65×24 panoramic camera- design process

For our 31st edition, we welcome Guillaume, a former Apple designer turned indie developer. A passionate photographer, Guillaume founded Héliographe studio after leaving Apple and developed 65×24.

Apptisan #031 — Talking with 65×24’s Creator: From Apple Designer to Independent Developer - Bringing the XPan Film Camera’s Wide-Format Magic to iPhone

https://apptisan.substack.com/p/apptisan-031-65x24

65x24 - Press Kit

https://heliographe.net/press/65x24-presskit

The Best Camera Apps for iPhone

An overview of the 65×24 panoramic camera app for iPhone. https://65x24.net  Designed by Héliographe: https://heliographe.net

65×24: a panoramic camera for iPhone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6__mdUnsMOI

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trichromy/id6448881187

This video introduces features in the upcoming 0.6 update 65×24 for iOS 18 and iPhone 16 with Camera Control.  65×24 ("65 by 24") is a panoramic camera app for iPhone, which lets photographers compose and shoot in the iconic 65:24 (2.71) aspect ratio first pioneered by the Hasselblad X-Pan.  https://65x24.net  Designed by Héliographe: https://heliographe.net

65×24 panoramic camera - 0.6 update overview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVVzVzRvqb0

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sashiko_by_volunteers,_2012_-_Textile_Museum_of_Canada_-_DSC00807.JPG

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/65-24-panoramic-camera/id6447838860

There's lots of different ways you can launch a camera app quickly on your phone to make sure you never miss a shot.  In this video i'll show you all the different ways you can launch camera apps on your iPhone:  - Lock Screen control (iOS 18) - Control Center control (iOS 18) - Action Button (iPhone 15 and above) - Camera Control (iPhone 16)

Never Miss a Shot: All the different ways to launch camera apps on your iPhone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcUR1Wby62o

Update for 65×24, a free panoramic camera app for iPhone, coming in a bit over 24 hours.

When you use Camera Control on iPhone 16, the viewfinder expands to fill the screen, giving you an immersive shooting experience that almost makes your phone feel like a dedicated camera.

This 2006 Sony NW A1000 is one of my favorite handheld device design of all times. The way the screen is perfectly seamless is just *chef kiss* 

Probably why I can’t help myself but design UIs for OLED screens as minimalist content on pure black background

Shot in Madagascar on iPhone 14 Pro, processed with AgBr

Great designers know the distinction between “this design hasn’t aged well” and “this design isn’t fashionable anymore at this moment”

And they know that it’s often a very fuzzy line

I've shared a number of design process details about 65×24 on my personal website. Will update it with features from the latest update soon!

https://gardaud.fr/portfolio-65x24

Launched 65×24 on Product Hunt! 

I've been working on this panoramic camera app for a while now, and after the latest update I feel like it's ready to be shared with the broader world.

Check it out!

https://www.producthunt.com/posts/65x24

The new update for 65×24 includes controls for quickly launching the app from your phone’s Control Center or Lock Screen on iOS 18

Releasing tomorrow!

Experimenting with a bubble level I had lying around

Would be nice to have a super slim one integrated directly in the phone case

Mt Fuji in the distance

Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max with 65×24 app

Lots of stuff coming this week, it's going to be fun!

The 0.61 update for 65×24 is now live! The fullscreen mode that was exclusive to iPhone 16 is now available on all devices.

Shoot with an immersive panoramic viewfinder just using your iPhone's physical buttons.
Supports all iPhones back to the 6S and SE Gen 1

I just got interviewed by the Apptisan newsletter, talking about my panoramic camera app 65×24 and what it's like to go from designer at a big company to being indie

It's a really nice newsletter, check it out!

https://apptisan.substack.com/p/apptisan-031-65x24

65×24 is a free XPan format panoramic camera app, and the latest update went live earlier today

Now featuring a full screen viewfinder when you use Camera Control on iPhone 16, which makes shooting with your iPhone feel like a dedicated camera!

a great product lesson courtesy of Bluesky recently: 

stay nimble, keep executing, over a long enough timeframe your heavyweight established competitors will just shoot themselves in the foot

I put together a press kit for 65×24! Includes lots of details, sample shots, and more.

https://heliographe.net/press/65x24-presskit

Tomorrow I will share more info about the big update incoming 👀

Friends often ask me - "what are some camera apps I should try on my iPhone?”

So I made camera-apps.com to showcase my favorites

There are so many great ones, each encouraging you to approach photography in a different way

I just made an overview video for 65×24, an XPan aspect ratio camera app for iPhone. Even advanced users might learn a trick or two watching it :)

Some new exciting things are coming this week, stay tuned...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6__mdUnsMOI

Shooting with the volume buttons and fullscreen viewfinder mode in 65×24 camera app makes my old iPhone mini feel like a little panoramic point and shoot, it’s so fun

Still working on AgBr, the black and white film emulator.

We’ve been incorporating feedback from the first round of beta and will be opening a second round soon.

We’re taking the time to make something special.

