Photo by Noriko Ohba/tea-room.net

A camera doesn’t need a lens. You can use a light-proof box with a tiny hole at one end. Congratulations! You’ve got a pinhole camera.

Pinhole camera effects are popular in lo-fi and retro iPhone photo apps. Camera+ has even tried to perfect it in the last two app updates.

Click past the jump for Smashing Magazine’s gallery of analog pinhole photography. >>>

A pinhole camera (also known as “camera obscura”) uses a tiny hole to focus light on a piece of film, CCD, or in ancient times a wall. Because the image follows the shape of the pinhole, photos sometimes have the rounded vignetting often reproduced in iPhone photo apps. Images tend to have a softer, more ethereal look. Another characteristic of pinhole photography is an infinite depth of field, giving all objects in frame equal sharpness.

A while back, Smashing Magazine ran a gallery of some pretty cool analog pinhole photography.

Camera is a remarkable piece of innovation. However, it is people — professionals and newbies alike — who make it truly remarkable. It’s the photographer behind the camera. It’s his imagination, passion and talent and knowledge of the medium. You don’t need a high-end costly equipment to get beautiful results. Just your talent and a way of looking at things differently is together more than enough for a great shot. It’s also the ability to envision the final result in your mind which is also important.

Click here to see Smashing Magazine’s “The Showcase of Beautiful Pinhole Photography” by Vailancio Rodrigues and several talented photographers. Be sure to check out the links at the end of the gallery. There are some cool pinhole photography resources there.

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Looking for Polarize, LOFI, Format126, and EffectsLab? They really aren’t there any more.

Within the past few days, many iPhoneographers have noticed that the four popular iPhone photo apps have gone missing from the App Store. They still show up in a search, but any attempt to download (or redownload) the apps ends up with a “no longer available” message.

All four apps are indeed gone and no longer available by normal means, most likely forever.

The apps were developed by Chris Comair. According to an email I received from him today, he confirmed what most had already suspected — that he is no longer working on personal iPhone apps anymore.

“A bit more than a year ago, I began working [career working] on projects that allow me to not only push forward myself, but also heavily push forward the entire industry as a whole,” Chris writes.

Apple has applied a new App Store rule where if an application has not been updated for a certain period of time, it is no longer available for download. With the lacking of iOS4.x support, Chris was actually planning to remove them anyway for other, personal reasons.

Glyn Evans, who co-developed Format126 with Chris, may try to continue development of the app with another coder. So far, work has not progressed on any updates of Format126.

Chris is a great guy — really interesting. The email he sent back contained a lot of his insights about life, technology, creativity and the connections we have with them, as well as touching upon some of the projects he has going now. He was also very grateful for the success his apps had and the opportunities that success opened for him.

The iPhone apps he created will be missed by the community, but I wish Chris continued success in his new ventures.

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Turns out, The Diana is not a toy camera app. It’s a history of the Diana and all of its variations. Read on to see how in this instance, this is not a bad thing at all….

Around 1960, the Great Wall Plastics Factory in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong began producing the Diana, a cheaply-made 120 roll film plastic camera with a plastic lens and ill-fitting housing. Images were often slightly blurred and dreamlike, with vignetting and light leaks. While considered a failure at the time, some photographers picked up on the camera because of the soft, unpredictable and quirky nature of the images.

Although production of the original Diana cameras ended in the 1970′s, the Diana camera is currently available as the Diana+ series and is now produced by Lomography, who also market the new Holga, Actionsampler, SuperSampler and other classic analog lo-fi cameras.

Photojournalist and app developer Allan Detrich was also fascinated by the famous (or infamous) toy camera. Over the years, he amassed an impressive collection of Diana’s and variants — possibly the most complete collection of the camera’s line, clones and variants. In 2007, the collection was purchased by the Lomographic Society.

Of the toy cameras, I prefer the look and qualities of a Holga’s photography, but I think the body of a Diana is by far the prettier camera of the two. Detrich’s website features photos of the camera collection — over 100 in all. I didn’t know there were that many variants of the Diana camera. There are also other features from his collection as well — manuals, old advertisements, etc. It’s light on text, but it’s a comprehensive gallery of cameras.

