[UPDATED]

The Hipstamatic 170 update just went live in the US Apple Store moments ago and should be filtering through the rest of the servers throughout the day. The update includes new features, interface tweaks, and bug fixes. We recently covered them here in a previous post.

As with all Hipstamatic updates, there are things you need to know before you start shooting with the new update.

No matter how nicely you’ve tweaked your settings for the app, any new Hipstamatic update sometimes hoses them and resets them back to the app’s defaults. No images stored in the app’s lightbox are lost, but all of your preferences sometimes are. If this happens to you, here’s what you need to look for and change. Even if your settings are retained [UPDATE – and they probably will be. =M=], it’s always a good idea to check them over after any app update.

First, open your iPhone Settings panel and find the Hipstamatic settings.

  • The Hipstamatic 170 update restores the app to the Classic wandering viewfinder. That’s the one that picks a random, smaller part of the image to show you in the viewfinder in an effort to emulate the really inaccurate finders of the old plastic Instamatic-type cameras. I think the randomness is kind of cool sometimes, but I most of the time, I prefer to see what I shoot. You’ll need to change this setting back for more precision framing.
  • Print sizes are reset to Standard. The resolution for image saves resets back to a smaller file size — that’s 600×600 pixels. In the Print Quality setting, you’ll need to change these again for larger images. I always go with High. Saves may take longer, but shooting with Hipstamatic isn’t a quick experience and it’s always easier to make a large image smaller.
  • Your previously repurchased HipstaPaks didn’t go away — they just need to be restored. Make sure you have an internet connection, go to the Camera Front side, clidk on the shopping cart to get to the HipstaMart screen. Restoring your previously purchased images is then just the one more click.
  • The LED Flash is still set to “on”. One of the new features of the 170 update is the ability to disable the iPhone 4’s LED flash when using Hipstamatic’s flash filters. Unfortunately, this is an all or nothing option. The LED Flash setting is in the apps settings and is set to on. Change it to off to completely disable the flash within Hipstamatic. This is only for iPhones with an LED Flash — that’s the iPhone 4 for now. It doesn’t effect the operation of the flash filters in Hipstamatic.

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In basic, non-thorough tests, the new update seems to be pretty solid at first glance. The Bettie XL lens of the new “The Mission” HipstaPak is really, really nice. The light leaks appear to be random. It’ll definitely be one of my more used lenses. The new Ina’s 1935 film is a good addition for those who prefer Hipstamatic’s more subtle filters.

Once you get your settings retweaked, you’re ready to shoot.

Hipstamatic

=M=

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