Out with the New, and In with the Old, by Matt Burrows

Takayuki Fukatsu has just released an update to his popular OldCamera app (version 3.50). As it so happened, this update coincided nicely with a three-day getaway my family and I had planned at our cottage. As a result, I was able to spend the weekend doing two things I thoroughly enjoy: being around my family and taking pictures with my iPhone.

Application Description (from App Store):

OldCamera “provides several mono-colored old style photo effects. The effects are randomly added to the photo from your custom effect set. OldCamera is focused on a very simple but fun experience. There are no complicated settings. Just take a photo, and you get the result.”

OldCamera Settings/Options:

• Random filter application (on or off).
• Six filters: Rick Black &White, HiCon Black & White, Silver, Platinum, Kallitype, Cyanotype (blue print)
• Ability to turn each filter on or off. If off, it will not be used in Random mode.
• Vignetting (on or off).
• Square Mode (on or off).
• Image Size (six selections ranging from 320x427 to 1200x1600).

Impressions:

Trying to explain to my in-laws why somebody would want to make new photographs look old was quite amusing. My father-in-law was going on and on about his 14 MP Canon, and there I was not only snapping photos with my 3 MP iPhone, but…gasp…I was using a program that intentionally made the photos appear as though they were taken decades before I was born. Before I continue, it is worth noting, that the filters affect the contrast, tone, and brightness of the photos. They do not add grain or noise.

Where my father-in-law used his light meter and constantly sought out perfectly balanced shots, I was shooting pictures with an app that purposely produced overexposed and underexposed photos. And though he was ultimately impressed with some of the photos produced using the OldCamera app, my overall reaction to the app is a bit mixed.

Arguably, the most important feature of the 3.50 update to OldCamera is that users can select which filters will be used for the random application or simply turn random off and shoot with a specific effect/filter. And though I would eventually turn the random off and shoot samples with each specific filter, I shot most of my photos with the random on.

The app itself is very simple to use. Once opened, you’re ready to take a photo or can “cancel” out to reach the settings. But is it too simple—are the options too limited? And herein lies my most significant criticism of the app, you never know what you’re going to get. Now, I realize that some will suggest that this problem can largely be avoided if I turn the random off. However, it is still difficult to predict the results and, by shutting random off and selecting a given filter, it becomes difficult to take pictures on the fly—to capture those moments that we often seem a couple seconds too late for. If I have selected HiCon BW as the effect to be applied to all pictures, but Kallitype would work better, I would most likely miss the opportunity to capture the picture I wanted during the time it would take me to access the setting menu and change the effect being applied.

This problem could be entirely avoided if there was an option to apply these effects to photos in my Camera Roll. Sure, some may say that takes away from the fun and diminishes the “authentic old camera” feel of the app, but I would beg to differ. One of my favorite apps for the iPhone is ShakeItPhoto. The latest update of ShakeItPhoto provides users with an option to shoot directly from the app or apply the Polaroid effect the app produces to any photos in the Camera Roll.

However, since this is not an option in OldCamera, I found myself waiting for the random filter to be applied and hoping that the pictures would turn out. Even though most photos were taken outdoors in ideal lighting conditions, the resulting pictures were often too dark....

....or too bright

Now, I realize that the potential for a lopsided balance between black and white are part of the old camera aesthetic. However, sometimes the given filter simply did not work for the photo that was taken and, as a result, ruined a potentially good picture.

That said, the application did produce some great photos. It’s rare that my wife is happy with any picture I take of her, but even she was a fan of the picture I took of her getting ready to take a picture of my son.

I’ve also included a series of test shots with each filter to provide some additional comparison:

Above: Original photoAbove: Rich BWAbove: HiCon BWAbove: SilverAbove: PlatinumAbove: KallitypeAbove: CyanotypeCreator Takayuki Fukatsu has also posted some examples here.

Pros:

• Can produce some unexpectedly beautiful black and white photographs.
• Random option (and I say option because it can be turned off in the settings menu). Both a positive and a negative. Simply put, I would have never applied some of these filters to the photos I took and, as a result, would not have captured some great photos. However, this random option is as equally frustrating as it is inspiring.

