Hipstamatic is a photographic app for the iPhone that aims to add a bit of old-school randomness to the digital mobile arena of iPhoneography. By using a series of swappable ’lens’, ‘films’ and ‘flashes’ you can recreate the analog style of toy cameras, polaroids, lomos and instamatics. The idea off the app is to bring a bit of lo-fi style to the otherwise pristine nature of digital photography and to do it in such a way that it doesn’t impede the actual process of taking a photo.

The Hipstamatic main interface is effortlessly cool and usable - even the viewfinder has that retro distorted touch.

The interface has been carefully designed to mimic an old instamatic camera. It has a large yellow button to take the photo, a flick switch to enable the flash and a viewfinder through which you can view a suitably analog depiction of the scene you’re viewing. Two other subtle buttons at the botom of the screen give access to the Prints library )where you can view the last 50 images you’ve taken without having to access the camera roll) and the lens, film and flash library (where you can swap any item out).

The app comes with a default set of lens, films and flashes but you can augment these with further in-app purchases as you see fit. If you’re anything like me, the second thing you’ll do after you take your first Hipstamatic photo is purchase every item in the store. Once you’ve purchased every item in the store you’ll have access to six flashes, six lens and and eight films. By using combinations of these lens, flashes and films it’s possible to create a huge variety of styles of photograph.

To increase the variety of styles of photo you can take with the Hipstamatic, you can purchase more lens, films and flashes in the app

If you’re not sure where to start when taking photos with Hipstamatic, then give your iPhone a shake and the app will select a random lens, film and flash. You can then begin experimenting with the different settings until you find a combination you like. Inevitably you’ll begin choosing old favourite lens/film combinations, but I think this kind of misses the point of the app and to get the most out of it you should surrender yourself to the random combinations as these often produce great unlikely images from seemingly nothing.

Processing time in Hipstamatic can be problematic. It takes a good 10 seconds between the press of the button and the resulting image being produced which means it’s not ideally suited to impromptu photo taking as you’ll miss far more than you’ll capture. Where its strengths lie is with those moments where you suddenly think, “Gee that’d be a nice photo” as you’re driving your car or walking down the street. I have taken to prowling the streets with the app loaded and my finger poised over the shutter button for when such moments of inspiration strike me.

Check out recent photos without having to leave the app and check the camera roll in the Recent Prints library

Since it was released a year ago, there have been innumerable pretenders to the throne attempting to out-analog Hipstamatic – however none of them have fully hit the mark. This app remains the benchmark analog/lo-fi photo taking app in the iPhone store and despite the fact that it seems to have been neglected by the developers (no new lens, films or flashes in ages) it remains the most used app in this iPhone users library by a long way. Surrender to the analog!

Score:  

Rating: ★★★★★