This isn’t a review of the app. I haven’t purchased it, but if the app is as comprehensive as his website, it would probably please a lot of Diana enthusiasts and would be very cool to browse. For those not wanting to drop a buck, definitely check out the Diana page on Detrich’s website. The link is below. The page is easy to navigate and there is excellent photography of more Diana cameras than you would have ever thought existed.

For those interested in the analog history of digital lo-fi, this is a very cool link.

Link: The Diana Camera on AllanDetrich.com

App Store link: The Diana – Allan Detrich

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Related Links: If you’re looking for an iPhone photo app that takes Diana-like pictures, check these out. Among the best I’ve found are Plastic Bullet, ToyCamera, and the venerable Hipstamatic.

lo-mob

I think lo-mob is an excellent app. It features over 25 vintage analog camera effects, most not found in any other apps, including classic film effects, instant films, and some really cool through the viewfinder (TTV) effects. It’s got a lot of great effects and they’re really well rendered.

We recently posted about lo-mob’s upcoming 1.4 update. This will get you into the update path. The current version and the new update both still support older iPhones and OS 3 as well.

Freebies like this disappear fast — often in about a day or less, so head over to the App Store right now and grab this excellent photo app. Go!

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Pic Grunger screenshots. Click to enlarge

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Pic Grunger
Version 3.0
Price: $0.99

Bottom Line: Pic Grunger creates stunning lo-fi effects in high resolution. Highly recommended! An essential app if you like the look of grunge photography.

With the new, improved cameras in the iPhone 4 and 3GS, more and more the onus is now on developers to “dirty up” our images to give iPhonegraphy a digital lo-fi look. Pic Grunger by Stephen Spring has always been one of those apps and excelled at grunging up photos on the iPhone. The latest update brings new features and more importantly full-resolution output. Pic Grunger creates stunning lo-fi effects and now it supports the higher resolutions of the newer iPhones.

Pic Grunger is pure digital lo-fi. It takes an image, dirties it up, and makes it look like it’s been stuffed in your pocket and then left on the seat of your car — and does it beautifully and flawlessly. Pic Grunger is beyond toy camera lo-fi. Pic Grunger is in the same class as Lo-Mob — apps that make photos look used up, stressed and gritty.

Pic Grunger is incredibly easy to use, but now offers a lot of variation in its effects. It has 11 preset grunge effects, such as Aged, Cracked, Creased and Weathered. One of six styles can easily be applied to all of the effects, changing color and saturation. With the new 3.0 update, the effect strength can now be adjusted. A plain border can be toggled off and on.

The filters create beautiful, grungy, worn results — among the best grunge effects available for iPhone. Every filter applies a perfect amount of saturation, color shift, grain and weathering to make photos look genuinely old. The blotch, crack and crease effects are seamlessly integrated with the image. There are no gaps, white spaces or pixelization. The filters are flawless.

With the version 3.0 update, Pic Grunger now supports full 5MP resolution on the iPhone 4 and full 3.2MP resolution on the 3GS. 800x600px is the maximum resolution supported on older iPhones. It works great on an iPhone 4 — it is fast and stable.

Pic Grunger has always produced great looking effects. With its support for high resolution, this is an essential app for anyone who likes the look of grunge photography and its low price makes it a great deal for any iPhoneographer to have in their toolbox to add the perfect amount of grit, and stunning lo-fi effects to their photos.

App Store link: Pic Grunger

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CameraBag's new "Plastic" filter

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On the eve of the release of the iPhone 4, it’s time to check iTunes for update goodies. One of them is the venerable CameraBag. Version 1.85 was released today and includes a new lo-fi filter, “Plastic”. The new filter replicates a cheap, plastic toy camera. Plastic adds a nice vignette and warm tones to the image. It’s different than the app’s original “Helga” filter which also applies a vignette but more desaturated, cooler tones.

To view more more samples of the new filter, visit the Nevercenter blog here.

The update is live in the App Store now. If you don’t have CameraBag in your toolbox, you really should. It’s one of the older photo apps in the App Store, but in the opinion of many an iPhoneographer — myself included — it’s timeless and one of the classics.

