New iPhone Photo App: C64 Camera
Friday, May 29, 2009 at 8:10AM | Glyn Evans WARNING - IF YOU SUFFER FROM EPILEPSY OR THE EFFECTS OF FLASHING LIGHTS THEN AVOID THIS APP, AS DURING THE PROCESSING OF THE IMAGE COLOURED BANDS OF LIGHT FLASH ACROSS THE SCREEN.
Get ready to step back in time! Back to the eighties when the Commodore VIC-64 was one of the hottest computers around with 30+ million units sold!
Unlike the device in your hand, this machine, which looked like a breadbox, had a screen resolution of 320 by 200 pixels and a color palette of only sixteen colors.
Imagine you could put that machine's wonderful graphics hardware into your phone and hook it up to the built-in camera and your photo albums.
That's C64 Camera!
Take a picture, watch the authentic flickering loading stripes and get ready to see it just like it would have looked on the good ol' VIC-64. You'll be surprised what you can do with it!
C64 Camera uses the original VIC-64 color scheme and a simulated resolution of 160 by 120 to make the pictures look even more retro and make them fit perfectly among your iPhone photos. When saving a VIC-64 image to your phone, C64 Camera stores it as a pixellated 1600 by 1200 image so that it'll look great in your photo albums and work perfectly as a wallpaper.
Also, C64 Camera lets you switch dithering on and off without retaking the picture. With dithering turned off you get a rough, blocky retro look. With dithering turned on, C64 Camera will attempt to even out color transitions by mixing pixels of different colors. Choose the setting that best suits your shot!
Features:
- Use of built-in camera
- Import from photo albums
- Save to camera roll
- Dithering on / off
- Authentic C64 loading stripes
- Authentic C64 color scheme
- iPhone compatible image resolution
C64 Camera in New iPhone Photo Apps
Reader Comments (1)
I don't edit my iphone images very much. Sometimes just a little work in levels and curves and that's about it. I don't use any apps to edit them either. Using these apps it takes away from the simple fact that the only controls an iPhone has is a shutter, and forces the user to focus more on composistion and what makes a good photo. I find apps like "camera bag" a little cheesy, although I still own it.
HOWEVER! DUN DUN DAAN!
This app has got me. This app deterioates the fine work that has gone into taking the photo and teleports me back to another time. I have that blocky retro look ingrained in my head from hours on end as a small boy, battling whatever enemy in the game it was (too many to recall). With all the theory of what makes a good mobile phone image, this appis just plain old fun with some good memories attached. AYCES!