Back during Macworld I posted a geekbrief.tv video on the Lensbaby Cpmposer, and compared it to the TiltShift app for the iPhone. Well it looks like this effect has grab more than one developers eye, with the release this week of Vint Shift.
Yesterday as promised I tried out and compared Vint Shift with TiltShift, and here is my review, which I hope you will enjoy.
Vint Shift - Price £0.59 ($.99)
Launch Vint Shift and you are taken straight to the apps camera interface, where you have only two options, take a picture (camera icon) or Cancel.
As it suggests, if you select Cancel you will exit the app, but if you click on the camera icon you take a photo. The app then processes the photo you have just taken and gives you a Preview screen, where you can either choose Use Photo, or Retake.
If you select Retake you are taken back to the apps camera interface screen to retake your photo, however if you choose Use Photo then the app processes (applies the soft focus effect) and saves the photo to your Camera Roll, and then takes you back to the app camera interface ready for you to take another photo, and that's it.
TiltShift - Price £1.19 ($1.99)
Launch TiltShift and you are presented with the apps interface and a sample image that you can play with, which is OK for getting you started.
When you have finished playing with the app, it is time to get down to applying these effects to your own photo's, and this is done by clicking on the Pics button at the top of the apps home screen. After clicking the Pics button you are presented with a screen showing a series of sample photo's , which you can click on and use if you wish, or you can select the camera icon to take a new photo, or the little photo icon to select an existing photo from you Photo Albums.
Once you have selected and opened your chosen photo you are ready to begin applying the soft focus effect, and this can be either to the area around your subject, or the subject itself. If you select the area around the subject to soften (as I have), then you need to adjust the center area by pinching or stretching the red oval to mark only the area you want to leave sharp, and then use the slider bar to adjust how out of focus you want the background to be.
When happy with your results, simply select Save and your TiltShift photo is save to your Camera Roll, and that's it job done.
Conclusion
Vint Shift is a very basic app that only allows you to take a photo and then apply the predefined soft focus effect (as the photo below shows), where as TiltShift is a much more feature rich app that allows you to take or edit existing photo's and apply the soft focus effect that you desire (as the photo below shows).
Above: Original photo without the Vint Shift ot TiltShift effect.
Above: With Vint Shift
Above: With TiltShiftWith a price tag of only £1.19 ($1.99), for me TiltShift is the clear winner in this head to head, but this is only my opinion.
If you have used either of these apps, then please post your views or comments.
I also have some promo codes available for Vint Shift and TiltShift, so if you want to try them out then make your request as usual in the comments section of this post, but don't forget that these only work if you have a US iTunes account.
Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 10:13AM | 
Description from the AppStore: Transform a scene into a miniature world. This application simulates a tilt-shift lens that tricks your mind into viewing a photo as a miniature scene like a model railroad for example.