CameraBag is $1.99 and runs on the iPhone 4.

App Store link: CameraBag

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SwankoLab test image 5

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SwankoLab from Synthetic Infatuation, the makers of the extremely popular Hipstamatic app, was released today and is available now in the U.S. App Store for $1.99

“The Darkroom of Yesterday, Today”

I just downloaded the app and haven’t really had a chance to fully test it yet. You mix various “chemicals” in the virtual darkroom to create a variety of vintage photo effects. The interface is very analog. The animations are incredible. There’s some great, subtle ambient sound effects. Unlike Hipstamatic, it’s not a camera. You use images from your iPhone or iPod Touch’s entire photo library to “process” them. Images are saved in SwankoLab and can be emailed from within the app but need to be manually synced to your camera roll. You can also save “formulas” in the app’s built-in Formula’s Notebook. SwankoLab supports full resolution in the iPhones 2G, 3G, and the larger resolutions of the 3GS as well.

It’s a really fun app. Like Hipstamatic, the effects are gorgeous. I’ll have a full review later this week. My first impressions are that SwankoLab looks to be another must-have photo app.

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Related links: SwankoLab web site |  Hipstamatic – Synthetic Corp

Film Lab sample image

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Film Lab is a new app from CLBITZ Ubiquitous Communications, the makers of Retro Camera. It’s coming to the App Store soon, barring any unforeseen delays. iPhoneographers who used to shoot with film or who want to recreate the look of analog film stocks will love Film Lab.

I’ve had the chance to test a beta version of Film Lab. Like Retro Camera, Film Lab applies the look of vintage films to your photos. It’s different from Retro Camera in that it doesn’t apply film grain, edges and other imperfections.

Film Lab supports resolutions from 352×480 to 2348×3200 — an approach that I like in that it gives the photographer the option of quick saves or high-res. This means that Retro Camera will also be supporting high resolution in an upcoming update as the two apps share the same “engine”.

There are 79 film styles available in the beta I tested. It’s an impressive set of filters and many of them are incredible renditions of the film stocks they recreate. Each film stock is labeled as you preview it. There are filters which mimic film stocks from AGFA, Fuji, Kodak, Ilford, and Polachrome.

Other features include:

• Color operation: 18 kinds
• Hue and chroma adjustment
• Brightness and contrast adjustment
• Sharpness
• Blur
• Undo
• Redo

You can watch a video of Film Lab in action here:

There’s a lot to love about Film Lab. Even better, it should be available for only $0.99 USD when it hits the App Store.

Add this to the list of excellent iPhoneography apps in the pipeline. We’ll keep you updated on Film Lab and its release.

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Related links: Official Film Lab website

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The Darkroom of Yesterday, Today

Synthetic Infatuation, the makers of the extremely popular Hipstamatic app, have announced that their next iPhone app, SwankoLab, is set to be released in early April barring any unexpected delays in testing or the approval process.

We don’t have much information on the new app yet. There’s a new SwankoLab website with a few details and sample images.

“Introducing SwankoLab, a brand new darkroom kit from the makers of Hipstamatic. It’s a loving recreation of the pre-digital era classic. Choose chemicals, process photos, and experiment!

“It’s the darkroom, only less messy and less dark. SwankoLab is a handheld darkroom kit for your iPhone and iPod Touch. Choose chemicals, process photos, and experiment.

“SwankoLab includes eight magical photo-altering chemicals, a formula book, an embossed development tray, and a super cool hand-engraved box to store your photo supplies and prints in.”

If the above video doesn’t work, click here to see a video of SwankoLab in action.

The interface is very analog. The animations are incredible. Unlike Hipstamatic, you can use images from your iPhone or iPod Touch’s entire photo library. You can also save “formulas” in the app’s built-in Formula’s Notebook. It looks like SwankoLab supports full resolution in the iPhones 2G, 3G, and 3GS.

Upon release, nine additional darkroom chemicals (HipstaSpeak for filters) will be available for a one-time subscription fee of $1.99 USD. Additional filters will be added free for subscribers with each update.

