Miss paying for film? This new iOS app has you covered with digital rolls

Forget the best of both worlds, a new iOS app is mixing the best of digital photography with the worst of film — the cost. Using Fotr, smartphone photographers have to purchase ‘rolls’ of film — and every photo they snap is printed, blurry, underexposed, and all.

While digital photography is more convenient, when there is no cost to reshooting an image, photographers put less thought into the shot, says Fotr founder Ondrej Loudil. By adapting some of those analog elements, Fotr is a tool that encourages users to put more into every frame.

While the cost may deter a few and encourage some, Fotr is also designed as a way to prevent snapshots from being swallowed into thousands of other photos that are never actually shared or looked at, much less printed.

The app forgoes the traditional editing filters and instead sells rolls that mimic traditional film looks, including both color Fuji Velia and Fuji Superia as well as the black and white Kodak Tri-X. Buy a film look, and you are locked into that roll for the next 24 to 36 shots. Essentially, you are choosing the filter before you shoot and there is no swapping or experimenting on individual photos until the roll is finished.

The film starts at $17 for 24 black and white prints in a 4×6-inch size, or, for the daring, $36 for 36 5x7s. Once the roll is shot, Fotr will deliver the prints within 10 days.

Apps to print photos certainly are not a new concept, but Fotor is a bit different, mimicking the process of shooting an entire roll — and paying for every frame, even the bad ones. Whether the idea will catch on or not is anyone’s guess — after all, photographers that do not mind paying for rolls may just use actual film.

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