Jesse David Hollington's dashboard

As much as I would LOVE to have direct uploading from Exposure OR a separate app, there is one major problem I've observed so far that *seems* to be an API limitation.

I'm hoping Fraser can offer some feedback on the following issues I've noticed from using other apps:

Firstly, in looking at other apps and methods of uploading pictures, it would appear that ALL EXIF DATA is stripped out when sending photos from the iPhone. This applies to e-mailing photos through Apple's own iPhone Mail app, as well as taking photos with Mobile Fotos or other similar apps. This means that things like the camera model and more importantly the geotag data that the iPhone nicely adds will NOT be included if you send to Flickr directly from the iPhone. If this is truly an API limitation, then you're pretty much stuck uploading your pictures via your computer anyway to retain that data.

On the other hand, perhaps the other apps are simply being lazy when converting the photos, and there actually *is* a way to do this (crossing fingers -- AIrMe certainly does add the geo-tag data to apps that are taken directly with it, so I'm guessing it writes its own EXIF geotag data, but of course it provides no way to upload apps from the Camera Roll -- you have to take them via AirMe).

Secondly, it seems that photos accessed via the API from the "Camera Roll" are limited to a 640x480 resolution -- lower even than photos sent via the iPhone Mail app, which go out at 800x600. If this is also true, then this means that you'd be better off just e-mailing your photos from your camera roll into flickr, rather than having an application do it.

Pictures taken with the camera directly in an app still seem to be available at the full 1600 x 1200 resolution, but they still don't include the EXIF data -- possibly simply because it's the app's responsibility to write it to the photo in that case (ie, does the Camera app write the EXIF data on the iPhone, or is it written by the image capture API?).

If the above are not strictly API limitations, then Exposure could jump FAR ahead of the pack by figuring out a way to deal with higher resolution photos AND add geo-tag data. Thus far, the options are quite limited.... AirMe adds the geotag data, but only provides lower-res images and no way to browse the camera roll. Mobile Fotos provides 1600x1200 images with no EXIF geotag data at all, and sends camera roll photos out at 640x480.

The only problem I could see with adding-while-shooting is that it would slow down your shooting unless it was being done in the background. While it would be a very cool feature, I wouldn't want to have to wait between shots while they're uploaded to Flickr, even if that does only take a few seconds.

If it can be done in the background however while you keep shooting, that would be a VERY cool idea. – Jesse Hollington, on July 26, 2008 19:07

Personally, I'd be content just to see a small "Camera" button in the top-right corner of the screen, in much the same way that Facebook does this (and the built-in Camera app, for that matter -- if you go to your Camera Roll from the Camera app you'll see it appears there as a shortcut to return to the camera). – Jesse Hollington, on July 26, 2008 19:04

I like the "shake the iPhone" idea -- that's kind of cool. A good place for the camera icon would be the top-right corner, which is where it appears in the Facebook app, as well as when browsing the Camera Roll from the Camera app. – Jesse Hollington, on July 26, 2008 19:02

Personally, I would like to see it embedded in Exposure, if for no other reason than I have enough clutter on my main app screens without adding yet-another-app. Browsing the camera roll directly and uploading from there would be my preferred form, although I understand there are API limitations that preclude getting "full-size" photos up to Flickr unless you take them directly. – Jesse Hollington, on July 26, 2008 19:01

Mobile Fotos (formerly Mobile Flickr) seems to be able to display private contact photos with no problems, so I'm guessing there must be some way to do it.

I like Exposure FAR better than Mobile Fotos, and would prefer to see this option here.

I DO see the private photos in the "Recents" listing -- I just can't get them when I select the contact *specifically* -- I have a couple of contacts with NO public photos, so they come up blank when I go directly to them, but their photos show up since when looking at recent photos.