CAM135
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Vintage camera app · iPhone & Android

A vintage camera app that picks the camera before the filter.

Most vintage camera apps are a filter with a shutter button. CAM135 loads a camera: its film, its lens, its light leaks, its dark corners. Then you shoot.

Download freeSee the 23 cameras

Free to start. $19.99 once for everything. No subscription.

Portra 400
A woman in a grey wool coat resting her chin on her hand at the window of an old regional train, late sun on her face and her reflection doubled in the glass, warm and grainy like Portra 400'26 09 02
400 · COLOR NEGATIVE · 35 MMCAM135
the slow train, on purpose

01What a vintage photo is made of

Four layers. A filter only touches one.

A photograph looks old because of the film it was on, the lens it went through, the light that got in by accident and what was done to the print afterwards. CAM135 models all four, and lets you set each one.

The film
Which way the colour leans, how hard the contrast is, how much grain there is and where it sits. Portra is creamy and pink. Gold is amber. Tri-X is silver.
The lens
A Holga is soft at the edges and dark in the corners. A Leica is sharp and even. A pinhole is soft everywhere. The lens decides what can be in focus before you do.
The light that shouldn't be there
Leaks through a worn seal. Fog from a roll left in the sun. Dust from the lab. The accidents that make a picture look like it has been somewhere.
The finish
An orange date in the corner. The white chin of an instant print. A caption in someone's handwriting. What was done to the picture after it was taken.

0223 vintage cameras

Pick the camera. It brings its own film.

Every camera on the shelf comes loaded with the film it is remembered on, the lens it had, and the way it leaked. An AE-1 on Gold and an F3 on Tri-X are two different pictures before you press anything.

Holga 120N
Two teenagers caught mid-air jumping off a wooden lake dock at dusk, soft-focused with dark vignetted corners and a warm orange light leak on the right, the way a Holga renders a scene
120 · 6×6 · PLASTIC LENSCAM135
last swim of the summer

The Holga above is a $30 plastic camera from Hong Kong that shoots medium-format film through a lens that cannot focus properly and a body that cannot keep light out. That is the whole appeal. In CAM135 the Holga darkens the corners, softens the edges and lets a warm leak in from one side, because that is what the real one does. The Leica M6 two shelves down does none of it.

Sixteen still cameras, from a Kodak Brownie box to a Hasselblad, and seven camcorders from Super 8 to Mini DV.

Stills16 cameras

Lomo LC-A — Plastic wideLC-ALomo LC-A
Holga 120N — Medium-format toyHOLGAHolga 120N
Rolleiflex 2.8F — Twin lensROLLEIRolleiflex 2.8F
Polaroid SX-70 — Integral instantSX70Polaroid SX-70
Canonet QL17 — Rangefinder compactQL17Canonet QL17
Leica M6 — Rangefinder classicM6Leica M6
Canon AE-1 — Manual reflexAE-1Canon AE-1
Nikon F3 — Press reflexF3Nikon F3
Nikon FM3A — Mechanical reflexFM3ANikon FM3A
Olympus OM-1 — Compact reflexOM-1Olympus OM-1
Hasselblad 503CW — Medium format503CWHasselblad 503CW
Pentax 67 — Big negativeP67Pentax 67
Olympus Pen EE — Half framePEN-EEOlympus Pen EE
Fuji QuickSnap — Single useQSNAPFuji QuickSnap
Kodak Brownie — Bakelite boxBROWNIEKodak Brownie
Pinhole 6×6 — LenslessPINHOLEPinhole 6×6

Video7 camcorders

Canon 514XL — Super 8514XLCanon 514XL
Bolex H16 — 16mm turretH16Bolex H16
JVC GR-C1 — VHS-C shoulderGR-C1JVC GR-C1
Sony Handycam TR55 — Video 8TR55Sony Handycam TR55
Sony Hi8 — Metal tapeHI8Sony Hi8
Sony DCR-PC100 — Mini DVPC100Sony DCR-PC100
Fisher-Price PXL-2000 — Lo-fi monoPXL2KFisher-Price PXL-2000

FREE: LOMO LC-A · HOLGA 120N · ROLLEIFLEX 2.8F · THE OTHER 20 WITH CAM135

0311 film filters

Films with the name on the box.

Not “Warm 3”. Kodak Portra 400, Kodak Gold 200, Fuji Superia, Tri-X, CineStill 800T. Each filter is built from the colour, the contrast and the grain of the film it is named after, so you can look at the real thing and check.

Tri-X 400
A barber in his sixties leaning in mid-cut behind a customer in a striped cape, window light on his forearms, in high-contrast black and white with sharp silver grain
400 · BLACK & WHITE · PUSHEDCAM135
Kodak Gold 200
A grandmother in a floral apron laughing while she rolls out pastry with a small girl standing on a chair beside her, morning window light, warm amber tones like Kodak Gold'26 09 02
200 · COLOR NEGATIVE · WARMCAM135
  • P400 · FREEPortra 400Warm daylight neutral. Creamy skin, soft highlights.
  • 800T · FREECineStill 800TCool shadows, warm lights, red halation glow.
  • TRI-X · FREETri-X 400Black and white, punchy contrast, sharp grain.
  • GOLDKodak Gold 200Golden consumer warmth, amber highlights.
  • EKTARKodak Ektar 100Vivid reds and blues, almost no grain.
  • SX70Polaroid SX-70Milky lifted blacks, pastel color, soft edges.
  • P160Portra 160Lower contrast, pale pastel color.
  • P800Portra 800Portra's warmth, heavier grain, low light.
  • E64Ektachrome 64Cool slide contrast, saturated blues.
  • SUP400Fuji Superia 400Cool mint shadows, neutral skin.
  • VISTAAgfa VistaExpired film: green-yellow cast, muddy blues.
See all 11 film filters

04Vintage camera filter app

The photos you already have, printed on film.

Pick up to twenty photos from your library, pick a film, and it prints the look onto every one of them. It runs on the phone. Nothing is uploaded.

A vintage camera app is only half useful if it only works on the pictures you take from now on. The other half of your life is already in the camera roll. The batch filter takes those and prints them on Portra, or Gold, or an expired Agfa that has gone green, twenty at a time.

How the batch filter works

05Vintage film camera app · pricing

$19.99. Once.

All 11 films, all 23 cameras, the frames and the batch filter. Nothing renews. The only monthly plan in the app is cloud backup, and you can ignore it.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

Questions

The short answers.

What is the best vintage camera app?
It depends on what you want to come out. Huji and Dazz Cam are good at the one-tap disposable look. VSCO and RNI are good at film emulation on existing photos. CAM135 is for people who want to pick a real camera and a real film by name, turn one dial for how far to push it, and pay once instead of monthly.
Is CAM135 free?
The free tier is three films (Portra 400, CineStill 800T, Tri-X 400) and three cameras (Lomo LC-A, Holga 120N, Rolleiflex 2.8F), with no card and no trial countdown. Everything else is $19.99 once.
Does the vintage look go on photos I already have?
Yes. The batch filter prints any of the eleven films onto up to twenty photos from your library at a time, on the phone, without uploading them.
Does it put a watermark on my photos?
No. Not on the free tier, not on the paid one, not on video.
Is it on Android as well as iPhone?
Yes, the same app with the same films, cameras and price is on Google Play and the App Store.