A taste of the 90s
Huji Cam is a photography app that has been making some noise in the photo editing world because of its ability to “develop” and make your photos look like they were taken using a 90s film camera. It gives your pictures a warm, faded glow that will make you feel nostalgic. To complete the experience, Huji Cam’s interface is also designed to look like a real disposable camera.
The ultimate throwback
Older trends are making a comeback nowadays and Huji Cam is the perfect app that you can try if you want to hop in the bandwagon. Modeled after a disposable camera, you are immediately hit with the 90s aesthetic upon launching the app. You will get to see it displayed on your screen complete with the flash button, a shutter button, and a small round lens at the corner. It may be a little confusing at first but if you are familiar with how a disposable camera works, you will not have any problem figuring out how to take pictures using Huji Cam. Before you try anything, let it be known that peeking in Huji Cam’s lens will not show you anything. If you want to see your subject, instead of peeking you have to press the lens and it will open a preview window that will occupy around ⅔ of your phone screen, leaving enough space for the shutter, flash, and lab buttons. Of course, if you want a full experience you can also choose not to open the preview screen and instead, shoot blindly. Huji Cam will still work just fine even without the preview window. To shoot, click on the shutter button.
After taking photos, the app will load your photos for a few seconds, which is supposed to be the equivalent of getting them developed or printed in shops. The short wait proves to be worth it because the end results are able to effectively look like photos straight from the 90s. That is to say that the vintage filters are applied completely at random and aside from the date stamp, the effects are out of your control. Unlike in other photo editing apps like Retrica and Instagram, you cannot choose which vintage filters to apply or even manipulate other photo elements such as brightness, contrast, and warmth. Huji Cam is in charge of everything after a photo is taken but that is not really a bad thing.
Traveling back in time
It certainly feels like visiting 1998 is just a walk in the park through Huji Cam but what makes the experience better is that you also have the advantage of today’s technology. Aside from snapping photos on the spot, you can also apply the 90s look on your already existing photos by importing them in the app from your gallery. That is to say that when you capture photos using Huji Cam, you can decide to keep both the original and edited versions of your photo in your device and in the app. While you cannot control how your pictures will turn out after being developed, you at least have the option of adding a random light effect or a timestamp, which is customizable. Huji Cam is very simple and easy to use but it brings out the best 90s photos.
