How to score the $3 Camera+ iPhone app for free

iPhone users looking for a more versatile and powerful camera app than Apple's default one can now grab a good one for free.

Camera+ normally sells for $3 in Apple's App Store. For a limited time, though, Apple is offering the app for free through its Apple Store app, as spotted by the folks at RazorianFly on Monday.

Camera+ provides a variety of controls beyond the basic ones outfitted into the built-in Camera app.

You can manually set the focus and exposure through onscreen wheels. Moving the wheels around the screen quickly and easily adjusts either feature. You can also tweak both the focus and exposure by opening and swiping across a slider grid at the bottom.

Other exposure effects appear at the bottom, so you can simply choose a daylight setting, a fluorescent setting, a candlelight setting and more in order to achieve a certain look to your photo. A small blue button next to the shutter button calls up more options, such as a timer, burst mode, cropping and a macro setting. The app even throws in a set of white balance presets to help you set up your shot.

After you've snapped your photo, you can tap into the advanced editing features available in Camera+. You can crop your photos, apply filters and frames, and use preset exposure options. You can also delve into the app's Lab feature where you can sharpen, straighten, flip, blur and do much more to your picture. You can even open existing photos from your Camera Roll to edit them.

So how do you grab Camera+ for free?

• Download the Apple Store app onto your iPhone if you haven't already done so. Open the app.
• Tap the Stores icon at the bottom of the screen. Scroll to the bottom of the Stores screen, and you'll see a promo for "the ultimate photo app," aka Camera+.
• Tap the icon for Camera+. Another screen pops up briefly describing the app and inviting you to download it. Tap the green "Download now for free" button.
• The app tells you that it's taking you to the App Store. Tap Continue. Enter your Apple password to sign into the iTunes Store if requested, and then tap OK.
• Tap the Redeem link at the top of the screen. Camera+ then downloads and installs on your iPhone. After the installation is complete, simply tap the Open button to launch the app.

You can now use Camera+ instead of the standard Camera app and achieve much greater control over your photos.