The new Camera+ 6 app defends its position beautifully as best iOS photography app.

As far as I’m concerned, it already holds the title of (arguably) the Best iOS Photo App. Now, with its latest iteration, the Camera+ 6 app has gone next level. A good thing for amateurs and pro iPhone photographers alike. And paired with the snazzy updates iOS 8 brings, I have a feeling this app will be holding that top spot for a while.

First of all, the interface has been redesigned. It’s clean, inviting and super-crisp on the new iPhone’s larger screen. It practically begs you to fiddle around and start snapping test pics. Camera+ 6 also added a full range of manual shooting modes, which basically means you have more control and more options when it comes to how your iPhone photos look. The best part is, you can manipulate with things like exposure and focus while you shoot.

Another neat addition is the control wheel, giving you fine-tuning abilities that are far more specific than a toggle that just goes between on and off.

There are some more advanced settings that let you adjust shutter speed and ISO (your camera’s sensitivity to light), but you don’t even need to jump into all of that to have fun with this app. One of my own favorite additions is the Macro shooting mode. It lets you zoom in close on your photo subject — flowers, bees, little baby toes — and pick up those excellent details in your shot with extra-sharp focus.

I also really liked the editing features on this app. Oh, we’re going way beyond a couple of cool filters here, friends. Get this: Camera+ 6 lets you edit your pics right in the app’s camera roll, skipping over that extra (and often annoying) step of having to import your photos into an editing app first.

The one small hiccup with Camera+ 6 is the lack of tutorials or even simple arrows pointing out what’s what. You kind of have to feel your way around the menus if this is your first time using the using it. The bright side is, it’s pretty intuitive and easy to figure things out, so you’ll get the hang of it quickly. All in all, I’d give this updated Camera+ app — you know it — an A+.

Camera+ 6 is a free update to all previous Camera+ app users. First-timers pay $1.99 for iPhone and iPod Touch, while the iPad version is $4.99 on iTunes.