Another New Camera – But It’s Free This Time!

What if your phone’s camera isn’t really a camera?

Here's something that might surprise you: the "camera" on your phone is actually an app. It might look like just another button on your screen, but behind the scenes, it’s software – written by the phone manufacturer – that takes control of the lens, sensor, exposure, colours, and everything in between.

But what if you don’t like the decisions it makes? What if you want more control?

Enter: Adobe’s Indigo Camera

Adobe – the people behind Photoshop and Lightroom – have just released a brand-new professional camera app called Indigo. It’s currently free (yes, free!) and available on iPhones only, but it’s well worth a look if you're a mobile photographer wanting more than just point-and-shoot.

You can read Adobe’s full announcement here:
👉 https://research.adobe.com/articles/indigo/indigo.html

Why does Indigo matter?

Many phone camera apps are brilliant at making everyday shots look nice, but they often limit your artistic control. You get auto-everything by default: exposure, white balance, sharpening, HDR… and don't get me started on the digital zoom, which usually means throwing pixels away!

Indigo is different. It gives you:

• Manual control over exposure, focus, ISO, and shutter speed

• RAW shooting for serious editing later

• Computational enhancements that make the most of your iPhone’s hardware without turning everything into plastic

• A less destructive zoom that keeps more detail

• Real-time feedback on what your edits are doing to the image

In short, it’s more like a photographer’s tool than a consumer app.

Who is this for?

If you've ever found yourself frustrated with your phone’s camera – maybe you wish it would let you decide how light or dark the photo should be, or you hate how zooming seems to ruin the quality – then Indigo is aimed squarely at you.

Even better, it’s from Adobe’s research labs, which means it’s built to showcase the very latest thinking in computational photography. This isn’t just a prettier interface – it’s a rethink of how cameras should behave.

Westbury White Horse viewed from WG at 25x magnification. Handheld with iPhone

Give it a go!

If you have an iPhone, it costs nothing to try it could give your phone shots a creative boost – and remind you that the power of photography isn’t just in the hardware... it’s in the software too.