Hipstamatic Camera App Review
Hipstamatic is my new favorite app for iPhone. Hipstamatic is a camera app that seeks to recreate the experience of using an old analog camera as accurately as possible. Any by “old analog camera,” I primarily mean a “cheap analog camera,” the kind with mass-produced plastic lenses.
The app is named for the inexpensive plastic Hipstamatic camera, which was known for its ability to swap lenses and take multiple film formats (with rather dodgy image quality.)
I love the Hipstamatic app because it’s fun to use and produces very cool, retro-flavored original-looking images. These images look like they were taken with vintage film through a vintage lens. Many of the different film types feature interesting, processed borders. You can mix and match different lenses, gels, and flashes to get completely different photo effects (mostly vintage or grungy in appearance.) You switch these up with a swipe of the finger.
The Hipstamatic comes with the John S Lens, the Jimmy Lens, the Kaimal Mark II Lens, the Standard Flash, the Dreampop Flash, Ina’s 1969 Film, and Kodot Verichrome Film. You can purchase additional lenses, films, and flashes directly from the app as HipstaPaks.
Photos can be posted directly to Facebook and Flickr, and can also be emailed directly from the app. On iPhone, HipstaPrints can be viewed in-app via a cool scrolling interface, and they can also be viewed in your regular photo library.
Now, I probably wouldn’t use the Hipstamatic app to capture an important event like baby’s first steps. But for taking photos out around town, or just around the house or in the office, Hipstamatic is truly fun. It gives everyday objects and events a unique look that stands out.
Many of my complaints about the Hipstamatic app have recently been addressed in the “Model 150” update. Warm-up time has recently been improved, but it can still take a few seconds from launching the app to being able to snap a photo. But you can now take photos a “High Quality Prints” mode (1200px square for 2G/3G, 1536px square for 3GS), significantly better than the previous 525px x 525px size.
Read more about the Hipstamatic app here. Purchase the app for $2.99 in the iTunes store by clicking here (clicking this link will open iTunes on your computer.) Check out real-life HipstaPrints in the largest Hipstamatic Flickr group here.