Instagram pushed out version 2.0.1 of its mega-popular, iOS-only photo-sharing app today. In addition to routine bug-fixing and a few other minor features, the update makes changes to two of the app’s photo filters, which were overhauled with the release of Instagram 2.0 two weeks go.
It was the 2.0 upgrade that offered Instagram users the most dramatic reworking of the app’s camera feature yet. In addition to changes to the camera UI and some performance tweaks, the filters in particular were totally rewritten to enable users to preview them before snapping the photo. The team also rolled out four new filters.
While the upgrade was met with much fanfare from users, some were displeased when they tried to use the new filters and found them to be somewhat watered down compared to the filters in previous verions of the app. Blogger Owen Billcliffe wrote a highly detailed critique of the new filters, using side-by-side comparisons to show that many of them were indeed visually weakened with the upgrade to Instagram 2.0.
In this latest update, Instagram returns to the original Brannan and Earlybird filters, which appear to have been two of the most noticeably-altered of the bunch. None of the other filters appear to have been changed back to their original appearance however.
Another complaint some users had after the 2.0 upgrade was that the blur created by the tilt-shift feature was no longer as subtle as it was initially. That issue was also addressed in today’s update.
It remains unclear if other filters will be adjusted, but that probably depends on how vocal users get. Presumably, the five-person Instagram team is now focusing the bulk of their energy on their next two big projects: building a Web-based interface for the service and a much-anticipated Android app.
