Retro camera app - Need image processing advice
 

You can now find two applications to download:

Classic Print - allows you to load existing photos and apply filters to create a retro style print.

Classic Cam - camera application that automatically applies a retro style to photos that you take.

You can find more information on Classic Print in the announcement thread here. This application can be installed from the extras repository.

Classic Cam has just been released and should be considered an early beta at present. It can be found in extras-devel and will only be promoted to testing once I've reassured myself that it is fairly stable. Make sure you install at least version 0.1-8. Earlier versions will not work correctly.

Some of Classic Cam's features:

• User interface styled like an old instamatic camera
• Flash can be set to auto, on or off
• Focus can be automatic or fixed to infinity
• Settings can be adjusted for different lenses, films and processing types.
• Each settings group can be saved as a preset
• Photos are "developed" in the background allowing further photos to be taken during the developing process
• Optionally, the "negatives" (unprocessed photos) are retained so if you don't like the processed output, you can use the original or use Classic Print to apply different settings

Classic Cam does not replace the standard camera application. The standard camera app is still automatically started when the shutter button is pressed or the lens cover is opened. To start Classic Cam, launch the application then open the lens cover to prevent the standard camera app from starting.

Please bear in mind that this is an early beta and you may find some issues. Problems I know of are:

• There is no minimise button. This was originally a design decision as the standard camera app also doesn't have this button but I think it ought to be there.
• Closing the application terminates the developing of any photos that are not yet complete. They are not processed in the background. They will continue to be processed the next time Classic Cam is started.

Have fun!

Original thread message:

I'm developing a camera app called "Classic Cam" which automatically processes the photos you take to give them that "retro" look with faded colours, print borders, etc, much like Hipstamatic on the iPhone.

The software development is going fine, I've managed to get the camera part all working with flash, autofocus, etc. The bit I am having a problem with is getting that authentic old photo look.

I've searched on Google and found some information on how to produce classic prints using photoshop and the like but I wonder if anybody on this forum has any bright ideas or suggestions. Also, if you have any suggestions for features you'd like to see in the app then please let me know.

I've implemented image processing filters for level shifting, vignette and applying a border and I'm using QtImageFilters for various convolution effects (sharpen, defocus, highlight, blur, etc.). Am I missing anything? Do you think it's a good idea to allow the user to edit the filters that will be applied or should I just provide presets?

I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

Re: Retro camera app - Need image processing advice
 

Is there no way of just finding out how Hipstamatic was created, and pretty much copy that...? Just a thought... It is actually one of the very few reasons I prefer the iPhone to the N900; that app...

Re: Retro camera app - Need image processing advice
 

hi ! exactly what i was looking for!

i think you should provide presets for users like myself who knows fxxk all about programming! but probably leave some space for advance users to fiddle things around.

please keep up with the work.

Re: Retro camera app - Need image processing advice
 

Sounds very cool! :)

Editing of filters would be great as would being able to save personal presets.
Will you be adding a grain/particle effect too?
Colour de-saturation would be another, although you have mentioned faded colours, so I gather that is already part of your app.
I'll be watching this thread.
Thanks for your time and effort in making this.
I hope you are entering it in the competition.

Re: Retro camera app - Need image processing advice
 

Yes, please enter! This really is so important to me, in regards to this phone.

Re: Retro camera app - Need image processing advice
 

There is a set of filters for photo shop that reproduce basically all types of film. I believe its called exposure.

Re: Retro camera app - Need image processing advice
 

i assume you have seen this page

http://rmagick.rubyforge.org/Polaroid/polaroid.html

Re: Retro camera app - Need image processing advice
 

If you do anything... please "be inspired" by ToyCamera AnalogCamera which does quite a bit of processing on the color curves, some variations that introduce brightness and color striations, et al from like the Lomo Helga.

I'd love to see tilt-shifting as well - there's a Tilt Shift Generator on the iPhone that is pretty cool too - that would be lovely to have those things.

If I could help on any of the color theory or portions - I'm a 17 year vet in design and photography (albeit not a GOOD photographer) I'll gladly lend a hand.

Re: Retro camera app - Need image processing advice
 

Thanks everyone for your replies.

That looks like it produces some of the effects I'm after but unfortunately doesn't tell me how to achieve them. I really need to know how to produce the same effects using standard image filters.

This looks promising. I'm not sure how well it would work though as the curl/shadow/rotation effect needs to be applied against a background. I would need to provide a default background image to apply the effects against.

Now this looks exactly what I am after! Again, it's a shame they don't describe exactly what each slider does but by playing with it I may be able to replicate those effects. I think my next step is to try to replicate some of those effects in ToyCamera. If I get anywhere I'll post some of the results for comments.

I do plan on entering the competition with this app, I've already added it to the Wiki entry page. I hope I can get it complete on time...

Re: Retro camera app - Need image processing advice
 

Did a bunch of this kind of thing for android and snapphoto. For the most part you need to be looking at matrix transformations to get effects like fish eye and sepia etc. If you like PM me and I can point you at some good resources I found helpful