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Genre: Photography
Developer: Tomohiko Okita
File Size: 0.1MB
Version Reviewed: 1.3
Requirements: iPhone 2.2 software
Compatibility: iPhone only
Price: $1.99

The iPhone cannot film video. I think jailbreaking your iPhone will allow it to film video somehow, but I’ll bet that video is terrible, so I don’t think it’s worth it. Does ReplayCam 25shot allow your iPhone to film video? Well, kind of, in that it works the same way as film, but it’s severely limiting. People looking to get this app so they can film girl fights in their high school hallways or little kids freaking out at scary Internet videos so they can upload them to YouTube will be disappointed. But if you take this app for what it is, it’s actually kind of fun.

ReplayCam 25shot’s main function is speeding up your iPhone camera, making it possible to take pictures a mere 0.1 second apart. You’re given six pre-set intervals from which to choose: 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 seconds. You can also select the number of photos to take: 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25. Doing the math, that means you could snap a 75 second video if you’re willing to spread 25 snapshots apart by 3 seconds. Not sure how practical that is, but there you go. Likewise, snapping at 0.1 second intervals will run through your 25 shots in a hurry, leaving you a very short video.

Of course, it’s not that it really matters, because you can’t save the video, anyway.

“What?”

You heard me. You can’t save the video. To anything. Apple doesn’t want video on the iPhone. We’ve been over this.

“Then what’s the point?”

Well, you can save individual frames from the video to your iPhone.

“Why would I want to do that?”

You wouldn’t be asking me that question if you’ve ever tried to take a picture of a kid or pet who won’t hold still. Shoot one picture, and who knows what you’ll get. Shoot 25 in 5 seconds, and maybe now you’ve got a picture worth keeping. Plus, I supposed you could save all 25 pictures and piece them together yourself with a different application on your Mac. ReplayCam actually makes it quite easy to do this; cycle through the photos in your video with the Prev and Next buttons, then hit Rec when you find one you like. It’s that easy.

Along with any individual frames you save, the roll of shots is written to the iPhone as a single image. The first image above is a sample of this, and you can actually get some interesting designs with this. The picture quality is what you’d expect from the iPhone; not great, but that’s Apple’s fault, not Mr. Okita’s. Images are saved at the 320x400 pixel ratio, nothing more.

I have no plans to make ReplayCam 25shot my default camera on the iPhone, as it’s rare that I’ll want to sift through multiple shots to find the perfect one. When I do need that functionality, however, this is a great app to have. It’s insurance, really—good picture insurance—and at only $2.00, it’s pretty affordable, comparatively. You’re still not getting your precious video, but you don’t need it. Girl fights last a long time, since teachers are afraid to break them up (and for good reason), so you’ll have time to run back to your locker to get a better video camera.

Follow Kirk Hiner on Twitter.