ClassicTOY – Plastic Toy Camera
Version 1.0
Price: Free, plus a 99¢ in-app purchase
Bottom Line: Very nice! The same great filters as ClassicPAN in a more versatile 3:2 frame.
ClassicTOY
ClassicTOY – Plastic Toy Camera is the latest camera app from misskiwi. Drawing from the filters of ClassicPAN which we’ve previously reviewed and liked very much, ClassicTOY is another app that applies analog and other vintage filter effects to your images. ClassicTOY presents these effects in a standard 3:2 aspect ratio — a common standard for 35mm film and many DSLR cameras.
Overall, I think the presentation and implementation of the filters in ClassicTOY exceeds that of misskiwi’s previous apps. If you like the filter set of ClassicPAN — whether or not you cared for the wide aspect ratio — you will like ClassicTOY.
Like ClassicPAN her previous app, ClassicTOY is skinned to look like the back of a digital camera. The skin has been improved with a larger viewfinder. Now, the “film style” (filter effect) appears in a window off to the side of the viewfinder. Effects are changed by flipping the film stocks up or down. Shades of Hipstamatic’s new film window, but it’s easy to use and your “film type” is always visible. The viewfinder is mostly accurate and the crop closely (but not precisely) matches the print, like many other point-and-shoot style cameras do.
ClassicTOY has a number of filters and effects to add to the analog experience. You choose between 11 simulated “film” types. The filters are the same as ClassicPAN. There is an optional vignette that can be applied in the settings. Unlike ClassicPAN, there is not option to save both the original image and the processed one. I hope this feature is added in a future release.
While not as extreme as some of the other classic camera apps, the color film styles here are generally well-done and produce good results. The Vivid filter is one of my favorites to shoot with. It adds a good amount of contrast and saturation to an image without blowing out the highlights or beating you over the head with color. The High-Speed Black & White filter is probably one of the best real-film simulating monochrome filters available. The monochrome conversion is good with nice contrast. Subtle noise is added to give the appearance of film grain. It’s one of the more realistic film grain effects available.
The Normal Negative Film setting adds a good amount of warmth to the image, duplicating a print that was produced from a film negative. The Desaturated Color setting gives a good washed out effect, like an photo that has been sitting in a box in the attic for a few years. The vignette effect is very nice and very natural-looking.
Many photographers will prefer the more standard 3:2 aspect ratio of ClassicTOY over the panoramic aspect ratio of her previous app. ClassicTOY still cuts a few of your pixels out. The upgraded full version saves 1.5PM images at 1500×100 pixels on any iPhone. Images are not full resolution, but are definitely usable for web and print and are larger than her previous apps.
Image saves and “reload” times using the higher resolution setting are slow. I don’t recommend this app for rapid multi-shot images. I’d like to see save times improved, but as I’ve noticed with most other apps in this class, such as Hipstamatic, CameraBag and Lo-Mob, there’s a lot of processing going on under the hood.
ClassicTOY is a free download, but is feature limited and only saves low resolution 900×600 images. I highly recommend that you spend the dollar to unlock and upgrade the app.
I love the colors and textures created by ClassicPAN, but sometimes found that a panoramic image wasn’t always what I wanted for my shot. ClassicTOY has the same filter set but with a more standard frame and should have much wider appeal to iPhoneographers. I love the looks and textures that this app creates. It’s a much more versatile camera than ClassicPAN, and the effects are just as great.
ClassicTOY is a free download. The upgrade is a $0.99 USD in-app purchase.
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Related links: ClassicPAN – Vintage Panoramic Camera |Â CameraBag |Â Hipstamatic |Â lo-mob
