Much like the Hipstamatic app, the Format126 iPhone app brings back the charm of an old school camera, this time in the form of the Kodak Instamatic of the 1960's. Format126 was developed by Glyn Evans (of iphonegography.com) and Chris Comair.
Being born in the late 60's myself, I can remember seeing many pictures of this era taken by my family, mostly of me in a snow suit, blowing out birthday candles, or some other mundane activity sporting turtleneck shirts and a bad bowl cut.
The first camera I remember actually using as a child was the Pocket Instamatic, which used 110 film, but there were certainly many stacks of photos around in the square format of the decade-earlier 120 film.
This app hit home so much more than the Helga and Lomo formats available in other Camera Apps neither of which I've ever had my hands on the original cameras.
Hands On
I spent some quality time with the Format126 App today. Instead of finding some artsy photos, I decided to take a picture of what my mom would have taken in 1966. Our recent snowfall here in New England. Here is a sample of each of the effects that Format126 includes.
All have the Vignette effect applied as well, and of course the square and border option. (Gray background applied here so you can see the white border on these photos.)
Using the app was intuitive (short a few gotchas which I'll cover below). Once you start up the app, you're faced with two choices: take a picture or load an image from the iPhone's Album.
I really like when camera replacement apps allow me to load an image that I took with the iPhone's native camera app. (Thanks guys!)
Honestly, I'm yet to find a camera app that makes me want to ditch the snappy and easy to use camera app that comes with the iPhone. I'm glad to be able to apply the unique effects from Format126 to the shots that I've taken previously.
Taking a photo with Format126 camera is identical to the native iPhone app, after which you're presented with the formatting screens. From there, you choose one of the above formats.
All very easy. The transparent menu does obscure the picture, so I did find that I had to go in and out of the effects menu to see what I was getting.
The Gotchas
The app did crash on me a few times, one of which caused me to lose a photo. This might have happened when I was working with the larger photo settings. For this reason, and just because, I think it would be nice if the app saved an original format picture before editing (at least optionally).
I was also thrown by the "done" button. It actually quits out to the main screen and if you haven't saved a picture, it is gone. Now I know the difference between "done" and "hide", but it cost me a picture.
The app does have some settings hidden in the iPhone settings app. Be sure to check there for any app. These are frequently missed!
The default (Regular) saves square images in 686x678 pixels. I suppose when the original print sizes were only a few inches square, this resolution more than covers it if you want to print the photos. You can configure Large and Original size images to be saved instead. Warning, this will add significant processing time when you save the pictures. I timed the saves on the larger sizes between 15 and 30 seconds depending on the added effects.
Bottom Line
This is a really fun camera app that brought back some memories for me.
And the price is right: Free (though it's good enough that I would have happily paid cash money for this.)
RSS
Much like the Hipstamatic app, the Format126 iPhone app brings back the charm of an old school camera, this time in the form of the Kodak Instamatic of the 1960's. Format126 was developed by Glyn Evans (of iphonegography.com) and Chris Comair.
Being born in the late 60's myself, I can remember seeing many pictures of this era taken by my family, mostly of me in a snow suit, blowing out birthday candles, or some other mundane activity sporting turtleneck shirts and a bad bowl cut.
The first camera I remember actually using as a child was the Pocket Instamatic, which used 110 film, but there were certainly many stacks of photos around in the square format of the decade-earlier 120 film.
This app hit home so much more than the Helga and Lomo formats available in other Camera Apps neither of which I've ever had my hands on the original cameras.
Hands On
I spent some quality time with the Format126 App today. Instead of finding some artsy photos, I decided to take a picture of what my mom would have taken in 1966. Our recent snowfall here in New England. Here is a sample of each of the effects that Format126 includes.
All have the Vignette effect applied as well, and of course the square and border option. (Gray background applied here so you can see the white border on these photos.)
ColorPlus
Using the app was intuitive (short a few gotchas which I'll cover below). Once you start up the app, you're faced with two choices: take a picture or load an image from the iPhone's Album.
I really like when camera replacement apps allow me to load an image that I took with the iPhone's native camera app. (Thanks guys!)
Honestly, I'm yet to find a camera app that makes me want to ditch the snappy and easy to use camera app that comes with the iPhone. I'm glad to be able to apply the unique effects from Format126 to the shots that I've taken previously.
Taking a photo with Format126 camera is identical to the native iPhone app, after which you're presented with the formatting screens. From there, you choose one of the above formats.
All very easy. The transparent menu does obscure the picture, so I did find that I had to go in and out of the effects menu to see what I was getting.
The Gotchas
The app did crash on me a few times, one of which caused me to lose a photo. This might have happened when I was working with the larger photo settings. For this reason, and just because, I think it would be nice if the app saved an original format picture before editing (at least optionally).
I was also thrown by the "done" button. It actually quits out to the main screen and if you haven't saved a picture, it is gone. Now I know the difference between "done" and "hide", but it cost me a picture.
The app does have some settings hidden in the iPhone settings app. Be sure to check there for any app. These are frequently missed!
The default (Regular) saves square images in 686x678 pixels. I suppose when the original print sizes were only a few inches square, this resolution more than covers it if you want to print the photos. You can configure Large and Original size images to be saved instead. Warning, this will add significant processing time when you save the pictures. I timed the saves on the larger sizes between 15 and 30 seconds depending on the added effects.
Bottom Line
This is a really fun camera app that brought back some memories for me.
And the price is right: Free (though it's good enough that I would have happily paid cash money for this.)
Get it! (now)