Thirty Six is a fun little app. I downloaded it long ago. I’m not sure quite when it was (EDIT: the first version appeared in late January 2013 and I probably picked it up in February that year), but it was some time before I started shooting film seriously, or whatever it is I’m doing with the Analog project.
Thirty Six hung out on the phone from the first day installed it, and I started a few rolls but never finished them. Then, recently, I remembered Hipstamatic D… And then PhotoJoJo put out DispoCam (I haven’t used it yet, and may never… but it’s in a folder on the phone anyway: as of December 2015, it’s gone from PhotoJoJo’s website… I didn’t use it in the man time); I found out about WhiteAlbum too (also unused, and somewhat less likely to be used than DispoCam, but maybe one day… it’s also in a folder on the phone it’s long gone from the phone and as of September 2016, no longer in business, and as of December 2016, the page is gone even from the Wayback Machine, so…); and then Hipstamatic DSPO, about which I posted quite a bit already.
With all that, and with the various disappointments of the D series no longer being functional and the wondering about DSPO, I loaded up Thirty Six and started shooting.
It’s fun, and much more so than I thought… It’s come a long way since 2013 I think.
I knew that it forced you to commit to shooting 36 exposures before you could see a single one, but having never shot through all 36 before I didn’t know what would happen after, and I had no idea of other fun that could be had.
Original versions of the app offered 36 exposure rolls in 4×3 format, but later versions give the option of shooting a 12 exposure, square format roll too.
When you finish a roll, the ‘film’ takes a bit to process (on the iPhone 5, it seems to be about 30-45 seconds per shot)—be aware that if you close the app, the processing will stop, and if you delete a roll before all pictures have been processed, you can kiss the unprocessed shots goodbye. As pictures process, they appear on the contact sheet (in landscape view) or in the loop (in portrait orientation), where you can like or love pictures.
In the contact sheet view, tap a picture once to open it in the loupe, and from the loop double-tap to like a picture, or give it a quick-style triple-tap to love it. The contact sheet will draw a single box around the liked pictures and a double box around loved pictures. 
In portrait orientation, you can scroll vertically through the pictures and like, love or reject them easily. I sorta prefer this view to the loupe, as it’s a bit faster to sift through, once pictures are processed.
The little film icon at the bottom of this screen take you to the film-stock creator, where you adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and vignette, and give your new film stock a catchy name.
And—I didn’t realize this until just now, when I came upon this recent review* while looking for some history on this app—if you scroll down a bit, you can adjust the RGB channels too… What fun to be had!
When you save, your new film will show up in the film cabinet, where you must commit to shooting a whole roll of one stock.
I’d like to be able to start up a second camera with a different film stock in it, and a 24 exposure roll at 2×3 might be nice too. And since the app is still in development, maybe the author will read this and maybe something like that will appear one day.
Recent versions of Thirty Six let you set focus/exposure lock, which comes in handy from time to time.
I’d like to see those be separable in a future update. (Looking back in the history in the App store, it was separable in an earlier version… there’s a note about turning it on in settings, but there is no setting for that in the current version, 3.5.2).
That’s about all there is to it, as far as I know now… It’s a fun app, and if you like shooting film and like your iPhone, it’s a great app to keep handy. Lately, I’ve been taking it on walks, shooting a roll on the way to or from the Masjid, or while on a walk with my darling, adorable wife.
Here shortly, I’ll share some shots from the past week or so. For now, you’ll just get to enjoy a couple from most recent roll.
I started this last night at the halal Chinese place while waiting for dinner. I used the 400 WC 120 film stock for this roll.
Ahhh, soda. It looks so tasty, but I always feel so bad when I drink it.
It’s my own fault, I suppose, since I drink it so rarely my little guts just aren’t used to it.
I finished the roll at the gas station. I saw this guy coming and snapped a few pictures as he walked past. GoGo street photography.
And that’s all for now. Stay tuned for a some shots culled from the previous 8 rolls, as I was learning how to play with the app. Fun times.
*Interestingly, Ashcroft got a nice code to try out the app… GoGo for nearly-paid reviews. And in case you’re wondering, I get nothing for the reviews here: no app codes, no money, nothing, and I likes it that way. I paid $1.99 for this app just like everyone else.
