BitCam

Name: BitCam
Rating: 4.6 (68 reviews)
Author: Héliographe, Inc

vintage one-bit photography

Only for iPhone

Free · In‑App Purchases

68 Ratings
Ages

4+
Years
Category

Photo & Video
Developer

Héliographe, Inc
Language

EN
English
Size

4.2
MB

iPhone

A blast from the past! Capture your photos with a unique 1-bit camera: only pure black and pure white pixels, no grayscale! BitCam's interface is delightfully old school, featuring chunky buttons and mechanical sounds the likes of which haven't graced your screen in over 40 years. Three different pixel resolutions let you experiment, and an 8-color mode brings you a little closer to the current day while preserving the distinct aesthetic. Clean PNG output means you can print those files, use them in digital collages, or other art projects. This app is dedicated to the memory of Bill Atkinson, inventor of the Atkinson dithering method that this app uses to render its photos, first made available on the original Macintosh.

Ratings & Reviews

4.6

out of 5

68 Ratings

It's limited on purpose — enjoy it for what it is
03/08/2017

ZipTurtle
Like the developer says, they built it in an old-fashioned way to celebrate how far things have come in the 20 years they've been in business. The app works exactly as advertised, providing that little rush of nostalgia by immersing you in a 1996-style interface and taking low-resolution pictures.The controls produce clicks or other sounds when used — and the volume level is tied to that of your device's RINGER, not its audio volume. Maybe the devs did that intentionally as part of their retro project or maybe not, I don't know. Anyway, you've been warned.

Developer Response
ZipTurtle, Appreciate your review and your support of our little fun project. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave it and for using BitCam, enjoy!
It's limited on purpose — enjoy it for what it is
03/08/2017

ZipTurtle

Like the developer says, they built it in an old-fashioned way to celebrate how far things have come in the 20 years they've been in business. The app works exactly as advertised, providing that little rush of nostalgia by immersing you in a 1996-style interface and taking low-resolution pictures.The controls produce clicks or other sounds when used — and the volume level is tied to that of your device's RINGER, not its audio volume. Maybe the devs did that intentionally as part of their retro project or maybe not, I don't know. Anyway, you've been warned.
Developer Response 04/16/2017
ZipTurtle, Appreciate your review and your support of our little fun project. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave it and for using BitCam, enjoy!
Fun retro camera
06/03/2023

Agnes Nutter, Witch
If you enjoy dithering and one-bit graphics, this is a great app for it! Characteristic of any Iconfactory app it is well-designed and well-executed. The theming is really fun.The only thing it’s missing which I’d like to see is the ability to adjust the brightness threshold (or the pre-dithering exposure level). Sometimes it would be nice to tweak the process a bit to make the image look better.p.s. I was tickled to see this app finally updated after six years, so here, have a review! :)
Fun retro camera
06/03/2023

Agnes Nutter, Witch

If you enjoy dithering and one-bit graphics, this is a great app for it! Characteristic of any Iconfactory app it is well-designed and well-executed. The theming is really fun.The only thing it’s missing which I’d like to see is the ability to adjust the brightness threshold (or the pre-dithering exposure level). Sometimes it would be nice to tweak the process a bit to make the image look better.p.s. I was tickled to see this app finally updated after six years, so here, have a review! :)
*LOVE* this app, but it needs an update!
12/04/2018

Johnny-o-doc
The folks at Iconfactory are the best (if you’re a Mac-using artist or designer, you *must* check out XScope!). This is such a great app, but it hasn’t been updated in 2 years+!! Can you please update it for the iPhone X & Xs screens, at least? Pretty please??Please note: I haven’t even marked down your rating in an attempt to force you to do my bidding! 🤪[Seriously though, keep up all your awesome work. I just downloaded Linea Sketch for my new 11-inch iPad Pro, too.]
*LOVE* this app, but it needs an update!
12/04/2018

Johnny-o-doc

The folks at Iconfactory are the best (if you’re a Mac-using artist or designer, you *must* check out XScope!). This is such a great app, but it hasn’t been updated in 2 years+!! Can you please update it for the iPhone X & Xs screens, at least? Pretty please??Please note: I haven’t even marked down your rating in an attempt to force you to do my bidding! 🤪[Seriously though, keep up all your awesome work. I just downloaded Linea Sketch for my new 11-inch iPad Pro, too.]
Neat idea...
12/01/2017

clin0048
Fun little app indeed! Bumped rating up now that I know about the editing existing pictures is an option. App is simple to use and accomplishes it’s intended goal with aplomb. Far too few apps these day reach each of those goals. I don’t necessarily NEED an app like this but it sure is fun to play around with and I could actually see some technical uses for it in the future!

Developer Response
You can apply the effect in Photos, but you'll need to enable the Edit extension. Tap "Edit", then the ... tool, then "More" to enable BitCam. After that, you can tap on the BitCam icon and get your pixels! Enjoy!
Neat idea...
12/01/2017

clin0048

Fun little app indeed! Bumped rating up now that I know about the editing existing pictures is an option. App is simple to use and accomplishes it’s intended goal with aplomb. Far too few apps these day reach each of those goals. I don’t necessarily NEED an app like this but it sure is fun to play around with and I could actually see some technical uses for it in the future!
Developer Response 11/30/2017
You can apply the effect in Photos, but you'll need to enable the Edit extension. Tap "Edit", then the ... tool, then "More" to enable BitCam. After that, you can tap on the BitCam icon and get your pixels! Enjoy!