If you can’t wait until April, there’s a swanky teaser video here which shows a breakaway view of your iPhone as the SwankoLab does its magic. Okay, it’s a virtual breakaway view and virtual magic but the music is genuinely swanky….

No word on pricing yet.

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Related links: Hipstamatic

Luminaires

Fort Worth, Texas
March 22, 2010

Toolbox: Hipstamatic 150

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HipstaMatic

I have much love for Hipstamatic. No other app (or Photoshop plug-in) creates such organic and analog-looking images so easily. The new Hipstamatic 150 update is available now in the App Store. From the list of features, it’s a terrific update to an already amazing app. The update adds a ton of new features and improvements, in-app file sharing to Flickr, as well as addresses several performance issues. Start-up time has been improved significantly. There’s also a new monthly photography contest accessible in-app. We’ll post more details as they become available.

As is the case with the previous Hipstamatic 110 update, there’s a new optional HipstaPak available as an additional in-app purchase, featuring two new films. I can’t wait to shoot with the new BlacKeys SuperGrain B+W Film!

The free update is live now or you can (and should) purchase the updated version if you don’t already own the app.

Here’s a list of what’s new and fixed in Hipstamatic 150:

What’s New in Hipstamatic Model 150

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

• Full resolution support in “High Quality Prints” mode
• (1200px square for 2G/3G, 1536px square for 3GS)
• Faster startup time
• Misc user interface improvements

SHARING IMPROVEMENTS

• Prints can now be posted to Flickr in-app

NEW FEATURES

• Shake-to-randomize: Shake your Hipstamatic to select a random lens, flash, and film
• Save favorite combos: A new button in Recent Prints lets you “change camera lens, flash, and film to match this print”
• Prints now have EXIF data with lens/flash/film information
• (accessible from within Hipstamatic only – not the Photo Library)
• Film preview window on camera back
• Improved HipstaProcessing for greater print variety

“THE BIG HIPSTAMATIC SHOW”

• A new monthly contest accessible in-app
• Anyone can win fabulous prizes

NEW FLASH AND FILMS

• New free flash: Dreampop
• New HipstaPak: Camden (includes Alfred Infrared Film and BlacKeys SuperGrain B+W Film)

BUG FIXES

• iPod music will now keep playing when opening Hipstamatic
• Fixed a bug where occasionally the flash would not fire, even when charged
• Other misc fixes

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Hipstamatic is still available for $1.99 USD.

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Related links:

“Q&A: Hipstamatic: The Story Behind the Plastic App with the Golden Shutter“

ClassicPan

ClassicPan is a vintage-style panoramic camera app from misskiwi. I recently reviewed version 1.0.1 of the app. ClassicPan has been updated to version 1.0.3, currently available in the App Store, and it is a great update. Not only does it fix the two biggest issues I had with the app, but it adds two new film modes and some minor UI tweaks.

ClassicPan now supports higher resolutions. It now gives the option to save at 1530 x 680 pixels. While not full resolution for any iPhone, this is most certainly usable. The higher resolution also helps improve the details of the vintage filters.

The film grain on the High-Speed Black & White filter has been greatly improved. It’s lighter, softer and now has variance — much like real film. It’s now a more subtle noise effect and is one of the more realistic film grain effects available.

The two new filters are gorgeous. The High-Quality Vivid Film filter nicely adds color saturation and contrast. I found it to be a little on the cooler side, which reminded me of some of the Fuji 35mm films I’d shot with. The Vintage Damaged Film filter not only adds a great sepia to the image, but a subtle amount of dust and dirt around the edge of the frame. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Sepia filters, but I like the look and texture of ClassicPan’s.

Another nice addition, albeit a minor one, is greater functionality for the shutter button, which can now also be used as an “Apply” button in the app’s settings.

This new update makes ClassicPan a great, unique vintage camera app to have. No other app available produces vintage panos in one camera and the quality of the filters is superb. The developer is responsive and quick to fix issues with the app — actually a little ahead of their planned release schedule. They have some great plans for this app.

I highly recommend this updated app if you’ve been waiting for the fixes.

ClassicPan is still $0.99 USD.

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Click here for the podcast On the Log, Episode 89: Less is More >>>

iPhoneography by John Meadows

John took the above photo with CameraBag.

