Old amateur films have that special flavor you cannot find on average in contemporary videos recorded with digital cameras. The polished look, the absence of grain and other imperfections, seem sometimes to be a defect rather than an added value. On the other hand, even the most technically rough family movie has that something… that something that truly make it look special, in spite of its actual merits; do you know what I mean?
From Nexvio, already known in the App Store for its many other video processing tools, we get now 8mm Vintage Camera, an app that will let you shoot videos in the vintage style on the iPhone. All in real-time.
Main Features
- Up to 480×360 pixels;
- Real-time processing;
- Five filters (1920, 70s, Sakura, XPro, Siena);
- Five lenses (clear, flickering frame, spotlight, light leak and Color Fringed);
- Switch between front and back camera (on supported devices only);
- Microphone on/off;
- Flash on/off (on supported devices only);
- Jitter button;
- Share via email or Youtube.
Appotography Opinion
8mm Vintage Camera’s aesthetics lay on the same line of many other apps that try to recreate the feel of retro equipment. So far, it’s one of those I liked the most. Not only the 8mm Vintage Camera is very easy to use, without confusing features and weird knickknacks of no use whatsoever, but it’s also very good in delivering captivating results. The filters and additional lens effects — differing the one from the other enough to cover a variety of possibilities, from very old black and white to more up-to-date lo-fi — do convey the feel of authentic old cameras, unlike what happens with some other apps in the same category, that more than anything will often make your video appear like you have applied a colored dirty layer on it. Not to forget, the real-time feature allows you to know right away how your final recording will be like.
There aren’t post-processing waiting times: what you see in your viewfinder is exactly how your video will look like. You just have to go through the filters and lenses, which you can also interchange while you are recording; for additional variety, you can press the jitter button to simulate frame displacement. After the video is recorded, you can go to your gallery and decide either to save it to the camera roll, to send it via email or to upload it to your Youtube account.
In general, the app works fairly well: especially replacing lenses is a cinch and all the effects are very well-done. The app works both on iPhone 3GS and 4, but on the 3GS especially there can be slowdowns due to real-time processing.
Here you can watch a little video that shows how the 8mm Vintage Camera app works. As you can see, switching from a filter to the other is very easy.
The only serious flaw one could find in this app is the resolution of the videos: disappointingly small. Although this is totally excusable in consideration of the real-time processing factor — it wouldn’t be possible to obtain the same immediateness at higher resolutions, given the iPhone’s current capabilities — it is still quite unsatisfactory if you intend making the videos fully usable also outside the iPhone. If you think you can bear with the resolution issue though, I am confident you will love 8mm Vintage Camera for its simplicity of use and visually pleasing results.
Overall
Name: 8mm Vintage Camera
Developer: Nexvio
Compatibility: iPhone (3GS/4), iPod Touch (4th). iOS 4.1 or later.
Price: £1.19||$1.99||€1.59
Vote: 3/5
8mm HD is capable of producing 720p videos and it is compatible both with iPad and iPad 2. As the iPhone version, the HD edition comes with several vintage filters and effects to give videos a pleasing analog look. Filters range from dusty black and white to slightly desaturated color, with the possibility of choosing matching frames and other extras for more believable results.
After a long wait, the updated version of 
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