Where Have You Been All My Life, VSCO Cam?
After searching the world over for the perfect iPhone camera app (OK, maybe not the whole world, just the Apple App Store), I think I finally found it in VSCO Cam. While no app will ever be perfect, or have all the features we want to see in an app, this one has just what a growing instagrammer needs.
Features
The app contains 10 simple filters: 3 black & white and 7 color filters. They may be few, but they’re all you’ll need to make your photos look pro. There’s also 10 photo editing options options to play with, including: cropping, exposure, contrast, temperature, and fade effects. A combination of the filters and effects will give your photos that vintagey hipster look going around on Instagram. You can switch between filters and other options while you work without having to save after every edit. Also, you can revert to the original if needed.
Sharing features include exporting to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and email. There’s an in-app gallery to store your work before saving to the the camera roll. You can choose the size of your photo before saving to the camera roll. That’s pretty much it.
Design
The design is minimalistic, elegant, and easy on the eyes. The gallery puts Camera+’s lightbox to shame; it works without any extra clutter. All the icons and controls are designed to be manipulated with the touch of a finger, even a chubby one, unlike other apps which require you to aim for a line or a dot. Everything is easily accessed and effectively labeled.
Functionality
This is where I think the app needs a little work. For the most part, it works fine, but there’s a few kinks. If you try to export a photo to Instagram without cropping first, you won’t be given a chance to crop it on Instagram like you would when opening a photo directly from your photo albums. The resulting uncropped photos look awkward with black spaces on the edges depending on the orientation. I also noticed that saving photos to your camera roll takes longer than other photo editing apps. However, these negative aspects don’t take away from the general user experience. It still works great.
Overall, I’m very happy with my new app. It might just be good enough to render 2 or 3 other photography apps on my phone obsolete. Check out my Instagram feed for sample photography; I’ll be using it extensively from now on. You can see the app here, and download it here. There’s a kitten here.
Cheers.
