Storing stereoscopic photos

Originally taking photos was not planned at all, but once the app was able to display a live stereo view, I decided it would be a shame not to save it. The photo is created from the current frame of the video stream so it doesn't have high resolution (maybe this will be improved someday) but it's better than nothing.
Photos are saved to the Wide Stereo album in the system's Photos. The

Photos button in the app lets you to recall previously taken photos (only from the Wide Stereo album). As long as we only work within the same application, everything should run smoothly without having to go into technical details.

The saved photos also become available to other apps, and since the stereoscopic format is not directly supported by iOS, there are some inconveniences that you'd better know about in advance if you want to do something with these photos in apps other than Wide Stereo.
● A stereoscopic photo contains two views in it, but most apps will only display the first view (from the left eye). To display a stereoscopic photo, you must use an app that understands this format. Technically, it is the Multiple Picture Object (MPO), which is some variation of JPG and is, or was used in, for example, the Nintendo 3DS, Fujifilm Finepix REAL 3D W3 and 3D-compatible TV sets (with 3D glasses).
● The system's photo processing tools in iOS (cropping, brightness, colors, etc.) ostensibly allow you to process photos with Wide Stereo but actually only process the view from one eye. When you open such a processed photo in Wide Stereo, you will see the original photo as if the processing had not taken place. But it is comforting to know that there is no loss of stereoscopic data even though one uses a tool that does not know the stereoscopic format to process the photo
● When sending photos from the built-in Photos app to other people or apps, there is an option to remove location data. Always be aware of the additional privacy-relevant data that the photos you transmit to others may contain! Unfortunately, in the case of stereoscopic photos taken in Wide Stereo, the Photos app, by removing the location, will also remove the other eye view, i.e. the photo will no longer be stereoscopic. Instead, send such photos directly from Wide Stereo. The application will allow you to choose between sending with or without location and at the same time the photo will remain stereoscopic for the recipient.

With Wide Stereo you can also save images bypassing the system's Photos and thus avoiding potential incompatibilities, although this is not as smooth as intergration with Photos. Simply use the

Share button on the photo confirmation bar, instead of confirming the save, and continue to forward the photo to where you want it, such as to a file on your iCloud drive. The

Share button becomes the only available form of saving a photo if access to the system's Photos is not granted.

More on: Taking stereoscopic photos without a second camera

Back to introduction