645 Pro Review

The iPhone (and now iPad) is increasingly becoming a real option for the average person’s camera. Even some photographers that are more at a pro level enjoy the cameras on iOS devices. But for the iPhone to become a true replacement to a point-and-shoot camera, it needs some more functions. 645 Pro claims to be “photography professional’s iPhone camera.”

For a full list of features, check out the app description (it’s quite long). But some of the most useful functions I used were interchangeable backs (different format ratios), grids, white balance, and night mode.

The most obvious flaw with the app can be easily viewed on any screenshot - the interface is awful. Very few users are going to want every option available to them display at the cost of making buttons incredibly small and multi-functioning. Almost every button has a tap and hold function that isn’t apparent unless users read the user’s guide from front to back (probably multiple times). And it’s obvious that the developers realized how hard this app is to use, because the user guide is always readily available by tapping and holding the bottom-left button. In addition, sometimes those tiny buttons simply aren’t responsive. A fair 90% of the time, the buttons worked when they’re supposed to. But I had enough instances where the button didn’t recognize my tap that it annoyed me.

Turning the wheels in the bottom-right corner was a bit strange at first. The guide says to “turn” them, so I attempted circular motions to switch modes. That didn’t work. Then I realized swiping up and down was much more effective at turning the knobs. Up turned clockwise and down turned counter-clockwise. After I figured that out, those were probably the most responsive buttons in the app.

645 Pro definitely has quite the list of pro features that probably won’t show up (at least all together) in any other camera app. For someone looking to turn their phone into their main camera, this is definitely a useful tool. I’m not sure I would suggest using this app to take every photo. Use the default Camera app and then switch over to 645 Pro when there’s a situation that requires one of its specific functions or modes. For me, 645 Pro isn’t a replacement to my Camera app.

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