When I had an iPhone I used to love using Hipstamatic, just for fun of course. But then I switched to an Android phone and that meant no more hipster for me. That was fine, it was just a passing phase. Though it is a shame as I spent a small fortune on filters.

With the current situation I have been experimenting a bit more. That is even true of my phone. I have looked for film emulator apps and have tried Ektacam in the past. It has many types of films to choose from and switching between them is easy. It even gives you real time emulation. In the end though I went for another choice. There was nothing wrong with Ekatacam per se, it is a good emulator. My choice was based on one tiny detail.

The photos looked like digital photos with a filter added which is basically what they are, what all emulators are.

So I started to use Vignette instead. I don’t think it is better, but it suited my needs more. Ektacam is definitely easier to use, everything is right there to see on the main screen whereas with Vignette you have to get to know it and search for the controls. It is less intuitive. It doesn’t even seem to store the photo details, as in what film choice the photo was taken with. If it does, I can’t find them. So why do I like it more? Simple, Vignette has the option to add a film border to the 35mm film choices. Yeap, I am that nerdy. Basically I don’t see the point in using an emulator without that option, I might as well use the regular phone camera. If Ektacam had that, I would probably switch back.

As for the film choices there are many. On the walk I did today, which was my first time using this app I only tried 2 film choices. First was “Ilford”. It doesn’t actually say what kind of Ilford film. Ektacam has specific film brands and emulsions. Here is a sample of Vignette’s Ilford.

It would be nice if Ilford was on the frame to remind me of the setting.

Then I switched to Velvia. Or it could have been portra as there are no details recorded on the file or photo. But the velvia choice seems more saturated which was perfect for the environment I was walking around.

Here is the same shot.

You can change the film type after the shot before you save it to the camera roll. You can import photos too.

I did find it frustrating that there was no pinch zoom on the camera. There is a zoom option, but it is within one of the menus. I am selling this well aren’t I. Basically I preferred to set the film type and consider the phone an SLR with a 50mm, so there was no zooming. On a walk around my local area it was nice to play with, but I would not use it as my only camera choice.

Here are a few more from my lovely spring walk. Eek digital 🙂

Well that was fun 🙂

Basically Ektacam was easier to use, but Vignette had frames. You pay your money you take your own choice.