| Image: Lux Camera |
Lux Camera, the company behind the Halide camera app for iPhones, has announced Halide Mark III, the third generation of the popular app. The new version includes several upgrades and new features, including one that caught us by surprise: the ability to process Raw files from several popular camera brands.
Photo looks
According to CEO Ben Sadofsky, the company put significant effort into developing the app’s photo processing capabilities. As part of that effort, it teamed up with a Hollywood colorist to build a custom photo processing pipeline designed around the specific dynamic range and color gamut of the iPhone camera. The result is a new set of Halide Looks.
Halide Mark III ships with five: Valencia, which features saturated colors and heavier contrast, designed for landscapes and cityscapes; Rembrandt, a portrait look with extra mid-tone contrast that “emphasizes bone structure and lighting,” along with uniform skin tones; Nova, a colorful look with strong contrast and “smooth, peachy highlights,” also intended for landscapes and cityscapes; Zephyr, a more neutral look designed to mimic the subtle contrast of film with the character of a traditional print; and Chroma Noir, a black-and-white look with medium contrast.
Photos: Lux Camera
The new looks join Halide’s existing Process Zero, which bypasses the computational processing typically applied to smartphone photos, resulting in a grittier, more retro photo look.
Camera design
Sadofsky says the camera interface has been redesigned to keep the most important controls within thumb’s reach. This includes a tile in the lower right corner representing your currently selected look – inspired by the windows on film cameras that allowed you to see what film was loaded in your camera.
Other new tools include aspect ratio options to match popular camera formats: 3:2, 1:1, and a 65:24 panoramic format, plus a dynamic aspect ratio for Instagram that adjusts depending on whether you’re shooting landscape or portrait. New composition overlays add a uniform grid, the golden ratio and the rabatment of the rectangle to the existing rule-of-thirds grid.
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Halide Mark III’s new camera interface. Image: Lux Camera |
Additional controls are accessible via a three-dot “More” menu. In a nod to photographers more comfortable with the previous layout, there’s an option to revert to the Halide Mark II interface.
The Photo Lab
The updated app also includes a new Photo Lab module for reprocessing Raw files. It’s designed to let you quickly try different looks, adjust exposure, toggle HDR, and make other basic adjustments.
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The new Photo Lab module is designed to quickly try out different looks Image: Lux Camera |
Photo Lab also supports Raw files from several camera brands. Sadofsky says that during development, the team felt Halide Mark III’s output was beginning to rival their dedicated cameras, and wanted a way to bring that processing to files shot on those cameras.
The result: Halide Mark III can process Raw files from Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, Leica, and Hasselblad. The company currently classifies this as a beta feature.
Pricing and availability
Halide Mark III is available on the iOS App Store as a one-time purchase for $60, or via a $20/year subscription. Users who purchased Halide Mark II will receive a free upgrade.