Tintype App Brings the Magic and History of Tintype Photography to iOS

A few days ago, we told you about an app called Koloid that allowed iOS users to capture some of the look and feel of wet collodion photography using their iPhone. The $1 app let you not only take photos, but ‘develop’ them as well by tilting your phone to run chemicals over them.

The new app Tintype doesn’t go quite that far, but when it comes to authenticity, creator Michael Newton has made sure that his app brought the most accurate looking tintype processing possible to the iOS world.

Over the past 7 months, Newton has worked tirelessly with a world-class Chicago-based tintype photographer to make sure that the Tintype app got as close as possible to the original “look” of real tintype photography.

But the app doesn’t stop there. Yes, using it you can create some stunning looking tintype photos (see samples below) that you can then share with your friends using Facebook and Instagram or export to your camera roll. For Newton, however, the app was as much about getting people excited about Tintype photography as it was about replicating it.

The app has a designated history page where users can learn about the process, and he told us that future versions of the app will hopefully feature a giant directory of every tintype photographer in the US, so that users can reach out to them directly and book a session. The app’s goal is to inspire its users to explore this age-old method.

Here are a few sample photos taken using the Tintype app:

The app went live yesterday and has so far gotten only five-star reviews, so things are looking good for Tintype. You can see more sample shots over on Newton’s Tintype Flickr set or, if you want to pick up a free copy of your own, head over to the iTunes app store by clicking here.