InstaCRT app snaps a picture of your picture

Is this the "world's first real world camera filter"?

In the category of eccentrically unneccesary photography apps, we've not seen another quite as unusual as InstaCRT.

Here's the gist: For $1.99, iOS users can take a picture or upload a picture already in their Camera Roll, tap the "share" button to send and display the image on an old-school CRT screen somewhere in Stockholm, Sweden, where a DSLR camera captures a photo of that screen.

The latest version of the app includes a Full Color mode that separates your original photo into three greyscale photos of the Red, Green and Blue channels. These are then shown, one-by-one, on the CRT in Stockholm and re-combined to create a final color image which is sent back to your mobile device.

The app's developers claim it's the "world's first real world camera filter."

The whole process takes less than a minute, and you get a pixelated, black and white -- or "full color" in the newest version of the app -- rendition of your original image that definitely looks like a picture taken off an old television screen. The color version does take a bit longer to process -- more around the 60-second mark vs. the 25 seconds required for the black and white version. A copy is saved to your Camera Roll, and you have the option to share it via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or email.

We experimented with a shot of the Seattle skyline. 

Our original iPhone 5 image ...

... transformed by InstaCRT.

InstaCRT's color version.

Watch the video to learn even more about InstaCRT: