Try NightCap

[xStatiCa]

Thanks for the free promotion. I just rated it and love it. If I would have known about this app I would have bought it for sure ( I would have assumed any app that claimed explosure up to 1 sec would have not been telling the truth). It is nice to find a camera app that works for night shots. It makes a huge difference on my iphone 4. To make up for it I will buy the true night vision app next week (bought to much this week already and don't want to upset the wife .

I will get you a few more sales Monday at work. I will wait until the app increases in price before I tell them about it . They will certainly buy it.

 

[Menel]

Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but NightCap is free over Thursday + Friday. If you get it, please leave a rating on the store. Thanks

Nice! Lots of discussion here, certainly worth a free first hand look

 

[psonice]

Thanks for the free promotion. I just rated it and love it. If I would have known about this app I would have bought it for sure ( I would have assumed any app that claimed explosure up to 1 sec would have not been telling the truth). It is nice to find a camera app that works for night shots. It makes a huge difference on my iphone 4. To make up for it I will buy the true night vision app next week (bought to much this week already and don't want to upset the wife .

I will get you a few more sales Monday at work. I will wait until the app increases in price before I tell them about it . They will certainly buy it.

Thanks! Don't worry about buying the night vision app though.

Actually what you've said there pretty much explains why I'm offering it for free for a day or two. I've not promoted nightcap at all for a while, and it still sells pretty well. From what I can see, people are recommending it, and that's selling it. So if I give it to more people, more people will recommend it. Then again, maybe they'll already all have it because it was free

Btw, does anyone find the 'Support' button confusing? It's supposed to be used to send me an email if you need support with something, so you can tell me what the problem is. A few people have used it for that, but I also get quite a few people just sending the blank email. And when I say a few, I've had way over 600 so far today (the continuous email sounds wound me up so much in the end that I no longer have push email!)

Clearly something is not obvious enough, unless lots of people want to torture me with pointless emails. It's not that they think a blank email will get them support too - I've tried replying before, and never had an answer. Curious!

 

[TJ61]

Clearly something is not obvious enough, unless lots of people want to torture me with pointless emails. It's not that they think a blank email will get them support too - I've tried replying before, and never had an answer. Curious!

I recall hitting this button early on, and being a little surprised that it went directly to composing an e-mail. I think it would be better if this button were buried one more layer, and labeled very explicitly (e.g. "Send E-mail"). If you have any other info to put under the "Support" button (link to a website, etc.), it could go there. Otherwise, you could get rid of this button on the Settings page, and put a "Send E-mail" button under the Help section.

Otherwise, looking good!

Regards,
Tom

 

[psonice]

I recall hitting this button early on, and being a little surprised that it went directly to composing an e-mail. I think it would be better if this button were buried one more layer, and labeled very explicitly (e.g. "Send E-mail"). If you have any other info to put under the "Support" button (link to a website, etc.), it could go there. Otherwise, you could get rid of this button on the Settings page, and put a "Send E-mail" button under the Help section.

Otherwise, looking good!

Regards,
Tom

That sounds like a good plan - thanks for the suggestion! I'll add an extra pop-up saying "Do you want to email customer support?" or something before opening the email.

The free promotion just ended by the way. It seems to have gone well. I've learned a few interesting things though, like how popular photography is in the far east. Nightcap hit #1 free app in the store in a few countries in that part of the world, while only making the top 100 in the US. And I think reviews from thailand outnumber reviews from the US by about 2:1. I'd never even considered thailand as a country worth paying attention to in terms of app sales, but apparently I'm completely wrong on that one! Or maybe it's just that the Thai people are much more likely to review apps? I'll find out when the sales figures are though.

 

[xStatiCa]

I was surprised when the email came up too. I didn't expect that to go to creating an email from that button. I didn't send you one though . That does need to have some way of keeping it from instantly going to email creation.

 

[psonice]

Well, there we go: 265,000 downloads in 2 days. In terms of getting some visibility, that went way beyond what I expected. But supporting a quarter of a million customers is going to be... interesting?

The places where it was popular surprised me too. Normally the USA is the biggest market, by quite a long way, and people say China is now the biggest market for free apps. The top 5 countries for NightCap over the last 2 days were Taiwan, Italy, Hong Kong, Thailand, United States (in that order). And the best reviews were in Thailand and Taiwan - it seems the people there are much more polite than other places somehow, and more likely to write a review.

I was surprised when the email came up too. I didn't expect that to go to creating an email from that button. I didn't send you one though . That does need to have some way of keeping it from instantly going to email creation.

I'm adding a pop-up "do you want to email the developer? Yes/No" now. And thanks for not sending that mail, I'm seriously sick of them now (Must have had around 2000 in the last few days!)

 

[psonice]

NightCap 2.2 is now in apple's review queue. New stuff: Volume + shutter control (if apple approve it!) and burst mode.

Burst mode lets you take 2-9 photos, at 2-60 second intervals. Or you can go past 9 - then it goes to 'endless' mode, and you tap the shutter again to stop it. It simply takes full-res photos, and drops them in your camera roll.

Expect to make stuff like this:


That was my first test where I used it for time-lapse. Dead simple: Put phone on rock (forgot my tripod - and it was windy, so sorry about the movement!). Set to burst mode, and endless. Hit shutter. Go eat lunch (while sitting on another rock ), then collect camera 10 minutes later. I made it into a video with quicktime, no editing or adjustments.

Btw, that video is at native resolution. If you have a huge, high res screen set the video quality to 'original' for 8 megapixel goodness (That's 4x more pixels than full HD!)

 

[magg]

NightCap 2.2 is now in apple's review queue. New stuff: Volume + shutter control (if apple approve it!) and burst mode.

Burst mode lets you take 2-9 photos, at 2-60 second intervals. Or you can go past 9 - then it goes to 'endless' mode, and you tap the shutter again to stop it. It simply takes full-res photos, and drops them in your camera roll.

Thanks for the update, hopefully Apple will approve it
This app works so good at night, I just love it! Keep it up!

 

[TJ61]

Expect to make stuff like this:
<non-working youtube link>

Fixed your YouTube link (I hope):

YouTube: video

That video is awesome, and I can't wait to try out new functionality! Although, I will have to learn how to make the video with the stills -- is QuickTime the best solution? Anything free out there? (for Windows)

Regards,
Tom

 

[hexonxonx]

Here is his video:

 

[psonice]

A couple more (best watched on youtube, and in HD (both are 1080p)):

I'm still learning to do timelapse properly but at least I had my tripod this time. E.g. that sunset clip: is it better to use fixed exposure and risk the image being too dark at the end, or is it better to leave it on auto and risk having a horrible video where the brightness varies too much because the sun goes behind the clouds often?

Other things learned:

• Unattended iphone on tripod = nice perch for a bird. It move the camera but at least it didn't leave a deposit
• Battery life can be an issue. NightCap is pretty light on battery, but when you're taking 600+ photos over an hour with the screen on it has an impact. I did one set with ~50% battery at the start, and it died after ~900 photos, so plan ahead

Battery life tips:

• Set your shot up, then turn the screen brightness right down. You'll have to lock exposure etc. after returning to nightcap.
• Set the phone to 'Airplane mode' to ensure you don't get interrupted.
• If you're using locked focus/exposure/etc., they will unlock automatically when the phone pops up a notification (e.g. the "10% battery left" one). The iphone does that, but I'll see if it can be helped.

Fixed your YouTube link (I hope):

YouTube: video

That video is awesome, and I can't wait to try out new functionality! Although, I will have to learn how to make the video with the stills -- is QuickTime the best solution? Anything free out there? (for Windows)

Regards,
Tom

Quicktime is just convenient for me. I'm sure there are windows apps and some free software to do it (I recall using one ages back, but I can't remember the name and it wasn't exactly user friendly!)

On mac, you must use a licensed version of quicktime 7 pro, not the current quicktime X. You can download 7 from apple's website. You have to choose "Open image sequence" from the file menu, then export as video - it's quick + easy. Again, there's probably free + easy alternatives.

Here is his video:

YouTube: video

Thanks! Seems that I got the bbcode totally wrong. I posted it while away over the weekend from my main work laptop that doesn't have flash player installed (I like to keep it secure ), it came up 'missing plugin' so I figured it was probably ok.

----------

Btw, they were my first 3 attempts at doing timelapse. It's very easy Just set up the shot as normal, and set the burst interval depending on how fast the scene is moving (I used 10 seconds on the first clip, 5 seconds on the other two). The clouds were moving pretty slowly.

Just don't leave your phone unattended where it might decide to go home in somebody else's pocket

 

[lokerd]

> Anything free out there? (for Windows)

I use Picasa. It makes making time-lapse movies from a bunch of photos very easy. The only down side is there nothing between 1/6 of a sec transition and 1 second. But, there is plenty between 1/6 and 1/30. I don't understand why Picasa does not have 1/5 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, but usually 1/10 is good anyway.

This will be interesting to use NightCap for time-lapse. I already use iTimelapse with infinite control, but pretty useless at night time. So, this will be nice to try some time-lapse at night.

 

[Qaanol]

NightCap 2.1 is now live - this is mainly the fix for the issue with 5.0.1, but there are a few other improvements:

- The focus square is now moveable to keep qaanol happy - just tap to set it where you want. If you've locked anything it's not affected, so you can lock exposure in one place then lock focus somewhere else.

- Automatic sleep mode has been disabled for TJ61

Awesome.

I missed this one - that's a great shot! Have you considered stacking the frames in a desktop app btw? You might get much better results, because they use much more advanced techniques than just averaging the frames.

Thank, I did use a desktop app, ImageFuser, but it’s probably not the best. Any recommendations?

I think the biggest problem there is I didn’t have it sharply focused. What I’ll do in the future is take a picture, look at in it the review screen so I can zoom in, then adjust focus on my telephoto lens as necessary and repeat until I get the best focus possible. (Although, the whole process would be a lot faster and simpler if NightCap had a Zoom feature built-in.)

NightCap 2.2 is now in apple's review queue. New stuff: Volume + shutter control (if apple approve it!) and burst mode.

Awesome, I can’t wait.

Here’s a thought, and I don’t know what others might think so make of it what you will. I noticed in the App Store that NightCap reviews tend to be either 5 stars, or very low. And the low rating generally had comments saying the problem was it lags, or takes too long to focus, or the interface is unresponsive, or pictures are too blurry, and so forth.

So, what I’m thinking is, maybe you could make NightCap default to capping the exposure time at 1/3s, with a setting to enable “Expert Mode” which allows 1/2s and 1s. That way the app will be much more responsive for new users, and people won’t get frustrated waiting 5 or 10 seconds for the camera to focus at 1s exposure.

In normal low-light situations, 1/3s is still plenty to outperform the standard camera (5× more light after all) and also fast enough not to seem like it’s bogging down forever.

People who want 1/2s and 1s exposure can just turn on Expert Mode in the settings, at which point the app will work the way it does already. The idea here is to make NightCap quicker and more responsive by default, to reduce the negative reviews.

 

[psonice]

Thank, I did use a desktop app, ImageFuser, but it’s probably not the best. Any recommendations?

Not sure on OSX, but if you're on windows people tend to use one of these:

http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html
http://www.astronomie.be/registax/

I think the biggest problem there is I didn’t have it sharply focused. What I’ll do in the future is take a picture, look at in it the review screen so I can zoom in, then adjust focus on my telephoto lens as necessary and repeat until I get the best focus possible. (Although, the whole process would be a lot faster and simpler if NightCap had a Zoom feature built-in.)

I'll look into adding zoom.

Awesome, I can’t wait.

It might be a little longer - that update was unfortunately rejected (due to using the volume button as a shutter). Other apps are being approved with it though, so it might simply be something about my implementation that they don't like. I should hear back from them with more info pretty soon, so it should hopefully be resolved pretty quick.

Here’s a thought, and I don’t know what others might think so make of it what you will. I noticed in the App Store that NightCap reviews tend to be either 5 stars, or very low. And the low rating generally had comments saying the problem was it lags, or takes too long to focus, or the interface is unresponsive, or pictures are too blurry, and so forth.

Yep, there's also an issue with a nasty bug that slipped through testing (if you don't have any photos at all in your library the app crashes at startup). That accounts for quite a few bad reviews too.

So, what I’m thinking is, maybe you could make NightCap default to capping the exposure time at 1/3s, with a setting to enable “Expert Mode” which allows 1/2s and 1s. That way the app will be much more responsive for new users, and people won’t get frustrated waiting 5 or 10 seconds for the camera to focus at 1s exposure.

In normal low-light situations, 1/3s is still plenty to outperform the standard camera (5× more light after all) and also fast enough not to seem like it’s bogging down forever.

People who want 1/2s and 1s exposure can just turn on Expert Mode in the settings, at which point the app will work the way it does already. The idea here is to make NightCap quicker and more responsive by default, to reduce the negative reviews.

Actually I quite like that idea. Where I've used the long exposure mode elsewhere it has to be activated (with a 'Night Mode' button). NightCap shouldn't work in exactly the same way of course, but I guess that some 'middle way' would work - either an 'expert mode' like you suggest, or a 'night mode' button where normal mode is up to 1/3s and night mode takes it up to 1s. Differences between those approaches:

- The 'night mode' button would be on the main camera screen for rapid access, but wouldn't be a permanent setting (if you close the app and re-open it, it would be turned off).

- The 'expert mode' would be a setting, and would be permanent. I'll have to re-work the settings screen to make space (settings might have to be scrollable). Maybe not a bad thing, there's already a 2nd settings screen for the burst mode, maybe I can combine them.

What does everyone else thing of that? I'll probably have to send a fresh version to Apple in the next few days, so I can squeeze this in if it's considered useful.

 

[TJ61]

What does everyone else thing of that? I'll probably have to send a fresh version to Apple in the next few days, so I can squeeze this in if it's considered useful.

I also noticed the poor reviews from people who obviously don't understand the relation between screen refresh and exposure time. I will admit that for a split second even I was surprised (maybe too strong a word) at the slow screen refresh rate when I first set to a long exposure, before the "oh, right!" moment.

But, you probably don't want to hinder others from quickly getting to the desired features of your app.

So, how about when the user sets to a slow exposure they see a popup screen that explains (reminds) how the screen refresh rate is based on the exposure time. You should also add a "Don't show this message again" button.

Regarding the battery drain from the screen staying on during time lapse exposure (who asked for that feature?! ) -- maybe the display could dim, but not turn off, when in this mode. It could even be controlled by a user setting.

Looking forward to the new version! Good luck getting the "volume up" figured out, too.

Regards,
Tom

 

[psonice]

I also noticed the poor reviews from people who obviously don't understand the relation between screen refresh and exposure time. I will admit that for a split second even I was surprised (maybe too strong a word) at the slow screen refresh rate when I first set to a long exposure, before the "oh, right!" moment.

But, you probably don't want to hinder others from quickly getting to the desired features of your app.

So, how about when the user sets to a slow exposure they see a popup screen that explains (reminds) how the screen refresh rate is based on the exposure time. You should also add a "Don't show this message again" button.

That's not really workable - it'll still hit slow exposure times in auto mode. If the app starts with a finger (or phone case, mine has a flap that covers the front but wraps round the back when i use it) covering the lens, it'd start with slow shutter speeds too. Also, I'm against anything that pops up a message when I'm trying to take a photo

It is an idea though - show something on screen to help. How about this: It starts off in 'limited' mode (max 1/3s). If it hits 1/3s at high ISO, it can show something (maybe a red exclamation mark icon?). Tap that, it says "You can get better results by enabling full exposure range, at the expense of speed", with 2 buttons: "OK turn it on, I'll live with the shutter lag" or "No, I'm the kind of person that leaves a 1* review because 1 second exposures are slow". (Text may end up more polite!) This way it's not interrupting anything, but it still gives a helpful reminder. The setting will still be available on the settings screen (which I've re-built, it now scrolls and I can fit more in there).

Regarding the battery drain from the screen staying on during time lapse exposure (who asked for that feature?! ) -- maybe the display could dim, but not turn off, when in this mode. It could even be controlled by a user setting.

I think there's no way to dim the screen (without using private APIs and more apple rejections), and I doubt there's a way to set it to dim the screen but not turn it off. I'll check that though.

Looking forward to the new version! Good luck getting the "volume up" figured out, too.

Regards,
Tom

Thanks, hope you'll like it!

Chris

 

[TJ61]

That's not really workable - it'll still hit slow exposure times in auto mode.

Oh, yeah, wasn't thinking about auto mode. OK, how about a one-time notice on the very first launch of the app? ("Note: Long exposure time will slow the screen refresh rate, so don't be a jerk in the reviews.") I'd do that before making people jump through any hoops to get to the core functionality of your app.

I think there's no way to dim the screen (without using private APIs and more apple rejections), and I doubt there's a way to set it to dim the screen but not turn it off. I'll check that though.

<shaking fist> AAAAPPLLLLLE!!!!

Regards,
Tom

 

[psonice]

Oh, yeah, wasn't thinking about auto mode. OK, how about a one-time notice on the very first launch of the app? ("Note: Long exposure time will slow the screen refresh rate, so don't be a jerk in the reviews.") I'd do that before making people jump through any hoops to get to the core functionality of your app.

An explanation is OK, but remember that lots of people buying the app don't speak english (I know this very well from the number of emails I still get every day.. from people trying to figure out the interface and hitting that 'request support' button!) Getting it translated into lots of languages (especially far eastern languages where it's pretty popular) would be expensive and time consuming - less english, more pictures is actually better. I'm struggling to think of a non-comedy icon to represent slow screen updates though

Also, as Qaanol pointed out, capping it at 1/3s still gives a 5x improvement over the standard camera. It does that while having less issue with camera shake, and it's much more responsive. Capping at 1/3s might actually be *better* for most people.

<shaking fist> AAAAPPLLLLLE!!!!

I've done that plenty of times They usually have our best interests at heart though, even when it doesn't feel like it. With screen dimming, a bug in the app could cause weird issues that make people think it's a hardware fault and take the phone back to the store.

Also, they make these crazy rules for us - but they stick to them themselves too, usually. I found that out today. I wanted an app to quickly review, compare and delete photos from my library (I often take several shots if I'm not sure, then keep the best). On the mac I use iPhoto for that - so I tried iPhoto on the phone. Yep, you can quickly compare shots and delete them \o/

Then you go back to the Photos app, and discover the 'deleted' shots are still there! They're only deleted in iPhoto. Why? Because apple don't allow deletion of photos in the camera roll, except from the photos app. That applies even to apple apps. Although I wish it didn't, because i still need to review + delete photos!

 

[TJ61]

Capping at 1/3s might actually be *better* for most people.

Yeah, maybe this setting could be useful to everyone at some point, so that it serves more purpose than I originally thought.

...apple don't allow deletion of photos in the camera roll, except from the photos app. That applies even to apple apps. Although I wish it didn't, because i still need to review + delete photos!

Ah, I always wondered about that after coming across it in several camera apps. Couldn't figure out why they didn't have the same delete functionality. Now I know not to ask for that function in NightCap! (It was only a matter of time.)

Regards,
Tom

 

[psonice]

Ah, I always wondered about that after coming across it in several camera apps. Couldn't figure out why they didn't have the same delete functionality. Now I know not to ask for that function in NightCap! (It was only a matter of time.)

Well, I came across this because I wanted an app that can compare photos side-by-side, with zoom, for fast comparing (and "pick the best") before deleting unwanted shots. iPhoto is great for this, you open a photo then hold your finger on another to put them side by side. And it does indeed support deleting photos. Perfect solution?

No, check this for confusing: If you delete in iPhoto the photo disappears. But it's still there in the photo library! If you check the help file, right at the bottom of a not-so-clear section on deleting, it tells you to open the photos app and delete from there.

I have to applaud them of sticking to their own app store rules. But it's very frustrating that there's apps can't provide a useful compare / delete feature.

 

[lokerd]

I would love an app to compare two images side by side. Even if it means I have to go back to the Photo App. That does frustrate me that Apple is so dang controlling. This and the lack of arrow keys are two of the most frustrating issues!!!

 

[Qaanol]

I’m glad everyone is okay with the expert mode and 1/3s cap in “basic mode”. I wasn’t sure how it would come across, since I was only thinking of it in terms of user reviews. But the discussion here made me realize I would probably use a 1/3s basic mode some of the time myself, when I want auto-exposure and I know for sure I don’t need the max-duration shutter speed. This would ensure that if I accidentally block the lens, I wouldn’t have to wait a super-long time for the camera to auto-adjust.

Here’s a couple more things that could be improved (NightCap 2.1).

First, something that appears to be an actual, albeit minor, bug. I’m on 5.0.1, so I can’t vouch for other iOS version. Anyway, when NightCap is open and the phone is rotated about 45º, halfway between portrait and landscape, the Settings button does not work properly. Here is what it currently does:

The info line “EXP 1/N ISO XXX” appears or disappears as appropriate. However, the Settings screen does not appear or disappear. When the phone is subsequently rotated most of the way to portrait or landscape mode, the Settings opens or closes if necessary, depending how many times the Settings button was pressed.

That is, the app keeps proper track of the flag “is Settings open now” and uses it to display or hide the shutter and exposure info, and also uses it to open or close the Settings but only after the phone is rotated close to an axis-aligned orientation.

