Camera apps are plentiful on the App Store, but one that consistently rises above the din of the crowd is Instagram, one of many free options for making your pictures look retro (dare we say “hipster”?) with the touch of a button -- and now, thanks to a new version pushed out on Tuesday, you can now filter your photos before you even take them.

Burbn, Inc. has released Instagram 2.0, the latest and greatest version yet of the popular (and free!) photo sharing app which makes it even easier to “go retro.” Featuring a completely revamped camera experience for iOS 4.21 and above, users can now instantly apply a filter, even before the photo is taken -- with a live preview of exactly what you’ll be getting.

According to a detailed look at the new version on TechCrunch, Instagram 2.0’s filters now “perform over 200 times faster,” which is the magic that allows instant live filters and live tilt-shift in the latest edition.

“To be clear, with Instagram 2.0, you can still filter after a picture is taken as well,” TechCrunch explains. “If you don’t click on the eye icon, you won’t see the filtering option until after you’ve taken the picture -- just like the old days. But what’s really cool is that even if you filter an image before you take the picture, you can change your mind after you take it, and switch the filter.”

Those instantly filtered images also get saved in high resolution to your camera roll, as does everything else you do in the app -- no more 612x612 images, everything is saved at 1936x1936 to take advantage of the iPhone 4’s higher resolution camera.

The latest version also adds four new filters (Amaro, Rise, Hudson and Valencia) as well as the ability to turn borders on or off and even rotate a photo after taking it. Better support for viewing feeds with many comments and faster load time for feeds are also on deck, with a new icon topping off the pretty substantial update. Sadly, there’s still no Instagram love for the iPad 2 or even Android devices -- but we’ll keep holding out hope, maybe for version 3.0.

Instagram 2.0 is available now from the App Store as a free download; the app is compatible with all devices running iOS 3.1.2 or later, with the new instant features requiring iOS 4.2.1 or higher.

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