Remember the DSLR transcoding software 5DtoRGB? You may very well still use it, but most recently the company that makes it, Rarevision, also produced a program called RAWMagic, which was used for RAW video footage on Canon cameras.
Now they are back with something completely different, an iOS app that makes your iPhone footage look like it was shot on an old format many of us are familiar with: VHS.
Besides being kind of a silly idea, this is a really quick way to add realistic VHS footage to a project if you didn't want to go through the hassle of doing it in post. While there are plugins and software to do exactly that on a computer (this music video took the much more difficult approach), shooting it this way is a heck of a lot easier.
Check out some footage shot with the camera from Ray Roman:
And from Rich DeMuro:
Here's a little more from the company on the app, which can add all sorts of little details to sell the effect and lets you control how the image is manipulated in real-time:
VHS Camcorder shoots videos that look and sound like videotape recordings that have been in storage for 30 years. With a real-time effect preview, you can degrade the picture at precisely the right moment by dragging your finger around the screen or by shaking your device. Remember that birthday when Dad pulled out the huge camcorder and chased everyone around with it? Or that Little League game when you struck out in front of all the girls? And who could forget the day of that embarrassing school play when you fell off the stage? We know you've been absolutely dying to relive those moments... and now you can!
More on what it can do:
- Realism: the most accurate app ever for simulating aged videotape recordings
- The most beautiful tape noise, static and tracking distortion the world has ever seen
- On-screen date and time graphics--you know, when cameras actually did that
- Fake the on-screen date so people think you're way younger--or older--than you really are
- Phony zoom lens feature dramatically enhances the cheese factor
- Control the effect using your finger or by shaking your device during recording
- Don't think we forgot to make things sound bad--we didn't
- Easily share videos from within the app or through Camera Roll
- Built-in clip viewer for playing back, deleting and sharing clips
- Widescreen recording option (but would you REALLY want to use it?)
- Choose your frame rate: 24, 25 or 30
- HD video recording on iPhone 4s and newer devices (1080p requires iPhone 5 or better)
At $4, it's a pretty cheap way to do something that might require quite a bit of fine-tuning in post. You may have a real use for this in a project, but even if you don't, it's another way to get an interesting look out of your smartphone or tablet videos. As of right now, this only works on iOS with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, so Android folks are out of luck with this particular app at the moment (though they said they are working on it). For more, check out their website at the link below.
Source: Rarevision
