Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iDevice Apps, Reviews
Seller: Synthetic Corp
Requirements: iOS 3.1 or later
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch (4th generation)
File Size: 19.0MB
Version Reviewed: 201
Price: $1.99
Age Rating: 4+
Vintage photo effects are all the rage in digital photography right now—taking a high def picture and making it look overexposed, supersaturated, with vignette borders. The effects can be striking; rather than simply capturing a moment, they can create a mood for a photo, drawing the eye in to the history of the moment. Some vintage apps work by letting you apply a filter to a regular photo, but Hipstamatic takes the entire process out of your hands and makes you feel like you’re holding an old box camera.
Hipstamatic is a vintage camera app. It takes your high resolution digital photos and processes them so they look like they were taken by vintage film cameras: blowing out the color, altering the saturation, and distressing the texture.
Hipstamatic embraces the idea of using an analog camera. You select your settings not by applying a filter to a regular photo (like Instagram) but by choosing the virtual film, lens, and flash to use beforehand. Each comes in a set, but you can mix and match them to your desire, or even give the app a shake to randomize them.
Once you take a shot (through a tiny viewfinder), Hipstamatic processes the photo. This takes a few seconds to “develop,” and indeed gobbles up enough processing power that you can run out of shots (!) while the camera is “rewinding.” The finished photos are automatically saved to your camera roll, but thumbnails appear in-app as well.
If you like the current trend of vintage photography apps (which I must admit, I do), Hipstamatic is a lot of fun. Any loss of control over the final look of the photo (there is no pre-editing of the final look) is offset by the simple interface of the app. This is not a photo editor, and that’s a good thing. In addition to the camera sets that come with the app, you can purchase additional lenses, films, and flashes in-app, as well as getting limited-edition sets (for free) every so often.
Hipstamatic also comes with the ability to upload your photos to Facebook, Tumblr, and Flickr (though oddly not Twitter) from inside the app, or add your photos to “stacks” and have printed copies mailed to you. I’m fascinated by the way the vintage effects can add a sense of energy and mystery to an otherwise normal photo, and look forward to mixing and matching effects every time I need to take a picture. Strangely, the very limited nature of the app’s interface is making me learn more about the way it works: which film goes with which lens goes with which flash to get the effect that I desire. In its own weird way, it’s making me a better photographer.
Appletell Rating:
Buy Hipstamatic
Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »
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