Cons:

• No access to the Camera Roll (i.e. you cannot apply these filters to pictures you have previously taken). As much as I wanted to love this app, this is an egregious omission. I’m not sure if this option was purposely left out to better mimic the “feel” of having an old camera and “getting what you get” after you take the picture, but the absence of this option will drastically limit my future use of this app.
• Sepia toning is listed as a filter in the App Store description. However, this effect is not included in the 3.50 version. A separate SepiaCamera app is, however, available by Takayuki for $0.99.
• I also have one other, very minor gripe. The app icon for OldCamera is almost identical to Takayuki’s ToyCamera app. Though this will not affect those who only have one of the two apps downloaded, on more than one occasion, I did find myself opening ToyCamera instead of OldCamera. Again, a very minor complaint.

Overall:

Takayuki Fukatsu has admittedly designed this app to focus on “a very simple and fun experience.” In this he has succeeded. But the degree to which he has succeeded is debatable. These filters do an effective job of mimicking old camera photographs, with the Rich BW, HiCon BW, and Silver often producing the most interesting results.

However, the Rich BW and HiCon BW were also frequently responsible for tarnishing otherwise great photos. Again, if only the option to apply these filters to the Camera Roll was available.

For $0.99 (£0.59), this is an app that I see myself using on rare occasions. However, when I am taking photos on the fly or wanting to make my new photos look old, I’ll stick with the iPhone camera and apps like ShakeItPhoto and CameraBag that let me apply filters after the photo is taken. For its ease of use, quality of effects, various options in vignetting and photo size, OldCamera earns a 3 out of 5. This app would earn at least a 4 out of 5 if application to the Camera Roll was an option.

AppStore Link: OldCamera - Price £0.59/$.99

@Matt Burrows

Note from Editor: If you would like to give OldCamera a go, then the good news we have 4 promo codes up for grabs, so to be in with a chance of winning one just post your request in the comments section below and I will randomly select 4 winners.

Please note: as with all promo codes you will need a US iTunes account to redeem these promo codes.

iPhone App Review: MonoTaste v Vint B&W v OldCamera

Despite the advent of colour photography, black and white photography continues to be a popular medium with photographers, and this style like so may other styles is available to iPhone photographers through various apps. Whilst black and white photo's can be achieved using photo processing applications, this mini review covers three dedicated mono apps for the iPhone.

MonoTaste with Toy Lens - Price £0.59 ($.99)

Launch MonoTaste and you are presented with a nice and clean app screen, which has a camera icon in the bottom left hand corner (this icon is used to launch the camera for taking photo's from with in the app), next is an icon to open the iPhones Photo Albums so you can select an existing photo to convert. Next to the open album icon is a save icon (this is grayed out until you have a photo to save). Next to the save icon is a ticked box, and it is this icon that controls all the apps features and effects, which are listed below, and finally an "i" icon that gives you information about the app.
Effects:

• Toy Lens
• Square
• Tunnel
• Tunnel Hard
• Center Bright

Film:

• None
• Soft
• Hard

Color:

• Standard
• Cool
• Warm
• Sepia

To take a photo using MonoTaste, launch the app, then select the mono effect you want, select the camera icon and take your shot, and either select Retake or Use Photo at the preview screen. If you use the photo, the app processes the effect and displays the resulting photo. If you are happy with the results, then merely select the downward arrow to save to the iPhones camera roll.

If you want to apply a mono effect to an existing photo, then the process is almost the same as taking a photo with the app, except after launching the app select the upward pointing arrow to import your chosen photo and apply the desired effect. This option for me was the best, as you can take your photo's with the iPhone's native app and then apply effects later using this or any other app.

One of the problems with this app like others in this category, is if you choose to take a photo using the app camera's interface, and after taking that photo you do not like the effect, then you have to retake, and as such are unlikely to get a second chance at that same shot. However at least with this app you can (and I would recommend) apply mono effects to shots from the camera roll. Another down side to this app, is you have to select the mono effect, then open or take the photo to apply that effect, but if you decide you want to change the effect you have to start the whole process again.