Here’s the link to John’s site, On the Log >>>

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UPDATED 02.08.10: Now with a link to our follow-up story, “Wausau City Pages uncovers the real Hipstamatic backstory?”

The case can be made that the hottest camera app in the App Store right now was created in 1982.

Hipstamatic (link to Hipstamticapp.com) is one of the most popular photography apps in the App Store at the moment. It’s in the Top 5 in multiple countries. Flickr groups have popped up. The #hipstamatic hashtag is all over Twitter. The app has universally gotten rave reviews, and deservedly so. The environment, the sounds, the photos — it recreates the fun of shooting with an old, plastic, toy camera.

Read Life In LoFi’s full review here.

The original Hipstamatic camera is almost an urban legend. Part of the mystique of the new app is its backstory — that it’s based on the old, plastic camera that few people had heard of, let alone seen.

The story starts in North Central Wisconsin in 1982. While attending art school part-time, brothers Bruce and Winston Dorbowski came up with an idea for bringing photography to the masses cheaply. Inspired by an old Russian plastic camera and the Kodak Instamatic, they worked from their small riverfront cabin, developing and hand-producing the all-plastic cameras which they called Hipstamatic.

The original was a square frame 35mm camera. It had the ability to swap lenses and use multiple film formats. Each one had a yellow shutter button which became sort of cult icon. Only 157 of the cameras were ever made — the family currently has only 3 of those.

In 1984, Bruce and Winston were killed by a drunk driver on their way home from signing a lease on a new building that would have been their manufacturing plant. The Hipstamatic was never mass produced.

There’s very little history available on the original Hipstamatic camera. Most of what’s available is on their brother Richard’s Dorbowski’s blog, The Great Hipstamatic 100. An excellent read and a good tribute.

UPDATE: Actually, an intrepid reporter from the Wausau City Pages has followed up on this story and found that there is no evidence to support the Hipstamatic backstory. Click to read our follow-up story, “News: Wausau City Pages uncovers the real Hipstamatic backstory?”

The Hipstamatic might have been little more than a footnote in the history of quirky lo-fi cameras had it not been for two graphic designers from the Twin Cities. The iPhone version of HipstaMatic was created by Ryan Dorshorst and Lucas Buick with Synthetic Infatuation. Not only have they created one of best retro camera apps, they’ve also recreated the analog camera user experience. From the jet-black unibody faux-plastic case to the viewfinder to the great Hipstamatic Owner’s Manual, the app is loaded with little details. Everything about Hipstamatic is a loving nod to the retro, analog camera experience.

Life In LoFi was able to ask Ryan and Lucas a few questions. Below, they talk about the Hipstamatic, the backstory and how they got involved with this rare, classic cult camera.

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LOFI: Why LoFi? What got you interested in “toy” cameras?

L & R: We have always been obsessed with all things retro, vintage, and mechanical, as well as tech toys and gizmos. The physical experience of taking photographs has really been lost over the past several years. 10 years ago you had to be much more intimate with your camera. Just by removing the need to put your face up to the viewfinder, we have lost that. Polaroid has always been a favorite at Synthetic. We have a collection of shots of people that stop by our office or would come to our exhibitions, but now we have run out of film.

LOFI: In addition to being a really cool app, the whole package — the backstory, the user interface of the camera, even the downloadable owner’s manual — this is also a tribute to the Hipstamatic 100 and to its story. How did this all start for you?

L & R: We become aware of this obscure toy camera about a year ago through a family member. We had a hell of a time tracking down Richard Dorbowski. His blog went offline just after we reached out through email, and we didn’t hear back until we finally got a phone number, which was over the summer (we have since helped him put the blog back online). Anyways, the idea of creating an app was something that we wanted to do for quite some time — actually, the idea of having a product to sell instead of working with our clients was a big factor in going into app development. As a brand consulting and design studio, Synthetic has always been about creating experiences, so when it came to developing the Hipstamatic we set out to recreate the experience of having an analog device yet make the best possible use of the iPhone technology.

