Best Vintage Photo Apps For iPhone

When today’s market is full of high definition, high mega pixel cameras, we are missing the warm, grainy, imperfect effects from the era of analog camera and films. Nostalgia is just part of the human nature. When iPhone became a cult and one of the most popular camera phones in the world, app developers wasted no time in creating vintage photo apps which make your photo look like they were shot 50 years ago. These photos look like distant memories already the moment they are taken and they radiate a warm, nostalgic feeling. These apps make iPhone the new Polaroid and Kodak Instamatic, and the best part is they cost next to nothing or are totally free.

Camera+

This app costs only 99 cents but offers an amazing range of effects and features, such as exposure control, zoom, crop, miniaturise, image stabiliser, HDR, vintage style etc.

camera plus iphone photo app

"Downtown Dubai" captured using Camera+

Instagram

Instagram is inspired by Polaroid camera and is free to download. It provide beautiful borders, many different colour filters and the sharing function that allows you to share your photos with your social network friends and build an entire network around your photos. Instagram has a huge fan base and is one of the most successful iPhone photo apps.

instagram photo app

"Wedding Photos" captured using Instagram by Nick Karvounis

Hipstamatic

In their own words, Hipstamatic ‘ is an application that brings back the look, feel, unpredictable beauty, and fun of plastic toy cameras from the past’. At $1.99, it offers the ability to swap lenses, film and flash setting at one touch.

hipstamatic app

"Downtown Vancouver on Canvas" captured using Hipstamatic by Ken Shelton

CameraBag

CameraBag add retro effect to your photos by simulating styles and processes of old film cameras. At $1.99 it offers many cool filters, such as 1974, Infrared, Fisheye, Plastic, 1962 etc.

camerabag photo editing app

"Stones" captured using CameraBag by Jason Zahariades

Pinhole Camera

Compared to the other apps, this one doesn’t seem to offer much. At $0.99 you get three different films and the famous pinhole camera blurriness and dim edges to your photos. The unique thing is you can do double exposure, which means the dream-like, overlapping effect is at your fingertip.

pinhole app for iphone

Captured using Pinhole Camera App for iPhone by Roland Tanglao

Retro Camera Plus

Retro Camera Plus works in a similar way to Hipstamatic, but it is free. It offers 5 cameras, 5 sets of vintage vignetting, film scratch & cross processing effects to create the analog look.

retro camera plus app

Photo captured using Retro Camera Plus by Ryan

VintageScene

What makes this app stands out from the rest is it creates really vintage look that goes back to the beginning of photography, whilst all the aforementioned apps focus on 50′s to 60′s styles. At $1.99 it can fake old photos for graphic artists, photographers, & hobbyist who rely on a high quality end result.

vintagescene iphone app

Photo captured using VintageScene by Dionne Hartnett

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