Hipstamatic Disposable

In the last couple of days, the guys who make Hipstamatic released a new app designed to test people's investment in retro to its absolute limit. It has confused and angered some, simultaneously delighting others. The confused, angry amongst us are almost certainly lacking knowledge (isn't this always the way?).

The fundamental premise of Hipstamatic Disposable is to act like roll film, in that you get no preview and no ability to review your images until you're done shooting a "roll". A roll is 24 exposures.

Now here's where people get angry. There are two types of free film (this is, as far as I can tell, a different type of filter; maybe border, too. I haven't got that far yet), three if you log in using Facebook. When you want to shoot some photographs, you either pick a new "roll" from what you have available, or pick a project that's already been started. The interface suggests that you can't have two active instances of one type of roll.

If that's not enough for you, Synthetic are willing to test just how vintage you really are. They also offer three different types of premium camera. 69p gets you nine cameras, each with 24 exposures ((69 / 9) / 24 = 0.3p per exposure), 36 for £1.49 (0.17p per exposure) or 99 for £2.99 (0.12p per exposure).

Divide numbers by other numbers for long enough and they all seem small, but in a world of micro transactions and App Stores, I think this is a pricing model that could work for Synthetic. The problem that I see is people don't seem to understand it. There are too many numbers, and the more numbers you say at people, the more scared and confused they seem to get. I read a review yesterday in which the language really inflated my perception of the price, and I read an App Store review (the new YouTube comments) earlier of a poor individual who thought that you paid 69p for 9 exposures. Once I sat down and read the numbers for myself, though, it became clear that this is actually quite a reasonably priced app. Still much cheaper than an actual disposable camera.

Personally, I will probably work my way through all the types of film to see which I prefer, then stick to it. I don't see that this app is a replacement for apps like Hipstamatic (or whatever camera app you use). It's more the sort of thing you'd want to replace a disposable camera. You're probably not too bothered about how the photos will turn out, as long as something turns out. You don't need to review every shot you take - you just want to fire off a few rolls then look at them later. This is actually quite similar to the direction I'm taking with my DSLR. I don't usually look at my photos until I get home anyway (unless I'm on a boring train or I'm trying to get the exposure of something just right) because I think there's a lot to be said for an imperfect image. It's something that digital has definitely taken away, and I appreciate Synthetic's mindset and steps to put it back. I hope it works out for them - I've grown very fond of their camera apps (in certain configurations. Some of their stuff is quite horrible).

You can see for yourself whether you like the results. I kinda hate the huge borders that these apps add. I love that Instagram lets you disable them, but it seems to be the only app of its ilk that does. It's worth mentioning that you can play with the intensity of the applied effect, but all of these were taken with the slider in the middle (where it defaulted to). Nevertheless, it's free and well worth checking out, in my opinion.