iPhone: The Missing Manual, 3rd Edition

Chapter 6. Camera, Photos, & Video

This chapter is all about the iPhone's ability to display photos copied over from your computer, to take new pictures with its built-in camera, and (on the 3GS model) to capture videos.

You've probably never seen pictures and movies look this good on a pocket gadget. The iPhone screen is bright, the colors are vivid, and the super-high pixel density makes every shot of your life look cracklin' sharp.

The camera on the 3GS has been significantly improved from the one on the earlier iPhones. The photos can look every bit as good as what you'd get from a dedicated camera—but not always. With moving subjects, it's pretty obvious that you used a cameraphone. Even so, when life's little photo ops crop up, some camera is better than no camera.

Opening Photos

In Chapter 14, you can read about how to choose which photos you want copied to your iPhone. After the sync is done, you can drill down to a certain set of photos like so:

1. On the Home screen, tap Photos.

   The Photo Albums screen appears. First on the list is Camera Roll, which means "Pictures you've taken with the iPhone."

   

   Next is Photo Library, which means all the photos you've selected to copy from your Mac or PC.

   After that is the list of albums you've brought over from the computer. (An album is the photo ...