Comments on: [News] A Cool Gift for Creatives: 35mm Hand Cranked Retro Video

By: Fabian Pourmand

Fabian Pourmand — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:09:00 +0000

Ok back to the camera…. Since it does 3-5 fps.. Lets say we shoot 5fps does this mean we only get about 6 seconds of shooting time on a role of film that has 36 exposures?

By: Joao Carlos

Joao Carlos — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:06:00 +0000

Tman you obviously cant read when you say “Sounds like you’ve graduated from the “equipment makes the photographer” school.” , Kenn said its not about the gear , its about understanding light and using it creatively. I totally agree that Having preset filters, cookie cut from an iPhone doesn’t do it for me either
I shoot with one yes , but not my pro work , just my day journal type stuff i mean almost everything looks good with a Hipstamatic .
http://www.joaocarlosphoto.com

By: Chris Blizzard

Chris Blizzard — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:16:00 +0000

I saw announcements of this a few days ago (or last week maybe). My first reaction was along the lines of “useless junk”, then I thought “could be fun”. Eventually I settled on “waste of money”.

Today, I think I’m swinging back in the other direction. I’m finally thinking up legitimate uses for something like this. I might even be tempted to add it to my christmas list…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:22:00 +0000

Kenn: Sounds like you’ve graduated from the “equipment makes the photographer” school.
Why should getting a Lomokino make someone a better photographer than
someone with an iPhone and Hipstamatic? The result is in the eye and
skill and creativity of the holder, not in the equipment.

As a recent convert to the iPhone (my first one… the iPhone 4S), I’ve been thrilled to have a camera in my pocket everywhere I go. To date, I’ve purchased at least a dozen photography apps for it, most of them going for either U.S. $1 or $2. Hipstamatic is one of them.

Sure, Hipstamatic and Instagram are “fun” apps. The fact that they are so simple to use guarantees that there is plenty of garbage — asethetically speaking — produced by them.

So what? I’ve already seen many, many examples online of really strong — even powerful — shots produced by Hipstamatic shooters. One or two of them by me, even.

I could create the same kinds of photos by shooting them with my multi-thousand-dollar Nikon outfit and tweaking the hell out of them in my $600 Photoshop app. Maybe I will at some point. But when I’m out and about, the iPhone and Hipstamatic give me another set of tools that have the potential to capture and create some great work. I can export high-res files, and I can also do plenty of tweaking with other iPhone apps to alter the initial look of the Hipstamatic shot. And I can do it all quite easily. I can also export to Photoshop to work on them some more.

I suppose I could also create the same shots using Lomokino. But I’ve already been there. With a Holga. It was lots of fun. It could also be a pain in the —. Just like the old days: Buying film. Waiting for film to develop. Paying someone to process it. Throwing away all the negs that were no good. Scanning to bring into Photoshop (forget about printing with wet darkroom — that went away a long time ago). And then there was the time I forgot about what airport X-ray scanners do to real film…..

Give the average non-photo-savvy, non-creative consumer–someone who does not “understand light and uses it creatively” — an iPhone and Hipstamatic and you’ll likely be bored by the results. Yes, you’ll probably roll your eyes.

Give a pro or skilled amateur photog an iPhone with Hipstamatic and you might just be stunned by the results.

By: Kenn Tam

Kenn Tam — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:56:00 +0000

For me being a “photographer” has everything to do with understanding light and using it creatively. Having preset filters, cookie cut from an iPhone doesn’t do it for me. Kuwayama’s work isn’t good cause he uses apps, it’s good because he has an eye for subject matter. A good shooter can use anything to turn out compelling work but I’m tired of hipsters thinking these apps make them “artistic, creative and unique”.

By: Tomas Piliponis

Tomas Piliponis — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:46:00 +0000

expensive plastic toy…

By: BLK PXLS

BLK PXLS — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:12:00 +0000

Did you just call hipstimatic and instagram “BS” ? Slow down on the haterade between posts. Kenn ,Just cause you need 30k in gear to make a good image doesnt mean the apps and the iphone are not powerful tools. You should look up Teru Kuwayama . He was a embedded photographer in the middle east.His team actually used hipstimatic and a iphone to capture 95 % Majority of the photos from http://www.flickr.com/photos/basetrack/ and basetrack.org . I meet him at a conference a month ago and he said “in those conditions the iphone is the most robust and dust proof camera available”. But i guess you believe “the gear makes the photographer” Kenn.