Second, something that would make the user experience a little more friendly. When the “Manual exposure” switch gets toggled either on or off, or when the shutter speed slider is changed while manual exposure is on, a message should pop up saying something like, “Adjusting shutter speed, please be patient.” When the UI becomes responsive again, the notice should disappear.

This message should appear for all manual shutter speed changes (including turning manual exposure on or off) because even if the speed is fast (1/20s) there is still a noticeable “freezing” pause where the UI is unresponsive and the camera view does not update. If that pause could be eliminated, doing so would obviate the need for this message in those situations. But the way things are now, a message is highly prudent.

Edit: One more thing. The “Manual exposure” slider, and the “Self timer” duration buttons, should be operable even when their respective toggle switches are off. This is particularly important in the case of “Manual exposure” because of the following scenario:

Suppose I have manual exposure on and set to 1s, then I turn manual exposure off. A while later I decide I want to set manual exposure at say 1/8s. I would like to be able to move the slider to 1/8s first, then flip the toggle to turn on manual exposure. Right now I have to turn manual exposure back on first, which entails waiting around for the camera to auto-adjust at 1s shutter speed, and takes a figurative age. That is unnecessarily inconvenient.

Quick summary:
1. Settings button doesn’t work right at 45º phone orientation.
2. Want “Adjusting exposure, please wait” message when manual exposure is toggled or changed.
3. Want exposure slider and timer buttons to work even when toggled off.

 

[Qaanol]

oops, double post

 

[psonice]

Still no real progress on the Volume+ shutter feature + the app review team (I'm working through it with them, but it might take time). So I'm going to release 2.2 without it. Expect it in a week or so, if all goes to plan.

I’m glad everyone is okay with the expert mode and 1/3s cap in “basic mode”. I wasn’t sure how it would come across, since I was only thinking of it in terms of user reviews. But the discussion here made me realize I would probably use a 1/3s basic mode some of the time myself, when I want auto-exposure and I know for sure I don’t need the max-duration shutter speed. This would ensure that if I accidentally block the lens, I wouldn’t have to wait a super-long time for the camera to auto-adjust.

Here’s a couple more things that could be improved (NightCap 2.1).

First, something that appears to be an actual, albeit minor, bug. I’m on 5.0.1, so I can’t vouch for other iOS version. Anyway, when NightCap is open and the phone is rotated about 45º, halfway between portrait and landscape, the Settings button does not work properly. Here is what it currently does:

Wow, this is super useful! I've had a few reports of the settings menu not appearing, going right back to v1.0, and I've never managed to track it down. I've been diligently testing it, trying to cover every position (flat, face down, landscape, portrait, upside-down...) and every situation that could cause an issue. I never thought to test it "between" positions. Now I can finally fix it

Second, something that would make the user experience a little more friendly. When the “Manual exposure” switch gets toggled either on or off, or when the shutter speed slider is changed while manual exposure is on, a message should pop up saying something like, “Adjusting shutter speed, please be patient.” When the UI becomes responsive again, the notice should disappear.

I've been experimenting with this, but it's much harder than it sounds. As soon as the adjustment starts, it basically freezes the program. That means that I tell the OS to put the message on the screen, then tell the camera to update - and it locks up before the message appears, and only shows it once it's finished setting exposure. I can show the message on a separate "thread", and then it appears immediately - but this isn't "thread safe" and it ends up crashing. Setting the exposure also isn't thread safe.

The only remaining option is to put the message up, then set the exposure after a delay. I don't really want to add a delay to something that people complain is slow, but hopefully the delay can be so small it's irrelevant anyway. I'll test this later.

Edit: One more thing. The “Manual exposure” slider, and the “Self timer” duration buttons, should be operable even when their respective toggle switches are off. This is particularly important in the case of “Manual exposure” because of the following scenario:

Suppose I have manual exposure on and set to 1s, then I turn manual exposure off. A while later I decide I want to set manual exposure at say 1/8s. I would like to be able to move the slider to 1/8s first, then flip the toggle to turn on manual exposure. Right now I have to turn manual exposure back on first, which entails waiting around for the camera to auto-adjust at 1s shutter speed, and takes a figurative age. That is unnecessarily inconvenient.

Actually.. this is a good suggestion. Then again, I think if the slider is active but manual is turned off it's quite confusing, because changing the exposure has no effect. I don't want to automatically enable it when the slider is moved either. I'm going to go for a half-way approach: the slider will *look* disabled, but you'll still be able to move it. The new sliders for the burst controls will be the same.

Thanks once again for the awesome feedback