Hey iPhoneographers and Instagramers! The recent Instagram version 2.0.0 update is big news for the iPhoneography world, given the sheer popularity of the app. And we've spent all of our waking hours (since it's release yesterday - yes, we're that obsessed) testing it out and reading what you fine folks have got to say about the update. 

[imageeffect type="frame" align="aligncenter" width="189" height="195"  alt="" url="http://thebeginnerslens.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Screen-Shot-2011-09-21-at-11.23.53.png"  ]<p>&nbsp;</p>

So first off let's go through the list of updated features according to Instagram and iTunes: 

Completely revamped camera experience including: 
[list style="orb" color="grey"]
<ul>
<li>Instant live filters & live tilt-shift </li>
<li>4 new filters</li>
<li>Turn borders on & off</li>
<li>Rotate photo after taking</li>
<li>Filtered photos save in high-resolution to photo library</li>
</ul>
[/list]

Plus: 
[list style="orb" color="grey"]
<ul>
<li>Better support for viewing feeds with many comments</li>
<li>Faster load times for feeds</li>
<li>New icon </li>
</ul>
[/list]

Here's The Beginners Lens verdict on the update: 

We are totally loving the new camera functionality, the new rotate feature is ace, and the live filters and tilt-shift are really useful. Not only that but the tilt-shift is just generally easier to use given the new layout of the camera and viewfinder. The pinch-and-zoom on the radial tilt-shift is super, but the pinch-and-zoom with the linear tilt-shift is a little bit tricky. It's not difficult, but it does take a little bit of getting used to as it has a tendency to slip into a diagonal blur quite easily! 

Now onto the filters, thanks for a few new ones Instagram! The new filters, namely Amaro, Rise, Hudson, and Valencia are really superb. We're loving the subtlety and pure class of the new filters. BUT...there's a few caveats to the filter situation. We've heard murmurs on the grapevine that a few of the existing filters have changed...noooooooo! For diehard Instagramers who are faithful to one filter and one filter only this is a total bummer. Plus there seems to be a rather important element missing from several (and some speculate all) of the filters...where the flippin' heck have the textures gone? Textures, we miss you. Please come back. 

Instagramer @chrysti has posted several side-by-side comparison's of the new and old filters - take a look at a few of the changes. 

[imageeffect type="frame" align="aligncenter" width="300" height="300"  alt="" url="http://thebeginnerslens.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/earlybird.jpg"  ]<p>&nbsp;</p>As you can see from the images above, Earlybird has had quite a dramatic change - suddenly the vignetting is far less dramatic and it seems to have lost a bit of it's overall "dreaminess". 
[imageeffect type="frame" align="aligncenter" width="300" height="300"  alt="" url="http://thebeginnerslens.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/texture.jpg"  ]<p>&nbsp;</p>Look closely and notice the texture on the 1977 filter is completely gone. 

Further to that, what's happened to our beloved Gotham filter? Send up the bat signal, ring the bat phone, Batman we need our Gotham back! 

So the general consensus is that the change to the filters is a bit too drastic for most Instagramers tastes. And there's one other thing we're a bit disappointed about - the camera no longer saves your filtered image to the camera roll <em>before</em> uploading to your feed, which essentially means that there's no way to add multiple filters. Bummer. Any bright sparks out there now how to get around this? Enquiring minds would like to know! We're struggling to comprehend why this function was changed (even if it was perhaps a bug to begin with?) as it was a pretty good work around for those of us who love to layer our filters. 

Now, don't get us wrong, we're totally NOT hating on the new Instagram, ultimately we are really pleased with the new functionality. We love the fact that you can turn borders on and off (despite the fact that you can't turn the borders off of a "real" polaroid but that is by-the-by). And THANK YOU Instagram for hi-res saving! 

Yes it's natural to resist change a first and we're quite sure that a lot of the hype will die down. But we're sorta left thinking...if it ain't broke...

Until 2.0.1, over and out. 

p.s. Instagram if you're listening - we want the Converse back too. Thankyouplease. 