The story of the original Hipstamatic was something that we really related to. The idea of a couple of guys from nowhere that set out to innovate and inspire an entire industry couldn’t have possibly hit any closer to home. After meeting Richard and seeing the vision of Winston and Bruce, we really wanted that product to live.

LOFI: With only 157 of the cameras ever produced, this is probably the rarest, most hard-to-find lo-fi camera in existence. I read on Richard’s Hipstamatic blog that you got to spend some time with one of his cameras. I’m envious that you got to handle one. Tell me about your hands-on with the actual camera.

L & R: Over the summer we did get to play with one of the original Hipstamatic 100s, As it turns out the sucker was much more of a prototype that you would have imaged. But it was super fun to be able to change lenses, and we even rigged up a modern Canon lens to the Hipstamatic, which was the inspiration to the Lucifer VI. All in all, the original camera was a ton of fun. We even dropped off the film at the drug store for processing, which is something neither of us have done in years. Only a handful of our images turned out but for us it was beside the point.

LOFI: Did you get to keep one?!!!!

L & R: Sadly no, Richard has only three cameras left, and of those only one of them is really usable.

LOFI: How was the process to capture the look of the Hipstamatic and get it from film to iPhone?

L & R: We took a lot of creative license with making the Hipstamatic. Though the idea of the camera was from the Hipstamatic, the end result is more of a mashup of all of our favorite things about lo-fi cameras. The flash charge sound, for example, is something that reminds us of family vacations and our childhood, so we had to add it.

LOFI: I hope this is a huge app for you. So far, it looks like it is. What are your plans for Hipstamatic and beyond?

L & R: We are completely blown away by the community that has begun to pop up since the Hipstamatic came out a few weeks ago. We are currently working on an update that will include more manual control of the camera, and more unpredictable effects. The Hipstamatic is a way to spark creativity and allow people to see things in a new way. We would like to start putting together exhibitions of people’s prints and we are looking for a partner to allow people to order prints directly from the app or the website.

We are also working on an app to change the way users manipulate images taken outside of the Hipstamatic. That’s really all we can say at the moment.

Longterm goals for Hipstamatic are all about the community and inspiring creativity in people. There is nothing better than seeing someone who doesn’t consider themselves ‘artistic’ uploading a HipstaPrint to Flickr or sharing it on Facebook or Twitter.

LOFI: Any other favorite analog lo-fi cams? Other than Hipstamatic, what are your three favorite camera apps in the store right now?

L & R: Hands down, ShakeItPhoto (App Store link). Nick Campbell, the creator, is the most giving designer/entrepreneur ever. According to Facebook, he has another app in the works. I have seen some test images and they look amazing. We would love to have him create a HipstaPak for the Hipstamatic.

LOFI: Gentlemen, thank you so much for your time. Any parting words?

L & R: We would like to thank everyone for feedback they are sending with feature request, problems, praise, etc. The more we hear from our users the better we can make this app.

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UPDATE: A recent issue of City Pages in Wausau, Wisconsin features a story about hometown hero and one of Hipstamatic’s creators Ryan Dorshorst. City Pages’ Deputy Editor Rick LaFrombois, who wrote the story, dug pretty deep into the Hipstamatic backstory. What he found indicates that the Hipstamatic backstory may be “a myth.” Read the full story here.

We’ve got a lot more Hipstamatic news throughout Life In LoFi, including all the latest on updates and HipstaPaks. Check out all the news by clicking here.

Format126

Format126
Version 1.0

Bottom Line: Essential! There are apps that you’ve paid for that aren’t nearly this good. It is a fun and, especially for free, an essential app.

As a kid, growing up, my very first camera was a square frame Kodak Instamatic 100 with the peanut bulb flash and the textured plastic near the shutter release that was supposed to look like one of the old light meters. It used 126 format film, which was single perforated 35 mm film housed in a plastic cartridge. The camera was inexpensively made and was produced for the masses. It was built more solidly than the plastic “toy” cameras and didn’t produce a lot of the Lo-Fi artifacts that are the trademark of those cameras, but it was a fun camera for a kid growing up to explore the world in photos 24 square images at a time.

Format126 by Chris Comair is a new app that is the result of a collaboration between Chris Comair, who created EffectsLab, LOFI and Polarize, and Glyn Evans who writes and publishes iPhoneography.com.

