Not enough noise has been made about the camera on Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4. The two lenses, one 8 megapixels and the other 4 megapixels, seem easy to overlook. Most people focus on the device’s integrated Surface Pen accessory, or the Surface Pro Cover, which connects the entire device and turns it into a laptop. Microsoft itself rarely emphasizes the sensors on the device, probably because it thinks very few people want a 12-inch tablet to capture stunning shots.
They will be wrong. No, tablets are not the best form factor for taking photos, but most people don’t care. Because the best camera is the one that is with you at that moment.
Taking selfies and photos with the Surface Pro 4 is relatively simple.
Camera and Photos App for Windows 10
You can’t buy a Surface Pro 4 without Microsoft’s latest operating system installed. Windows 10 comes packed with new features, but the highlights are all improved apps. These apps are preinstalled on every device running Windows 10 you own, including the Surface Pro 4. There were two separate apps, pictures, that did the heavy lifting.
The camera, as the name suggests, is where you go when you want to take pictures. Microsoft pins the Camera tile directly from the factory to the Start area of the Surface Pro 4. You can find it again by entering the list of installed applications on your device.
The second app is called Photos and is also pre-installed and can be accessed directly from the Start area. Photos works the same as a Gallery app on your phone. If you also have the OneDrive app installed on your smartphone, it lets you look at all the pictures you’ve already taken, regardless of what device you took them.
If you can’t find them, don’t worry. There is no way to remove them from your Surface, so they are there. Microsoft automatically updates these apps from the Windows Store, but this is provided you use a Microsoft Account with your device.
How to Use Camera in Windows 10
The camera app is one of the few apps still available in Windows 10 that truly prioritizes touch interactions above all else. It is dominated by an interface that is great for touch and treats a mouse and keyboard like a second-class citizen. Considering that most people will only use this app with a touchscreen, that’s okay.
The first time you open the app, you’ll be prompted to give the app permission to use your Surface Pro’s front- and rear-facing cameras. After this point, you get a viewfinder by default.
The camera of your Surface Pro 4 supports zooming. You tap on a particular subject to get the camera to focus on a particular area or object. You don’t have to manually tap anything to activate the focus, the software takes care of that automatically.
Tapping the camera logo on the right side of your screen takes your picture. If you slide this button out you will get counters to set some options. White Balance, Zoom, ISO and contrast levels are the things you can change.
Tapping the three dots in the upper right corner of your screen opens a menu of where and live. Photo Timer gives you a chance to pose for a picture or video. It has options that Microsoft can’t fit anywhere else, like changing whether a photo is square or rectangular and letting you digitally stabilize the videos you record.
The button in the top center of the app lets you switch between the front-facing and rear-facing Surface Pro 4 cameras. Note that when you switch between the two, an indicator light comes on to let you know the camera is in use.
How to Use Photos in Windows 10
The Photos app is where you go when you want to look at all the pictures your Surface Pro 4 has already taken. Its design is both mouse and keyboard friendly. It is colored black to keep the focus on your photos.
The view divides all your photos by the month they were taken. With Windows 10, Microsoft continues to focus on cloud storage. Install the OneDrive app on your phone and set the app to upload pictures to your online Camera Roll where they can be viewed from Photos with little effort. Photos pulls content directly from OneDrive and your Surface Pro 4’s local image storage.
There are only three fields in it by default, Camera roll, saved images, and Screenshots. The camera roll is where the photos you take with your Surface Pro are located. The other two are where Windows saves pictures that you take from the internet or that you take from your screen by default.
New to Windows 10 is the automatic Album creation tool. Operating system and OneDrive group pictures taken on the same day offer an easy sorting option if you wish. When it’s enough for a new Album, the app notifies you with a notification.
Tapping or clicking on a particular image gives you a closer look at it and some very basic options for editing it. The Photos app can crop, rotate and lightly retouch most file formats.
Good luck with your Surface Pro 4. Be sure to capture every moment possible, whether with your Surface Pro 4 or any other device.
