Instagram’s new Mayfair filter
Those of us who have stuck with Instagram this week have been rewarded with a new update. Usually a dot oh update has more goodies to it, but this time around there are only a couple of noteworthy new features. Instagram 3.4.0 gets a new filter, Mayfair, and a bit of former functionality gets restored. Still a lot that hasn’t been restored. I have a few thoughts after the jump. >>>
The 3.3.0 update must have been completely underwhelming as Instagram skipped it altogether. Here’s what made it and what didn’t make it into the 3.4.0 update:
The new Mayfair filter is another retro analog-style filter in line with the more subtle filters Instagram has been rolling out since version 2.0. It gives the image a slight green sunbleached look and there’s a new, subtle black frame with this filter. Mayfair is an addition, not a replacement. No other filters were removed to make way for the new Mayfair filter. Together with the new Willow filter, Instagram seems to be responding to many of the IG front end replacement apps.
Users can now can import images from any album in their photo library, functionality that was removed in the 3.2.0 update.
Not mentioned in the App Store description, but the Open In bug where sending images to Instagram from another app resulted in a black import screen has been fixed. You can now see the image before you apply a filter. You still can’t move or crop an imported image, though, which will cut off part of non-square images sent to Instagram. I still recommend Squaready – Instagram layouter or Squaready Pro to prep your images.
There is still no way to turn off the automatic Save To “Instagram” album that the app creates in your photo library.
Still no sign of the return of the popular Gotham filter removed back in version 2.0. We can hope….
The app is still playing catchup from the unpopular changes made in the last update. We covered many of them here. While it won’t please everyone,especially in light of other Instagram happenings this week, this update is a definite improvement over the previous one and undoes a lot of the bugs/features introduced in 3.2.0. This looks like it’s safe to update.
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