QuickAdvice: Camtastic Photos? Close, But Not Quite
Camtastic ($1.99) by Indeeo, Inc. is a camera replacement app for your iPhone and iPod Touch.
The Photography section of the App Store is getting pretty crowded lately with Camera.app replacements, isn't it? Well, that doesn't seem to stop developers from making new ones, such as Camtastic.
Camtastic starts up directly into the photo taking mode, so there's no silly load or splash screen to go into first. You can be assured that you can start the app up and immediately be able to capture something that's going on that instant.
In the capture mode, the shutter button is placed at the lower left corner (I'm not sure if this is easier or not for some people), and the various options for the camera and a picture preview are found on the lower right corner. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to capture video in the app, so those that do a lot of video recording should probably skip the app. However, if you're just into taking photos, the app offers a good variety of options.
When you select the Menu button, you get options such as: Scenes, Films, Flash (Off, On, Auto, and the neat Flashlight mode), a Timer with options of 2, 5, 10, 15, or 30 seconds, single or multi-shot options, and finally, Display options (display icons, grid, and balance meter).
Most of these options are fairly standard in Camera.app replacements, so it's nothing new. Whenever a menu is selected, it will appear in a pane on the left hand side, or bottom if in Landscape orientation. I found the menu for Scenes to be a bit reminiscent of those found in Camera+ from tap tap tap, but Camtastic has a bit fewer options but their own unique style to the icons.
The fun thing with Camtastic lies within the eight various film options that they include, which are: Standard (no change), Lomolectric, Vintage, Purple Haze, X-Process, Yosemite, Sullivan, and Chromaprint.
Unfortunately, for those of us that have been spoiled with the likes of Camera+, Hipstamatic, or ProCamera and other camera apps, this doesn't seem like a lot of options for photo effects. There aren't any more available for in-app purchase either, so it seems very limited. There aren't even options to adjust the image, crop, or add differently styled borders other than the ones that go with the film.
Once you take photos with the app, the images go to the in-app camera roll, similar to Camera+'s own "Lightbox" feature. I was unable to find an option to save directly to the Camera Roll, so those that get annoyed with the Lightbox in Camera+ will also get annoyed with the way Camtastic handles image saving.
You have to tap the photo preview in the corner to be taken to the images you have captured with Camtastic. I will give them props for having a unique interface though - your photos will appear pinned to a clothesline and you can flick left and right to navigate through them. To save images directly to the Camera Roll or Share them, the button in the top right corner gives you those options.
Camtastic saves in full resolution on iPhone 4 and the iPod Touch. Unfortunately, it seems that the app currently only works on the newest models of the iPhone, so 3G/3GS users be warned. Despite the pro of full resolution saving, the app does not save much EXIF and geolocation data.
While Camtastic provides a nice UI and launches directly into the camera, I found the app to be a bit laggy and choppy at times, especially when coming back to the app via multitasking. It also needs an option for saving directly to the Camera Roll, video recording, and perhaps provide a bit more options when it comes to adding a unique look to your photos.
As it is now, and with a price tag of $1.99, Camtastic does not currently stand out amongst other camera replacement apps such as Camera+ (despite not saving directly, it provides more options), ProCamera, Hipstamatic, and others.
