Picture perfect app Camera+ updates with more goodies for iPhone photogs

The jockeying of the photo-perfecting apps continues. Just days after Instagram announced 27 million users and an eventual launch on Android, the far more intricate photo capture and edit iPhone application Camera+ has released a feature-packed new version.

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Camera+ version 3, released Tuesday by iOS development shop Tap Tap Tap, is an upgrade of the application that simplifies sharing to social networks, includes a new interface for the Lightbox area, adds even more photographer-friendly features (focus and exposure locks), an even better one-tap Clarity photo-enhancing option, and APIs that will enable developers to add Camera+ functionality to their apps.

Version 3 also brings with it a new workflow that allows application users to shoot photos continuously without interruption. Captures are saved to the Lightbox as the iPhonegrapher shoots them so she can snap away and then edit and share her shots later.

Camera+, a consistently strong performer on the App Store, currently retails for $0.99 and offers in-app upgrades for a fee. The application has brought in a significant amount of revenue — $5.1 million as of January — in its relatively short life-span, making it the counter to the completely free, but soon to be heavily funded Instagram. The two applications, which no doubt overlap in purpose and function, have taken divergent paths in their approaches to photo-editing and sharing on iPhone, and each has its strong qualities.

Camera+, with its more robust feature set, has attracted a loyal community of several million photographers and happened upon a steady revenue stream. Instagram, meanwhile, has opted instead to radically simplify the photo-editing process, create more of a social network around photo-sharing, and put off monetization for the time being. It’s an approach that has proved popular enough to attract 27 million users in just 18 months — and maybe even a $500 million valuation.

Photo credit: Dirk Dallas, Flickr