Format126 makes your images look like they were shot with a number of retro cameras and films from the 1960′s and 70′s. As an Instamatic emulator, Format126 takes some liberties with the number of effects the app offers, and given the limits of the 126 format, this was an excellent choice, making the app much more interesting than the original film format.

As with Chris’ previous apps, the interface is simple and the app is very fast. In version 1.0, there are 8 filters to choose from, as well as three additional cropping and frame effects — Vignetting, Square Format and a border– a nice nod to to the 126 film format.. All choices are easily accessible from a single drop-down menu.

All eight filters are well-rendered and very usable. They span the gamut of color effects from a stark monochrome (MonoHi) to the oversaturated look of the LOFI filter. The PolaColor filter produces results that are different than the look of the Polarize app — the images are a little more washed out with different vignetting. The three monochrome filters produce good results that look like a superfast film.

While there are other apps that produce similar results, Format126 applies these filters with unique results. I especially like the ColorPlus, which adds just a bit of contrast and saturation, the PolaColor, which desaturates just a little, and the Mono filters.

Format126 sample images (click to enlarge)

The filters are not adjustable. I don’t mind this omission as when shooting with the low-end consumer films, your options were limited. When using the app as a camera in square-frame mode, the viewfinder aspect ratio does not match the crop — the viewfinder is always in full-screen mode (the next update addresses this issue). However, the app is based on classic point-and-shoot where viewfinder accuracy was sketchy to begin with, and it’s certainly more accurate than HipstaMatic’s Classic wandering viewfinder. These are minor, minor points and for me, do not detract from the enjoyment or function of the app at all.

iPhoneographers have already embraced this app and deservedly so. This app is also easy enough for a casual photographer to use if they want to add some easy, cool retro effects to their snapshot.

Format126 is a great concept and a worthy edition to your toolbox of Retro Camera apps. There are more effects here than the original Kodak 126 format had, which I feel adds to the value of this app. The filters are well-rendered, nicely done and the app is easy to use. In keeping with the spirit of the original camera, I suggest you challenge yourself creatively and leave Format126 in square-frame mode.

There are apps that you’ve paid for that aren’t nearly this good. Format126 doesn’t recreate the environment of shooting with an old 126 camera, but it is a fun and, especially for free, an essential app.

App Store Link: Format126

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"Convergence"

Toolbox: HipstaMatic

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Bottom Line: Recommend

HipstaMatic

True lo-fi photography is not an exact art. Primarily because of the nature of the equipment (mainly mass-produced plastic or “toy” cameras), unpredictability is an essential element. Most lo-fi cameras have cheap, plastic lenses; many of them have imprecise cases that don’t completely seal, causing light leaks, vignetting, lens distortions and other imperfections. To the lo-fi photographer, these imperfections are desirable and add to the look of the image. It’s the quest for the happy accident.

There are apps that duplicate the images taken by classic lo-fi cameras such as the Holga and the Lomo — classic cameras widely produced and still easily found. Hipstamatic by Synthetic Corp is the first app to replicate the look of one of the rarest lo-fi cameras, the Hipstamatic 100, a square-frame 35mm camera most of us probably never heard of until now. I think the images this app creates are gorgeous and even though there are flaws in this first release, I love this app!

HipstaMatic viewfinder: What I saw and what it shot

The app itself is fun to shoot with. The developers had access to one of the 157 Hipstamatic cameras produced and the user-interface duplicates as closely as possible for an iPhone app the experience of shooting with a toy plastic camera. Shutter release button, viewfinder and flash switch are on the “backside” of the camera. On the “frontside,” there are interchangeable “lenses” that effect the look of your images. The square viewfinder wanders and is not very accurate to what you actually shoot. This is great for “shoot from the hip” photography. I found the randomness of some shots made in this way interesting, but at times I found others frustrating to make and I wanted a more precise viewfinder to take advantage of Hipstmatic’s great filters. This has been addressed and a switchable precise viewfinder will be in the next release.

