Though my Nikon D700 is my main workhorse camera these days, my trusty iPhone is always fun for family and quick on the go pictures. One of my favorite photo apps for the iPhone is the Hipstamatic.

The Hipstamatic is an app that simulates old analog cameras. The app comes with several analog films and some lenses. You can also purchase different film and lenses straight from the camera. The app even has the look of an old instant camera.

Once you select your lens and film you are ready to shoot. It does take a few seconds for the image to “develop” which I think is part of the magic of Hipsta. Also your image is final, meaning as of this writing Hipsta saves the “developed” image and does not save the iPhone image. This means you are stuck with the image you shot. If you chose to process further you will have to use another app.

With so many films and lenses you have thousands of combinations of photo styles to create. That being said Hipsta has its own “camera roll” within the app and you can match settings to a previous picture. I use this often.

Hipstamatic also includes many sharing features such as sharing to facebook, Flickr,twitter, email as well as ordering prints. There are also Hipsta contest from within the phone.

Hipsta has been an iPhone top app so I’m sure new features, films and lens will continue to be added to the app.

Hipstamatic Folklore?
The story behind Hipstamatic is somewhat cloudy. The app’s creator says the original Hipstamatic was a real camera invented by his two brothers back in 1982. They wanted to create a cheap 35mm camera anyone could afford. So in late 1982 the brothers began creating small plastic Hipstamatic cameras in a small cabin. In 1984 both brothers were killed by a drunk driver after getting a new building to manufacture Hipstamatics.

There has been some research to the validity of this story. So far no one can find where any of this story actually occurred. Also no one can seem to find any of the 100 or so Hipstamatics built. The family had the that were destroyed in a house fire.

Whether the beginnings of the Hipstamatic was actually in 1982 or created a few years ago with a good back story the Hipstamatic is a great app.

Hipstamatic App 
Hipstamatic Story

Check out some Hipsta prints straight from my iPhone.

Hipstamatic captures the rich colors of the fair.

Hipsta and BW at the fair

The Hipstamatic even goes with me to the beach

I will be the first to admit the iPhone camera is one of the weakest links in the iPhone, other than AT&T, but you can still create some impressive images using the plethora of iPhone photo apps. One of the simplest creative apps is Autostitch. This app lets you create panoramas by stitching several iPhone images together.

While I wouldn’t use the app for high quality print images it works pretty darn good for web or posting images to facebook. In fact it took be about 30 seconds to take four images, open app, and create the image below and post it to facebook.

4 images stitched together in Autostitch - Mt Mansfield in Stowe, VT

The process for creating panoramas is simple. Just use your iPhone camera and take several overlapping images, open Autostitch app, and select the images for stitching. Once selected click on “Stitch” and let the app do its magic. Once done you will see all images stitched together and have the option of cropping to your liking. It will also default to the largest usable cropping of the image. Another nice feature is the program keeps the stitched image at high resolution.

Screenshot of the image selection screen in Autostitch

The ease of use and quality of images make this app a must for anyone with an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

As of this writing the app was only $2.99. You can visit http://www.cloudburstresearch.com/ to see more information.

Enjoy!

Where’s your camera bag? Mine is on my iPhone.

Camera Bag is a iPhone app that provides about a dozen filters you can apply to your iPhone photos. The filters themselves are pretty good. You can choose from Helga, Magazine, 1974, Mono, 1962, Colorcross, Instant, Lolo, Cinema, Fisheye, and Infrared.

I personally use the 1974 and occasionally the Magazine and Helga filters.

Camera Bag Helga Filter at the KISS concert

Once you apply the filter you can save it and even email it from the app. I prefer though to use the standard iPhone email as it seems a bit faster. The Camera bag app also lets you open a camera from the app. Again I usually use the standard iPhone camera as it opens a bit quicker.

Why use the iPhone as a camera? Well sometimes it’s all you got. Plus with a little tweaking you can get a decent picture suitable for the web with your iPhone. I personally use it to post to blogs and in the case of a KISS concert it was the only thing I had.

Should you buy it? Yes.
For $1.99 the Camera bag app is the perfect companion to your iPhone camera.

If you enjoyed this Camera Bag app review please comment!

Camera Bag 1974 filter