Here are some test shots taken over the last week using a new camera app I'm beta testing. Without giving anything away, I can say that it provides a variety of ways to simulate film and toy cameras, and comes from one of the most highly-regarded names in iPhone photography apps. As a user experience, it's fun and extremely simple to get into. No sliders or complicated settings, just touch gestures. There's nothing on the market quite like it, and it should be on sale within the next month.
Just a quick note to say that Korean developer misskiwi's upcoming fauxlaroid app, ClassicPOLA, has been rejected by Apple for bearing a name too similar to the copyrighted Polaroid brand. It has been renamed ClassicINSTA and is now awaiting approval.
The Classic series of camera apps so far comprises ClassicPAN, ClassicSAMP, and ClassicTOY. At worst, the new instant camera app will just be applying the same set of 10 or so filters that misskiwi has used so far in her apps, albeit with a square format and a variety of vintage paper borders. I'm hoping that some extra niceties will make their way into the final product, such as scratches, emulsion artifacts, water damage, blurring, and so on.
This new offering from the developer of RetroCamera looks to offer over 70 preset looks based on characteristics of actual, well-known film stock. It's going up against the upcoming SwankoLab as a way for iPhone users to get stuck into the business of postprocessing photos as opposed to have automatically applied effects from camera simulators. The main difference is that this doesn't look built for customization. Most people are going to choose an effect and save the result. And what a drag that's going to be, because the user interface looks like one long, side-scrolling list of thumbnails. I expect that if I wanted film look #73, I'd have to scroll all the way to the right, each and every time. I left a regrettably tactless comment on the YouTube page to that effect, and hope to be proven wrong when the app is released.
The developer's track record is blemished too, from their handling of RetroCamera. That $1.99 app came with a boatload of very similar features, and the same interface, but only saved low-resolution photos after processing. Promises of full-resolution saving were made, but have not been realized to this day. Film Lab will debut with full-resolution saving, and if RetroCamera doesn't get updated, you'll know they're the sort of company to abandon older products and nudge customers into paying again for the solution.
Billed as "A Handheld Darkroom Kit for your iPhone and iPod Touch", Swankolab is the new app from the makers of Hipstamatic, designed to process existing photos from your Camera Roll. The vintage analog metaphor this time is mixing chemicals and soaking prints before hanging them up to dry, and it simultaneously looks like a lot of trouble and tons of fun.
Eight chemicals/processes are included, and you mix and match those within an overall limit (shown as the fluid level inside a measuring beaker), and then apply the combination to a photo. Your favorite "formulas" can then be saved inside a notebook, which will lead to some users fiercely guarding their proprietary recipes.
Like Hipstamatic's equipment packs, Swankolab will also feature additional purchases in the form of a $1.99 virtual subscription to a dodgy 70s-style mail order catalog for darkroom enthusiasts, dubbed "Uncle Stu's Photo Emporium". Apparently all the add-on chemicals that will ever be deployed come under a single, one-time purchase of $1.99.
The app is due early April, price unknown. At its heart, Swankolab is just a set of photo editing filters like one might find in apps such as Cross Process, Lo-Mob, etc. – perhaps even the very same ones already found in the Hipstamatic camera – but abstracting those operations with a clever UI and an analog metaphor creates something entirely new and magical; the mind is fooled into re-experiencing the familiar, stale process of adding color splashes and vignettes and contrast to photos. It invites a generation of photographers accustomed to sliders and checkboxes to think of their craft as closer to alchemy than arithmetic. As before, the guys at Synthetic Corp have implemented a cool idea with great style and humor. Expect this to be a huge hit.
Photography, news, and reviews of iPhone imaging apps, as well as overpriced plastic toy cameras such as those produced by companies such as Superheadz, Vistaquest, and Lomography (Lomographische AG). Send your questions and press releases to contact@pocketplastic.com.