HipstaMatic 100 sample images

Hipstmatic comes with a basic lens set that produces great results and some really incredible images. For additional effects, additional lenses and filters are available as HipstaPaks for purchase within the app. To add more films, lenses and flash, I bought the first two available HipstaPaks — they weren’t that expensive and they easily add some great filters to the camera, including a great Black & White and additional film stocks. Once downloaded, the new lenses and films integrate seamlessly.

Hipstamatic produces some of the nicest analog film effects I’ve seen in an iPhone app and really does a great job recreating the imperfections of a toy camera. Each combination of lens and films produces different results. The color shifts are nicely done and the vignettes and fake light leaks look natural. The “film stocks” do an admirable job of mimicking the actual film stock. Each film stock comes with a unique border which is well-rendered and adds a nice touch. About the only thing missing from the filters is simulated film grain.

It’s a fun camera to shoot with. It just feels analog. It’s the experience of an old camera shooting within an iPhone and I like it a lot. There are other camera apps that do this, but the experience isn’t as authentic for me. For me, the experience is one more reason to like and recommend this app.

Hipstamatic is not without its flaws in this initial release. It’s frustratingly unstable. While testing this app, it crashed often, causing me to lose about half of my test shots. Some may have issue with the “wandering viewfinder.” I was okay with it some of the time, but would have liked to have had the option of a more accurate viewfinder for getting images that I don’t have the luxury of multiple reshoots. Both of these issues — the stability problem and the viewfinder — have been addressed in the 110 update which has been submitted to Apple. Hipstamatic won’t let you load images from your camera roll. While I understand that this would take away from the overall user experience of shooting with this digital toy camera, I have other images that I’d love to run through Hipstamatic’s filters. I guess we’re spoiled. In the days of analog photography, we’d have had to match the camera, lens and film to the photo shoot in much the same way Hipstamatic makes you do so.

Hipstamatic is a really fun camera app. It’s not a replacement for Camera or your usual camera replacement apps. It’s a really good toy that you’ll have fun making some great and interesting photos with. Especially with the stability of the new update and the regular addition of film and lens options, Hipstamatic is a great app to discover the happy accidents of lo-fi photography.

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Related links:

“Q&A: Hipstamatic: The Story Behind the Plastic App with the Golden Shutter”

“New! Hipstamatic 150 update – Hold on to your hats!“

LOFI

LOFI
Version 1.0

Bottom line: Recommend!

With the name LOFI, I couldn’t pass this app by.

LOFI by Christopher Comair is “a celebration of imperfection.” It’s a digital lomo app. Cross processing results in unnatural color shifts. Lomography tends to be oversaturated and blurry. LOFI wraps your image in both and then turns it up to 11, kicks it around, amps it up and leaves it exhausted and sweaty on a blanket on the sofa. This is probably one of the best free photo apps in the App Store.

Filter options in LOFI

LOFI is more than just a color throttling filter, although supercolor is a large part of what it does. You can shoot an image with the app’s basic camera or select one from your iPhone’s camera library. You can then choose from one of 12 color adjustment settings ranging from monochrome to Original (the more traditional lomo setting) to various degrees of super color saturation. LOFI supports 3GS files sizes and you can set the preferences to save your images at their original resolution.

LOFI produces color results that are not found in any other app I’ve come across. The color is even more saturated and vivid than the Lolo filter in CameraBag. These 12 filters alone produce great, often stunning results.

LOFI also lets you create multiple image photographs within the app. There are built-in templates for 2-image diptychs, 4-image quadtychs and 9-image frames.. Each frame of the image can have a different filter or image applied to it. Applying different filters and images allow you create some interesting visual and color contrasts. While I really liked the color intensifying the app does, I think the multi-image feature is an excellent compliment. The two components together have the potential to allow you to produce some very powerful images.

4-image quadtych created in LOFI

The interface is pretty straightforward. Undos are tricky and you may find yourself simply starting over on an image. This wasn’t a big issue for me as the the app is so simple that you really don’t lose much time.

LOFI is an app for experimentation and juxaposition. I was consistently pleased with what I was able to produce.

It’s very rare that a developer offers an app this unique and this well-coded for free. I’ve paid for many apps that aren’t this good. For many reasons, this excellent app is a keeper.

App Store link: LOFI

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