The model of Instagram has ruled the mobile photo-taking-and-sharing roost for years. It's all just point, shoot, add filters, and share. Koloid (99 cents, iOS), is different. Instead of filters you spread "developer" fluid across your image by moving your phone. The results are unlike anything you can get with other camera apps that only have filters. It's a different kind of photo app demanding, as the aptly named developer (pun?) "19th Century Apps SP z o o" suggests, a more 19th-century approach.
A Developing Story
The first screen you arrive on is the viewfinder, which resembles a plate-glass negative from back in the day. The view is locked in portrait orientation, so you can flip your iPhone ( at Amazon) on its side but the final image will simply be sideways. You can switch to a more Instagram-compliant square format from the settings menu, but don't bother trying to switch to the front-facing camera. This app is anti-selfie.
Take a photo by tapping the camera button at the bottom of the screen. Fans of using the volume button to take a photo are out of luck. After a recent update, you can also import images from your iPhone's Camera Roll. Next, select how much virtual collodion developer fluid you want to use. Less fluid covers less space and can leave a ghostly effect on photos. More fluid develops faster, but can overdevelop some areas and even burn the image black.
Tap or shake your phone to deploy the fluid, and then move the collodion around the screen by tilting the phone. This may seem dumb and gimmicky (it's at the very least gimmicky), but you can get some neat effects that aren't really possible in apps like Hipstamatic and Instagram that are focused on filters. You can burn out some areas or leave sections undeveloped. It's tricky, made all the trickier by the lugubrious movement of the collodion.
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When you're done, press the Ready button and you'll be presented with the final version of your photo. All the streaks and burns are present in the black-and-white image, but I was disappointed that the image seemed clearer and had more contrast than the one I had been developing. Perhaps that's the result of a digital dip in water to get the collodion off, but it still seems odd. The app sticks very true to its gimmick, sorry, concept, in most other ways—like not allowing you to re-edit pictures—that I wish the final image was exactly the one I developed.
Sharing and Storing
Koloid has its own little gallery built right into the app, though it will save to your camera roll, too. Note that unlike Instagram, it doesn't save a copy of the raw, un-developed image. You can, however, leave undeveloped photos in the app's Dark Room section for later developing.
The app lets you share directly to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, and Instagram or export images from Koloid via email and text message. Unlike Flickr and Instagram, Koloid is just a camera toy; there's no website or larger social service backing it up.
Ready to Develop?
Koloid is fun, and I'm already looking forward to my Instagram friends asking me how I got the effects on my images. It doesn't have a lot of depth, but it delivers on what it promises and the price is reasonable.
Since the last time I reviewed Koloid, it's been updated to address some of the most nagging issues—like importing from your Camera Roll and disabling time-stamps. Koloid has loosened up a bit, and it's for the better, but toggling between front and rear-facing cameras would be a welcome addition for future updates.
Koloid has developed nicely (definitely a pun) and will hopefully continue to do so. It's a fun, cheap addition to your digital camera bag.
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