100 Cameras in 1: 100? A Good One Would Have Been More Than Enough…

by Pu on December 23, 2010

I will never stop asking this question: is quantity equal to quality? In some cases, isn’t quantity just a way to conceal the fact quality is too difficult to achieve? Your opinion may differ from mine, of course, but you  can’t deny that not all the time more is better, especially when this more is only apparent. In the case of photography, creative photography in special way, having freedom to adjust your standards to your means without limitations is much better than having somebody presenting you with a pre-packaged variety of choices.

100 Cameras in 1 claims to offer you the easiest tool to make your pictures unique on your Apple device. Is it really so?

Main Features

  • Up to 1536 x 1536 pixels (3GS), 1936 x 1936 pixels (4);
  • 100 different textures to choose from;
  • Integration with GameCenter;
  • Share via email, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr.

Appotography Opinion

Despite what the previews and demo videos affirm, this is not even remotely the fastest photography app available and it doesn’t even come close to accomplishing greatness and uniqueness. In fact, compared to other photography apps, 100 Cameras in 1 is definitely more than sketchy: not only its performance  doesn’t stand out in any way, but also as far as photographic outcomes are concerned, the overall quality of this app remains on a very poor level.

100 Cameras in 1 iPhone

100 Cameras in 1 iPhone

You can use pictures stored in your library or take photos with the built-in camera. After that, you’ll be asked to adjust your photo to the square format required by this app. You can move and enlarge/shrink your photo a bit before proceeding to add your filter of choice.

It’s true that you have 100 different textures you can apply to your photos, but most of them aren’t of great quality: in fact, they are quite ugly and they don’t merge organically and convincingly with any picture. Do we need one hundred presets when you cannot even play around with them to adjust basic parameters to suit your photos? Unless the preset is well-conceived enough to stand on its own, which is not the case with 100 Cameras in 1, you do need a little freedom, otherwise the effect will always look like a separate layer with rudimentary textural elements applied over the photo, no matter how many of these textures you will try hoping to find one that will do. This brings into discussion also  the supposed app’s immediateness: sure, it’s easy to reach the point where you have to pick your texture of choice, but it’s not a great point in favor considering you’ll get frustrated in the process of finding among all those textures one that won’t actually ruin your photo instead of enhancing it.

100 Cameras in 1 iPhoneThe above image was saved at 600×600 pixels. The square isn’t a magnified detail, it is how the picture looks at its actual resolution. As you can see, the saved images result in very noticeable low quality. At first, I tried playing around with different resolutions, trying the maximum allowed and then going down to the minimum, but it changed nothing. Even at the lowest resolution, the results are not even remotely acceptable. This is undeniably a huge issue that could alone be a reason to stay away from this app at all costs. If it’s not an issue, then tell me what it is, because you’re not supposed to have to resort to superpowers to get an acceptably looking photo at the chosen resolution…

I wouldn’t suggest you to download this app even if it were free, let alone purchasing it for any price. There are gazillions of apps that will help you achieving similar results and in a much better and organic way. All in all, as it is now, this app is useless.

Blending layers is not just a matter or fooling people by sticking a texture over a photo, and I assume even the developer of the app knows it, as he clearly shows with his own works on his website. It seems the developer took more time trying to make the interface look minimally slick and in inventing fancy names for each texture than in actually creating the textures themselves and in making the app usable. It’s all good on the surface, but for decent iPhone photography this isn’t a recommendable approach. This proves that being a reasonably skilled graphic artist doesn’t imply you’re also a good app developer. And honestly, this app looks more than anything else like a convenient way for its creator to advertise his other activities.

Overall

Name: 100 Cameras in 1
Developer: Stuck In Customs
Compatibility: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad. iOS 3.0 or later.
Price: £1.19||$1.99||€1.59
Vote: 1/5

100 Cameras in 1 - Stuck In Customs

C Daly December 30, 2010 at 5:02 am

Very good review, it seems that the reviews of some of the iTunes store users are correct. To bad.

Alexander January 11, 2011 at 4:34 pm

Really great, in-depth and easy to read review. This kind of feedback is something developers really need to receive as it helps to make the apps better and more user-friendly. It would be my pleasure to let you take a closer look at our apps, such as FX Photo Studio, Perfect Photo or PhotoPal for iPad. Let me know, if you are interested?

Pu January 11, 2011 at 8:50 pm

Alexander, thank you for your words of appreciation and for taking the time to comment. Appotography is still in design phase, but we will be rolling out a new layout and more features, free and useful also to developers, soon. We are working on it, and we hope to offer a good service to users and developers.

We have been using FX Photo Studio for a while and we will be reviewing it soon. If you want us to review also other apps, we will be happy to. You can either use the contact form or contact us at pr (at) appotography.com.

Thanks!

Alexander January 12, 2011 at 10:39 am

What a great news PU, I would wait for the FX Photo Studio review then:)
We will soon release an iPad update for the same app. As for the PhotoPal or PerfectPhoto, it would be my pleasure to share these apps with you. Will drop you a line via email:) Thanks again.

Teri January 28, 2011 at 7:36 pm

Wondering how this app got featured by Apple) either they are wrong or photographers here have no clue about the apps))))

emmett January 28, 2011 at 8:42 pm

It seems some people are very good at selling their products although they are not as good at developing them, that’s all there is to it IMHO.

Allison February 6, 2011 at 1:52 am

I’ve been looking at reviews for this app and this is the first bad review I’ve read. No other reviewer uses the word “ugly” to describe the effects. There’s a slider that allows you to adjust the effect of the filters. I don’t see that feature mentioned so I’m guessing the app was updated after this review. This app also has a social networking component via GameCenter, which would also set it aside as a bit different (maybe more like Instagram with many more effects).

I have FX Photo Studio, which seems very similar to 100 Cameras insofar as the multiple, layerable effects. PhotoStudio is my favorite camera app, but I wonder if Pu would give it a similarly harsh review.

Pu February 7, 2011 at 1:18 am

Yes, there was an update after the review. I have checked the app out after the update. No significant changes have been made, so unless there actually are improvements, the app will not be reviewed again. I stand by my previous opinion that the quality of this app, despite the hype, is below average for photography purposes.

BTW, we have a review of FX Photo Studio here: https://appotography.com/2011/01/16/fx-photo-studio-review-iphone Despite the apparent similarity these two are very different apps.

Luke February 12, 2011 at 7:38 am

I was so pissed off after buying this app. My favorite review website gave it a 5 star and I jumped to it. I have no ******* idea how can’t anyone see the filters are the lowest of the lowest in quality – you see sort of JPG artifacts in some them! Integration with GameCenter is the only cool thing about this, next to the very low price. And yeah, FX Photo Studio is very neat, you cannot compare the two.

Allison, there are plenty of 1 star reviews (mine included) in the App Store. They are buried in the middle of the 5 star reviews (some of which look suspicious to me, but whatever), but many of them are well written and detailed.

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