Manual & FAQ
Using Chimera
Taking photos
Tap 
to begin taking a photo. If you have enabled continuous mode or one of the delayed shutter controls (see below), icons that indicate the status of your active photo will appear 
.
While a photo is in progress, tap anywhere on the screen to take the shot immediately or wait for your shot to be taken automatically when your shutter conditions are met.
To cancel an active photo, tap the shutter button again.
Previewing photos
Tap 
to toggle the split-screen preview view. In split-screen view your scene can be previewed with filters, color correction, and face detection.
Instant, continuous, and manual modes
Chimera supports three ways to take photos: instant, continuous, and manual. To change this setting, tap 
and select the Camera tab.
- Review mode: After a photo is taken, you can manually review it and try different filter settings before saving (see Review Mode, below)
- Instant mode: Each photo you take is immediately processed in the background and saved to your photo library
- Continuous mode: Each photo taken is immediately saved in the background, and another photo is taken as soon as possible (subject to your shutter control setup, below). Photos will continue to be taken until you cancel active photo mode by tapping the shutter button again
Shutter controls
Chimera helps you take sharper, better photos with simple but powerful shutter controls. To change your shutter settings, tap and select the Camera tab.
- Photo timer: Enable the photo timer to take delayed photographs, such as group photos. The Delay chooser lets you select the number of seconds to delay before a photo is taken. When you press the shutter button, the clock indicator
counts down the seconds remaining until your shot. The special infinity delay option is useful for taking manual photos using the full-screen shutter. - Stabilization: Photo stabilization helps you take sharper photos in low-light situations using the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer. When enabled, photos are taken only after the device has been held stable for a short amount of time. The stabilization indicator
has a progress bar that shows you how long the device has been stable. Your shot will be taken when the progress bar is full. - Wait for faces: Chimera’s face detection allows you to take great portraits by triggering the shutter when one or more faces appear in the scene. When enabled, the face indicator
lets you know when enough faces have been detected by turning the target box green. - Full-screen shutter: Whenever an active photo is in progress, you can take a shot immediately by tapping anywhere on the screen. There is no need to specifically enable this feature, but you can take completely manual photos with the full-screen shutter by choosing the special infinity timer value (see above).
Enhancing photos
Chimera lets you enhance photos with automatic color adjustment, photographic filters, and face detection. Each of these enhancements are applied to your photos automatically when saved to your image library, or manually in review mode (see below). Preview your enhancement settings in split-screen mode (see above).
Color adjustment
Chimera features two kinds of automatic color adjustment for photos. Either method can be applied to the whole image or optimized for the primary face in your photo. Configure automatic color adjustment by tapping and choosing the Color tab.
- White balance: Adjusts colors in the scene to yield a bright white. This setting typically works well for indoor photographs, but may result in discoloration in photos that contain only a few colors
- High contrast: Adjusts the contrast in a photo to make colors appear more striking. This setting typically works well in outdoor photographs, but may result in speckling or discoloration in images that are very low-contrast to begin with
Try enabling or disabling optimize for faces to see what yields the best results for your photo. Enabling face detection may decrease performance.
Photographic filters
Chimera includes over 20 photographic effect filters that you can apply to your photos. To try out filters, tap and select the Effects tab. Tap the box containing the filter sample you wish to apply. Flick left or right to move between pages of filters.
Your selected filter (if any) is applied to photos automatically when saving to your photo library or in the split-screen preview pane.
Face detection
Chimera features sophisticated face detection to help enhance your photos. Tap and choose the Faces tab to configure face detection.
You do not need to explicitly enable or disable face detection for normal use (face optimized color adjustment or face detect shutter mode), but you can choose to show the result of face detection in either the split-screen preview pane (show in preview) or on your saved photos (show in export). Whenever face detection is used, performance may be reduced.
There are two quality modes for face detection: faster and more sensitive. Faster mode has less performance impact, but may miss faces that appear too small in the image. More sensitive mode is able to detect smaller faces, but may reduce performance or occasionally detect faces in shadows or other non-face regions. Try both settings if you are having trouble recognizing faces in a scene.
Reviewing and editing photos
Chimera lets you review and edit photos after they are taken or loaded from your photo library. Tap 
to load an existing photo for editing.
In review mode, tap at any time to change the filter, color correction, and face detection settings for the current photograph — your results will be immediately applied.
If you wish to save a copy of your photo, tap 
. Your photo will be saved in the background with your current filter settings so you can continue editing or shooting immediately.
When you are done reviewing and enhancing a photo, tap the Done button to return to the main screen.
Frequently Asked Questions
None yet, coming soon.
