Instantly Retro-ify Your Photos With Super Retro

Basically, Super Retro is split in two views: Camera and the Lightbox. In the Camera view, it’s pretty much the same as all other photo apps – shutter button, flash controls, front facing camera toggle, tap to focus, and separate focus and exposure controls. The option to display a grid for composing shots is found in the Settings (through the Lightbox section).

However, I wasn’t able to find a way to activate zoom in/out on Super Retro. Tapping the screen only brings up the focus/exposure, and doing a pinching gesture will only separate the focus and exposure. I noticed that the viewfinder also seemed to be more zoomed in than I’d like, which I felt was a bit odd. I was disappointed to see that there was no way to “zoom out” – perhaps in a future update?

Once you snap a photo, a thumbnail of the image will go in the bottom left corner (similar to the default Camera), and tapping it will take you to the Lightbox. In the Lightbox, the images that you snap will show up here, and you can also import images from your Photo Library too. Options can be found here as well, as well as the ability to batch-delete photos (the ability to batch-save will be coming in a free update).

Tapping on a photo in the Lightbox will allow you to edit it with various filters, borders, and effects. Each effect’s strength can be customized by a slider when it’s applied. Borders give users three options of color: white, sepia, or black. Also, in each editing option, you can enhance the shadows/highlights and even crop or rotate the image if needed. If you end up liking a particular combination of effects, you can add it to the Favorite Filters (represented by the heart). Change your mind about a favorite filter? Just tap and hold it for a deletion prompt (you can’t delete the preloaded favorites it seems).

One will also notice that there is a “Store” button while editing – it seems that the developer will be offering more filters through in-app purchases in the future (think Hipstamatic, Camera+). But for the time being, tapping on that will just bring up a beautifully designed “Coming Soon” graphic.

Once you’re done editing the image, just tap on the Lightbox button to go back to the Lightbox screen. Your images can be shared to Twitter, Facebook, Mail, or Instagram. If you’d rather save the image locally, you can just tap on Save.

By default, high resolution images are not turned on. To toggle this, just jump into the Options menu. You can also toggle more options: saving original to camera roll automatically, start app with camera, show grid, keep photo in Lightbox, start edits with favorites, and sharing (Twitter and Facebook logins).

While I am liking Super Retro overall, I did encounter some problems that need to be mentioned.

I particularly liked the “Brooklyn” filter in the Favorites (it’s one of the preloaded options), but none of the images that I wanted to save with it would save. The progress would get stuck on the Brooklyn filter and never get any farther, even after several minutes. I’m not sure why this occurs, but I hope that it is fixed in the next update. It’s a shame too, because I really liked the filter. Besides that, I also encountered some crashes while using the app. The next update should focus on performance issues, I hope.

Another thing that should be added is the ability to zoom in and out of the viewfinder. Not sure why, but it just appears that the viewfinder is already a bit zoomed in, with no option for the user to zoom out (or in if you want a closeup).

There is definitely potential with Super Retro, but it still needs a bit more polish before I can use it daily (the app icon also needs to be upgraded for the Retina Display). I’ll be keeping it around though, just to see what the updates have in store.

If you’re a fan of iPhone photography apps, this is one to keep an eye on.