Despite the easy filtering and editing of Instagram, I still find some of my favorite photos come from photo apps in which I can choose the film and lenses right in camera before the shutter snaps instead of editing photos afterwards. Well now there’s a photo app that’s absolutely mindblowing for its incredible array of choices that make your iPhone photos seem more pro than they should.
Think of it like Hipstamatic on speed.
[don’t miss a limited time offer after the jump!]
Make sure you’ve got a good lot of free time to play around with the KitCam app on your iPhone, because you will not want to put it down.
You’ll find 15 lenses and 32 different “film” stocks from vintage to lomo to black-and-whites, plus 20 frames and editing options that range from basic cropping to really detailed color adjustment. I was amazed to find 3 kinds of focuses, face detection, and low light boost for you iPhone5 users, plus the ability to shoot HD video through the app.
Personally, I’ve loved the ability to use tilt-shift lenses snapping flowers or close-ups, instead of trying to manipulate it afterwards. There’s just more authenticity to it. And it’s just so fun to play with the shots afterwards and get your pics looking like those ones you always wish they looked like. (Really.)
But what’s super cool? If you don’t like your shot after you’ve taken it, you can still switch the film! Go from a warm Honeybee to a washed-out Coral just with a tap. Your originals are always preserved on your camera film roll (edit via the app film roll which provides awesome peace of mind, especially if you have kids who like to play around with your phone.
And as you’d expect it’s super social media enabled, so you can share right to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email and Flickr, but also Tumblr, Dropbox, and your own FTP site when you provide authorizations.
Though here’s one better; through Sincerely, you can order your photo as a 4×6″ postcard that they will print and ship worldwide. You can write a message on the back, add a profile photo if you want, and never worry about grabbing overpriced postcards for the grandparents from the airport gift shop. Just snap the kids “holding up” the Tower of Pisa, and have it sent for you. Whoa.
KitCam is so navigable and intuitive, the hard part is really just getting to know all the different options and figuring out which ones will yield the effects you like most. For that reason it may not be the best app for just taking a dozen pics in a row of the kids’ soccer game. But for getting more arty, Instagram-style? Perfection. This is my new favorite photography app on my iPhone for sure. –Liz
Learn more about the KitCam photo app for the iPhone from their website, and buy from iTunes. Hurry–it’s now $.99 down from $1.99 for a limited time! You can pay to upgrade for additional lens packs and film packs but really…unless you’re an addict you won’t need them.
