CamWow Retro: Vintage photo booth effects live on camera! for iOS

CamWow Retro is an iOS app that lets you take photos with antique effects applied to them. Whether a sepia-tint or grainy black-and-white images, there's a lot of effects you can apply. CamWow Retro is a free app and installs easily.

The CamWow Retro interface is based on a larger app called CamWow Pro and works the same way. When activated, the app opens an interface with four panes. One shows the image from the camera natively, and the other three panes show various effects in real time. You can scroll through a few screens of effects to find the one you like, and then save the result. The effects try hard to duplicate vintage photography effects, including tinting (usually sepia but there are others available), black and white, lens flare, monochromatic palettes, and oversaturated images, to name just a few. Fish-eye effects and some other lens distortions are all there. CamWow Retro is easy to use: turn it on, frame the photo, choose the effect, and save. There's a limited number of effects in CamWow Retro, but there's always the option to upgrade to the Pro version with more effects.

We used CamWow Retro on several occasions and while some of the effects are just unusual, with proper use you can create a stunning image that does look like it was created decades ago. Most people will likely use CamWow Retro on portraits, but landscape and nature shots produced the best effects in our experience. This is a nice, free app that brings some cute photo tricks to the iOS platform.