New iPhone Photo App: Lenses
Monday, February 1, 2010 at 2:00PM | Glyn Evans 
Description from the AppStore: Lenses, iPhone photography taken to a whole new level!
Select from 40+ lenses ranging from fun house mirrors to professional photo enhancing filters. Watch their effect next to the view finder as you point the camera around and adjust the zoom slider. Simply tap a lens to capture.
- Photo effects are applied in real time.
- What you see is what you get.
- Simply aim, capture and share.
- No more tedious post processing.
Current lenses include:
- Color: Vivid Colors, Expand Lightness, Invert Lightness, Rotate Hue, Posterize, Sepia, Desaturate, Invert RGB, Invert Gray, Rotate RGB 1, Rotate RGB 2
- Mirrors: Alien, Jumbo, Pinch, Polar, Punch, Angry, Big Smile, Kaleidoscope, Horizontal Mirror, Vertical Mirror, Quad Mirror
- Artistic: Halftone, Blur Out, Andy Worhol, Stencil, CG Illustration, Soft Glow, Pixelate, Neon Glow
- Frames: Hope Poster, Che Guevara Poster, Mona Lisa
- Misc: Heat Cam, Tilt Shift
AppStore Link: Lenses - Price £1.19/$1.99
Editors comments: When I first saw this app listed I was intrigued by its "real time" capabilities, so bought the app straight away. When I first began to play with the app I was a little disappointed with the split camera view, as I would have liked to have had a full screen view, however the more I played with it the more I liked it.
The app itself is extremely easy to setup and use, and as my screen-cast below shows, there is a wide range of lens effects possible.
To use:
- Switch lenses by tapping the red triangle at the top corner of a lens. Browse the lens collection (press back from the current lens description) and pick a lens. You can also press and hold the red triangle to get a random lens.
- Capture by tapping a lens at its center. Remember that the photo is taken when you release the finger, so hold it until you're ready and then release it gently. No more blurry photos!
- Select resolution (from low to high res) and then save or share the photo.
So what do I think about Lenses?
Overall this is a nice app that offers a good range of lens effects that can viewed in real time, allowing you to see the effect before you take the shot. I particularly like Expand Lightness, Vivid Colors, Desaturated (B&W) and Andy Warhol.
Whilst originally I did not like the split screen camera view, I now find it really useful as I can select 3 of my favourite lenses and then take the shot with the lens that suits the shot best.
Lenses in New iPhone Photo Apps, iPhone App Review 
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Reader Comments (4)
I absolutely love the app! CG Illustration, Neon, Posterize & Sketch among others off some very unique effects not seen in the majority of iPhone photo
apps & at least not offering full resolution. All giving various appealing results one might find playing on a desktop using the webcam. So to have them offered in an iPhone app among many others viewing the filter effects in real time before you take your photo is beauttifully done. Sure you'll find many average effects & some found in other common apps but think of it as a pro either way you look at it. If they weren't included you'd complain some were missing or that the app needs more effect. So just select your favorites & avoid the ones you're not as interested in... It's that simple!
There is a few additions needed to be updated but overall they are minor & don't take away from the fun of the app. Adding a setting to save your saved photo resolution is a must, adding a popup confirmation once tapping done to avoid saving at a low res. Addition of even more great unique & fun filters would be great. As well as the option to load photo library images. Adding a function to save the current photo & be able to apply & save other filters. Lastly option to deselect default cam as one of your 4 on screen favorites & add another filter to your live view.
The developer has told me he will be adding many of my requests to coming update/updates. He is very responsive to user request to make the app a better user experience unlike many others WE all know.
I highly recommend this app & believe over all your going to enjoy the results.
SCW
Great app... like the previous comment mentions the ability to import pics from your photo library would be a fantastic update to this app as would more lenses, the ability to create your own and.... not just photo's... what about video aswell?? that would make this the ultimate iphone video and photo shooting app!
Thanks for the feedback! A major update of Lenses is in progress. It will include the ability to use pictures from the photo library, reworked GUI, several new lenses and more.
We will report status and show previews of new lenses, etc. at http://twitter.com/bitcycle
Don't hesitate to tweet us if you have any questions, suggestions or maybe some favorite filters you'd like to see in Lenses.
Any update on the update? I'm incredibly eager to try the new GUI and apply filters to existing photos. I bought the app several weeks ago given the update was a couple of weeks out. I haven't seen any news on the developers blog since mid April so wondered if anyone has heard anything. I love the app!