small preview of the picture, so that I could click to view it.
- Each time I close the app, it reverts back to the original aspect ratio. I would like the app to always open in my own custom settings. I want to be able to take pictures quickly, not open the app and have to change the aspect ratio each time before taking a photo.
It’s a great App and I hope the developer continues to tweak it, as it has the potential to be the greatest camera app ever made

Developer Response ,

Thank you for the thoughtful review, kind words and valuable feedback! Making Pearla the greatest camera app ever made is indeed our goal! :)

The aspect ratio bug you raised is an issue we plan to patch in the coming days. Supporting upside-down photography is excellent feedback and a use case we will address very soon. Reviewing photos in Pearla is a feature that is getting increasingly more requests, and we will address it soon as well. Implementing a UX change like that takes a little more time, so please bear with us.

We would love to hear more about your experience with the dials if you would kindly elaborate in an email to support@houseofmars.io.

Thank you for helping us make Pearla the camera app of choice for photographers and enthusiasts. :)

Fantastic Vintage Inspired Camera App

I’ve just subscribed to this great app. As a FujiFilm enthusiast and camera owner, this is a great app for my mobile phone photography.

I have one question and two suggestions please:

Q. Is it possible to change the image size, as it appears to be fixed at 48MP?

S1. While I like the current interface, I would like to see either a black option and/or a black option with silver accents, which would be more in line with the retro style of these cameras.

S2. A link to the Camera Roll would be helpful so you don’t have to exit the app and open the Photos app each time you want to check the image you’ve just taken. This would be handy when you are taking a photo you want to ensure has focused and/or exposed correctly, when travelling for example, when you may not have a second chance to re-take an image if it has not captured as expected.

Otherwise, I love the app and especially the film simulations. They are the main reason I subscribed to this app. It would be great to pull these in line with the X100V / X100VI if possible in future.

Great job all round though.