I just released a brand-new RitchieCam App update! If your iPhone didn’t automatically update the App, be sure to manually do it now. There are two new Filters, plus some improvement and feature changes that I believe you’ll appreciate, but I need to explanation some of it—I think it will all make a lot more sense afterwards.
First, the two new Filters: Slide Film and Negative Film! These are both only available to RitchieCam App Patrons, and are not unlocked in the free version.
Slide Film
The Slide Film Filter is reminiscent of color reversal (slide) film. Vibrant and contrasty—yet still versatile—with a touch of analog nostalgia. Set EV anywhere from 0 to -1 for best results.
Negative Film
The Negative Film Filter is bright, warm, and slightly faded, with some similarities to overexposed color negative film by Kodak. Great for sunny daylight situations. For a more faded and retro rendering, try reducing the EV between -0.6 and -1.3.
Next up is Favorites, which has been significantly revamped. Favorites is a Patron-only feature that improves the way you select Filters. You can Star as few or as many Filters as you’d like (including all of them), and arrange them in whatever order makes the most sense for you—providing you with a customizable experience. Whichever Filter is in the first slot is the one that the App will open with when in the regular view (with the tray of Filters).
One thing that’s new is Favorites will now stay open until you close it—even if you close RitchieCam entirely and relaunch, Favorites will still be open until you close it. The Filters (that you have added to Favorites) are activated by scrolling right or left, and the one in the center is what’s selected for use (if you’re not on iOS 17 or newer, you’ll have to tap to select… this might be a good opportunity to update the operating system). This is a more intuitive way to switch between filters, and makes Favorites quite useful for regular use. If you prefer the Filter tray, which gives you access to all of the filters, including the “i” information icon which provides some samples and a brief explanation, simply tap the Star icon to close Favorites. If you are a Patron, you have two different approaches to how you interact with and select the Filters; however, I anticipate that many of you will use Favorites quite often now, and the regular view less.
Another important note is that long-pressing on the Star icon opens the Favorites menu, which is where you choose the Filters that you wish to Favorite and organize them in whichever order you prefer. This is a quicker way to access the Favorites menu.
The Drag-to-Select Filter option, where you press-and-drag your finger across the screen to quickly scroll through the filters, can now be toggled on-and-off. By default it is set to Off. If you prefer this method, be sure to tap the Gear icon and enable Drag-to-Select Filter. This feature didn’t go away, but you must take this step in order to use it. For those who have had issues inadvertently switching the filter when attempting to tap-to-focus, you might consider leaving it Off.
A couple changes were made to Filter Intensity. First, the icon looks a little different (it’s now three parallel lines, where the top line is longer and the bottom line is shorter). RitchieCam will now remember the Intensity you selected for each Filter (previously, it was a global adjustment). Additionally, the icon gives you visual feedback as to the level of intensity you have selected for that Filter (this is pretty slick, in my opinion).
Last but certainly not least, in the Photos view (where you review the pictures you’ve captured), you can now tap or pinch to zoom in and out. This will make culling a lot easier.
I hope that you enjoy this update!
Is there a chance to see it on Android, sooner or later?
The short answer is no. The much longer answer is that it would be extraordinarily difficult to do and not really “worth it” for these reasons:
– Diversity of hardware. Apple is pretty consistent across devices and even generations, while Android is quite diverse. That adds a huge complication for achieving consistent results.
– If I began now, it would take approximately two years start-to-finish to do it. That’s a lot of time and work.
– Generally speaking, Android users prefer free apps, and don’t pay for apps at nearly the rate of Apple users. For example, approximately 8% of those who download the Fuji X Weekly App become Patron subscribers on iPhone, while it’s only 2% on Android. Those numbers might seem small, but that’s actually very typical percentages, very normal, for “freemium” apps. Believe it or not, it’s a little better than average, actually. Android is typically 1-2%, and Apple is typically 5-6%.
That’s all to say that it would be very difficult, take a lot of time, and recouping the costs would be years. If all of a sudden RitchieCam exploded in popularity, and I could afford to hire a crew of programmers to bring it to Android, and the prospect was there that it would be popular on Android, it might happen. That’s a real long-shot scenario, but stranger things have happened. Never say never, but it seems highly unlikely that RitchieCam will ever come to Android. I hope that all makes sense.
Makes perfectly sense, unfortunately… I’m proud to be part of that 2%!
Thank you for your kind support! 😀
Android, Android, Android, Android… Yyyeeaahh 😉
I appreciate the enthusiasm! Not to be a buzzkill, but it’s highly unlikely that it will come to Android. Sorry.
Thanks so much for all these updates! Very exciting new features !
Awesome! Glad that you like it.
Great job on this app! I recently came over this app and i’m absolutely loving it.
Just wanted to let you know that there’s a bug with the picture folder in the app. When i press the picture it comes up as a black screen. I have to exit and press again before it opens up.
I really like the level that pops up when taking pictures downwards, but is it possible to add this feature for ordinary shooting?
The sliding feature to change filters is genius. Is it possible to add this for changing aspect ratio for example? Instead of going side to side like with the filters it would be cool to have this feature when sliding from top to bottom.
Or to just make the slide feature customizable all together so that you can decide what to put within that feature?
I’m really looking forward to seeing what this will develop into 👏
Thanks for your kindness and your feedback. It is much appreciated!