How do we give people the confidence to spend 10 seconds making a crappy post-it doodle rather than using AI generated images for their blog/newsletter/etc? 

In all cases the crappy doodle would be more interesting and have more personality

13 years later, the UI design of the OP-1 is still a masterclass

So much to love - minimal use of color on the black OLED screen, fun illustrations that pack in lots of technical information yet remain legible, color coded parameters that reference the physical knobs…

💙💚🤍🧡

The name for an "unprocessed photograph" is a "latent image"; when you process a latent image, it becomes a photo

What is commonly referred to as a "raw photo" is a (digital) latent image, and if you visualize it (which arguably is processing) its pixels typically look like this

Made a quick little infographic because way too many camera apps are showing Camera Control sliders with bare numbers right now and it’s just plain confusing

Always include context in your UIs!

Ultra-wide cameras are for filming skateboard videos, and taking goofy pictures of animals

Shot RAW on iPhone, edited with AgBr

A net flapping in the wind, shot with Trichromy https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trichromy/id6448881187 

Exposures 2” apart, shot on a tripod (makes a huge difference for trichromy shots)

Big update for 65×24 coming this Monday, Nov 4th! 

Full support for new iPhone 16 and iOS 18 features, with a unique twist you definitely haven't seen before.

When you take photos of people/animals with iPhone 15/16 (or use Portrait Mode on older iPhones), various mattes - secondary images storing information like depth, person segmentation, etc - get stored in the photo

I made a little tool to view/export them, free on the App Store

iPhone 16 Pro &
65×24 panoramic camera app &
Matsumoto Castle

(If anyone has foolproof tips for avoiding screen reflections when taking phone shots in bright outdoor light I want them 😄)

Carcassonne
Hasselblad XPan + 45mm lens + Tmax 400

As I mentioned the other day, I updated the App Store screenshots for 65×24 (now live!).

This is a first attempt I might refine, tried to strike a balance between clear, legible design while still showing all the unique features. 

Any thoughts from other designers welcome :)

Long phone displays + panoramic photography = best friends

App: 65×24 Panoramic Camera (free on the App Store)

It makes me so sad when I see indie creators use AI to write copy for their website/portfolio/product.

As an indie creator your unique voice is one of your top assets, don’t give it up. 

Leave the generic meaningless AI word salads to big companies who have to be boring

Maybe we need to bring back some of that 2000s “design a physical device that would be super impractical to manufacture and just make it out of software” energy

I experimented with a lot of ideas on how to integrate iPhone 16's Camera Control with 65×24 in a way that made sense & enhanced the overall shooting experience

The expanding, fullscreen viewfinder design I landed on feels quite nice, almost like your phone is a dedicated camera

Just discovered the work of graphic designer Marie Neurath, and I am absolutely in love. 

This website overview of her work is just fantastic too https://www.marieneurath.org/

Going to update app screenshots for 65×24, those are from forever ago back when the app was much simpler

A nicer presentation might help attract more users

Do ppl even show full individual screenshots anymore? Feels like everyone just uses the combined space as a canvas now

My most important realization of the last few months - and subsequently what I’ve struggled with a lot - is that the things you want to work on some day, you have to find a way to start working on them now.

New major version of 65×24 shipping this coming Monday!
It features a brand new immersive fullscreen shooting experience for iPhone 16 & Camera Control, and new iOS 18 integrations for all phones.

Here's a video about the new features!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVVzVzRvqb0

Show me your .swiftlint.yml, I’ll tell you who you really are

If you are an app developer, one of the best things you can do right now for the future of image quality on screens everywhere is request JPEG XL APIs from Apple (eg by filing a Feedback).

Mad respect for companies that create great software that’s pay once, use forever - no subscriptions.
It’s hard enough to make sustainable money selling software, doing so without subscriptions makes it even harder.

Texture inspiration for today is sashiko 刺子 embroidery

image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sashiko_by_volunteers,_2012_-_Textile_Museum_of_Canada_-_DSC00807.JPG

Moved away from San Francisco exactly a year ago after 12 years there, miss it every day

Shot with Trichromy https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trichromy/id6448881187

Blue and yellow fall vibes in Tokyo lately

Shot with the panoramic camera app 65×24, get it on your iPhone for free

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/65-24-panoramic-camera/id6447838860

How is the year over in barely a month and a half?! 
There are still so many things I want to do in 2024, so much to build!

Here's to getting a couple more things out the door before the year is over!

Everyone tends to use the same language when describing their design work. Everything is "pixel perfect", "meticulously crafted", "carefully considered", "filled with gorgeous details", etc

I'm guilty of this
It's starting to feel stale to me & I want to try different directions

Well I guess this dashboard is telling me I should be charging more!?
jk no intention of changing prices 

But please check out 65×24 if you haven’t! Core features are free forever, there’s just an in app purchase to unlock advanced settings.

No subscription, no ads, no tracking

this week, i'll share more about a cool little update coming to 65×24 :)

With newer iPhones and iOS 18, there's now a bunch of different ways you can quickly launch camera apps - I made a little video guide going through them all 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcUR1Wby62o

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