I’m in love. With the new Hipstamatic Tintype SnapPak. Released in December, the new lens/film combinations for one of my favorite apps produce beautifully unique, vintage results you’ve got to check out. The Pak includes the Tinto 1884 Lens, and two new films—the D-Type Plate and C-Type Plate—and was designed to replicate the tintype processing popular in the mid-nineteenth century through the early 1900s.

Real, “old school” tintypes were created as a low-cost alternative to daguerreotype and albumen prints by putting a negative image on a thin iron plate and coating it with black paint, lacquer or enamel. You may be asking: do the new Hipsta-created “tintypes” look exactly like an authentic one? Well…no. But as usual, the creators at Hipstamatic have done something fun and clever and in my opinion worth the $.99 cent in-app purchase. Let’s take a closer look at what it can do…

Tintype SnapPak ScreenShot-F-500w

The Tinto 1884 Lens was created to emulate the shallow depth of field and ghostly focus on the subject’s face and eyes (if you are taking a portrait of course) seen in the tintypes of old. And, according to the Hipstamatic blog, the Hipsta folks wrote some complex algorithms that use the Apple iOS’s face detection technology to achieve this result.

The new films were inspired by the photographic media of the 1800s as well, with the D-Type producing a monochrome image with a grungy, deteriorated frame. A few of us Muses have been experimenting with the popular Tinto Lens and D-Type film combination to see what the fuss is all about…

Proofby Holly {soupatraveler}

kirstinby Kirstin

IMG_8142by me!

So you can see what I mean about the emphasis of the focus on the eyes. The images have an old-timey, eerie kind of look, don’t they? And don’t think I haven’t noticed in our Mobile Monday flickr pool that many of you have been playing around with this lens/film combo too—and it’s not just for self-portraits!

George Washington Bridge and Manhattan skylineby Juliana Longiotti

Solitudeby Leslie R Adams

Although the above combination seems to be the most popular, this Pak also offers another film. The C-Type film replicates the desaturated hand-painted look widely used before the invention of color photography and a wet plate-like border similar to the D-Type film. I just love the results I’ve seen so far…especially this gorgeous, soft self-portrait by Vivienne…

vivienneby Vivienne McMaster

And this beauty by our own Lindsey {modchik}…

Can't quit you #hipstamatic new lens #tinto1884

I haven’t had a chance to play much with the new Tintype SnapPak lens and films in combination with other lenses and films in my Hipstamatic arsenal but I can’t wait to experiment. I found these wonderful, detailed guides over at The iPhone Arts: this post shows sample images with both the C-type and D-type films with 26 different lenses, and this article showcases the Tinto lens with 27 different film types. There are some really interesting variations, and I thank Egmont van Dyck for taking the time to perform these tests and share his results.

And before I sign off, a couple of things you should know from a technical perspective…The processing time for these images can be a little slower than you may be used to with other Hipsta lenses and films. That’s due to what the creators have said is the complex design of this SnapPak that chugs along in the background in order to create these amazing images. So, be patient and don’t give up on it if you experience slower-than-normal development times, it’s worth the wait. Also, the new Pak is not compatible with older versions of Hipstamatic so you’ll need to update to the latest version (261) in order to download the Tintype SnapPak. If you are having trouble, be sure you’ve done that.

Please share your experiences and links to your Tintype SnapPak images in the comments today! I’d love to see what you are up to.

Until next time,

Christy | Urban Muser