Vint B&W - Price £0.59 ($.99)

Launch Vint B&W, and like all the apps in the Vint range, you are presented with a very simple and basic interface, that offers you two options. Option one is to select cancel which exits the app, and the second option is press the green camera icon to take your picture. When you have taken your picture you will go to a Preview screen where you have the option to either Retake or Use Photo. If you use the photo, then the developers predefined black and white effect will be applied, which to be honest does a pretty good job.

OldCamera - Price £0.59 ($.99)

Launch OldCamera and like Vint you are presented with a simple interface that has a green camera icon used to take a photo from within the app, and a Cancel button. Confusingly the Cancel button does not exit the app, but mearly exits the camera interface, taking you to a blank minimilistic screen that contains only a camera icon, a file with upward pointing arrow and a "i" icon. The camera icon does exactly what you would expect, and that is take you back to the photo taking screen. The file icon allows you to upload the photo you take direct to either BigCanvas PhotoShare or Flickr (you need accounts with these services to use this feature). The most confussing icon is the "i", mainly because you expect the "i" to stand for information, where as the "i" in this case is where you configure the app. Click on the "i" and you are presented with the apps configuration options.

Features:

• Cropping
• Rich Black & White
• HiCon Black & White
• Silver
• Platinum
• Kallitype
• Cyanotype
• BigCanvas PhotoShare
• Flickr

To take a mono photo using OldCamera you need to first launch the app, and then like MonoTaste select your desired effect from the configuration screen, then select the camera icon to go back to the photo taking screen. From here you touch the green camera icon and take your picture, and either choose Use Photo or Retake at the preview screen. The problems with this app like MonoTaste, is that if you do not like the selected effect, then you have to retake the photo with a new effect, and the problem with this is, you never get a second chance at the same shot, so may have lost the moment.

Conclusion

All three of these apps offer something different, and it will depend on your own requirements which one you will choose, but here is the run down in order of my preferance.

3rd Place - Vint B&W
Vint B&W is a very capable bur basic app, that if all you want to do is take quick and simple black & white photo's and not have to think about any configuration options is ideal.Above: Gate bolt taken with Vint B&W2nd Place - OldCamera
OldCamera just pips Vint B&W in to 3rd Place, because it offers features similar to MonoTaste, however it lacks the option to apply its effects to existing photo's.Above: Gate bolt taken with OldCamera1st Place - MonoTaste
For me the clear winner in this head-to-head is MonoTaste. Like the other apps you can use MonoTaste to take quick and easy shots direct from the app and save to the Camera Roll, or you can take a photo or open an existing photo and apply a wide range of effects.Above: Gate bolt taken with MonoTasteSome of these apps have so many options that I have not been able to cover in this mini review, but the good news is, that like most of my reviews I have a handful of promo codes to give away, but don't forget if you are new to these promo codes, they are only valid if you have a US iTunes account :( If you would like a promo code, then please request via the comments section of this post, specifying which app or apps you would like to try.

iPhone Photo App Update: OldCamera

If you liked the look of the last 2 apps from Takayuki Fukatsu that I have covered on this blog, and/or you like taking black and white photo's with your iPhone, then you will probably like OldCamera. Now at version 3.00, and priced at just £0.59 ($.99) OldCamera allows you to easily and effortlessly create a range of black and white effects with your iPhone, and as with ToyCamera, the updates make this app a very attractive purchase.

OldCamera features:

• 800x600 and 600x600 rect mode.
• Rectangle photo mode.
• Black and White effect.
• Hi-contrast Black and White effect.
• Silver toning effect.
• Platinum toning effect.
• Kallitype effect.
• Sepia tonng effect.
• Cyanotype (blue print) tonng effect.

Again to see samples of what can be achieved check out Takayuki Fukatsu blog.

If you would like to try out this app, then there is some good news, as again I have 10 promo codes to give away. As you probably already know, to get yours you need to post your request in the comments section of this post (and again, don't forget to enter your email address in the required field, and don't forget that the promo codes are not valid outside the USA).