I do love to take pictures with my iPhone camera. The quality of the camera is getting better model by model and the software to use with photos I have taken for my mistakes, the images are finding their way to many place. I use them on cards, as backgrounds… and even to share with friends.

Just about the time I’m happily taking nice clean images, a ‘camera’ app comes out that goes back many years. Hipstamatic is an app for the iPhone which changes the way pictures are taken. It isn’t an app that you use to process images in your Photos area, this app actually processes thing differently for the picture being taken at that moment. Which means you can’t go back and change your mind and it requires more time to take a picture. Thus, this will be an app you will use when you going for a particular look that you have thought about up front.

The Hipstamatic app allows you to mimic many very old cameras through lens and film choices. There are 8 films and 6 lens options… you do the math. Oh, and there are different types of flashes too, 7 of them.  An ordinary green ball on an ordinary wood floor, isn’t so ordinary anymore.

Each of the films and lenses you can choose have unique properties, much like going from one manufactures camera to another (yesteryear, these days they are pretty closely matched until you get into the high dollar pro lines).

Below is side by side two films and lenses to see the slight differences that can be found by making tweaks in Hipstamatic prior to taking your pictures.

Choosing a picture in the ‘Recent Prints’ area results in a view of what lens, film and flash was used to make that image. Like I said earlier, this is not a filter your applying to a photo in your iPhone, these are the images as they were taken. If you ‘share’ your images out to others on Facebook, the picture includes the below information so others can see the lens/film chosen.

From the front of the camera image you can see which lens your currently using. Along the bottom is the action buttons (left to right): Change film type being used, change flash, choose what graphic your using when looking at the ‘camera’ on your iPhone screen, the cart is for purchasing additional lenses and film types, and button to the far right is for flipping the ‘camera’ over. Yes, you did read the ‘buy additional’ correct. Hipstamatic comes with a limited of very nice and functional lenses and film types, but you can buy more via in-app purchase.