Most people know the Moment name for its interchangeable smartphone camera lenses or some great looking cases, but last year the company also launched a new camera app designed to present manual controls in an intuitive interface. A major update is rolling out now that adds several new and enhanced features, including a few you wouldn't find very often outside of dedicated camera hardware. To celebrate, Moment is also running a sale for app buyers of 15% off everything in their shop.
Android and iOS
- Zebra Stripes - Overlays stripes onto over and under exposed areas in the viewfinder.
- Focus Peaking - Dial in focus in photo or video mode. When manually focusing, sharp edges in the viewfinder will be highlighted.
Android only...
- Split Focus and Exposure - Take control of tricky lighting scenarios with a two finger tap on the viewfinder to set an exposure point and focus point to different areas of your composition.
- RGB Histogram: Dial in your video color, balance, and exposure with a live RGB histogram.
- RAW+JPG: In RAW mode, capture both a RAW and JPG image. Dramatically speeds up the image preview when capturing in RAW
- Camera roll redesign and performance improvements
- Improved OnePlus and Samsung S10 device support
The green outlines show which areas are in focus.
The two biggest additions are features you would expect to find in dedicated cameras, but not many smartphone apps. The first is called Focus Peaking, a tool that will display brightly colored dots on the parts of your shot that are in focus. If you're using manual focus to dial in the sharpest point in your shot, this can be a really helpful tool for spotting which areas are in focus and which ones might be looking a bit blurry.
Red stripes mark overly bright spots, blue stripes mark overly dark areas.
The other major addition is conventionally called Zebra Stripes, but the Moment app uses more descriptive names for the settings: Highlight Clipping and Shadow Clipping. These will turn on a blue or red striped pattern in places where the image is either too bright or too dark. When parts of an image drift too far in one direction or another, you'll lose some detail and it may not be possible to recover it. The stripes help you spot problem areas before taking the picture so you can make adjustments.
Some other enhancements to existing features are also coming along with this update. It will now be possible to set the automatic exposure point separately from the focus — just do a two-finger tap on the screen to switch on separate bubbles and drag them them to their individual places. The histogram has also been upgraded to have both grayscale and RGB modes that can be toggled with a tap.
Left: split focus and exposure. Center + Right: Greyscale and RGB histograms.
Finally, improvements were made to better support the Samsung Galaxy S10 and OnePlus phones and there are performance enhancements and some UI tweaks for the camera roll. You may have also noticed the icon looks different — the new one can be seen in the hero image at the top.
All of the Moment Pro Camera features can be found on the official page, and you can pick up the app on the Play Store for $3.99 (USD). The update should be v2.5, but it may still be rolling out on the Play Store. If you're not getting the update yet, it may still take a little longer to hit all of the servers.
If you just purchased the app or updated to the new version, you'll find a special discount code that's good for 15% off anything in the Moment store. This includes things like Moment's smartphone cases and lenses, straps, carrying bags, and other first-party accessories; but you can also pick up photography and filmmaking gear from partners like Freefly, Joby, Litra, and others. The discount is only good through May 2nd, so move quickly if you're looking to save on some new gear!