We’ve seen a lot of cool things you can do when combining your camera with real-time information, much of which fits into the “augmented reality” realm, like Layar for instance. But one app that has just launched on Android Market uses your camera, with real-time filtering, to actually advance the use of your camera itself. The application is called Camera Illusion and I after giving it a whirl I had two basic reactions:

1. The app is pretty darn cool
2. The app is pretty darn slow

[UPDATE: I got the following email from the developer, "Just one thing, can you confirm me if you have made the review with a Moto Droid?.Unfortunately, the app is much slower on Moto Droid than in others phones due to the screen high res and the speed of the microprocessor. I have a HTC Hero and a Nexus One and the speed is not too bad." Indeed I was using a Motorola Droid FWIW.]

First let’s get to the coolness. Camera Illusion offers 3 main “illusion” features that work with the basic picture-taking functionality of your phone:

1. Filter: Mono, Negative, Sepia, Aqua, Old Photo, Pencil, Chalk, Thermal, Oil, Black&White, Red Channel, Green Channel, Blue Channel
2. Effect: Thin, Fat, Tall, Short, Horizontal Mirror, Vertical Mirror, Pixelation, Fish-Eye, Mosaic, Light Tunnel, Pinch, Twirl
3. Mask: Nexus One, Motorola Droid, Card, Blackboard, Poster

As you apply different illusions, the camera shows you in real-time what your picture will look like BEFORE you take it. I’m especially a fan of the Effect/Mask – here are two examples of pictures I took of stuff on my monitor while sitting at my desk:

Filter=None, Effect=Light Tunnel, Mask=Nexus One

Filter=Old Photo, Effect=Twirl, Frame=Chalkboard

I’m SURE you can get MUCH better results – I was taking a picture of a monitor in a dark room. I just wanted to quickly illustrate what the app does and I think you’ll agree its kind of cool. You can also use your OWN custom frames – directions are in the app’s “help” section. Here are a couple better examples directly from the Android Illusion website (makers of Camera Illusion):

That last one is probably my favorite and gives you a good idea of what you can accomplish. Turn your phone into an illusion fun house! But it isn’t ALL fun and games – there are a few of the setbacks I noticed.

1. The application is S-L-O-W but its expected given the app is filtering moving images in real-time. One area I think they could improve? Turn filtering OFF when a user is navigating the menu… it makes sliding through options difficult.
2. Pictures saved have a LOT of white space around them, I’d prefer them to be cropped a bit better.
3. Some camera features are missing… like toggling flash on/off/auto.

Overall its a pretty good start for a pretty good app and I imagine they’ll add more options and improvements in time. Features like sharing, auto-focus, and other settings options WERE included so you can tell the developer was thinking proactively. Feel free to give it a try yourself and let us know what you think!

[Via Android Illusion]