Lux launches Halide Mark II app with revamped interface, more pro photography tools

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion
Lux Optics has debuted a new generation of the Halide camera app with a revamped interface, support for the iPhone 12 Pro ProRAW standard, and expanded professional photography tools.

Credit: Lux Optics
Credit: Lux Optics


Halide Mark II isn't being described as a simple app update. Instead, Lux calls it "as a whole new app" that incorporates lessons learned from the first version of Halide with technology originally developed for the Spectre app.

That includes a revamped user interface that features new gesture-based mode switchers and "reachable" controls for one-handed iPhone use. The UI has also been designed to take advantage of every pixel on an iPhone display, including the new screens on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro.

Halide's manual focus bar, for example, has additional controls, enhanced precision, and custom physics. A "Tactile Touch" mechanism automatically enables or disables features like exposure warnings as users adjust exposure or focus.

And along with the new design is a suite of new photography tools, including ones that leverage Apple's new ProRAW standard. Although only available on the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, Halide Mark II is "ProRAW ready" for the future.

Halide Mark II includes an "instant RAW" feature can instantly develop RAW files taken within an app via machine learning to get the best possible results in a short period of time. There's a new photo mode named Coverage that snaps a shot with Smart HDR and Deep Fusion, as well as an additional RAW digital negative file, so photographers have plenty of options when they're editing the file later.

Lux has also updated the Luminance and Color histograms, and introduced a third type of visualization mode called Waveform that lets users know which color channels are clipped.

One of the more prominent new features, according to the company, is a visualization tool dubbed XDR Analysis that promises to offer a full 14-bit RAW exposure and reading preview. The reviewer also gives users a full metadata read-out for image property inspection.

The app makers also announced a new pricing structure. Halide Mark II is now free-to-download and the full suite of features is available for $11.99 a year. That doesn't mean one-time pricing is leaving; Lux says users have the option to purchase it forever for $36.

Additionally, Halide Mark II is being offered for an initial promotional price of $9.99 a year, and users who nab that pricing get it forever. The developer says it expects the membership price to rise as new features are added. Existing Halide users get Halide Mark II for free, as well as a full year of member updates.

The Halide app is available to download here.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,328member
    Wonderful surprise!

    Previous owners get this update at no cost.
    gregoriusmwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 10
    omar moralesomar morales Posts: 60member
    tmay said:
    Wonderful surprise!

    Previous owners get this update at no cost.
    I had the old app and I am getting the sign up screen with restore purchase doing nothing. 🤔
    apple4lizifenapoleon_phoneapart
  • Reply 3 of 10
    fumifumi Posts: 23member
    tmay said:
    Wonderful surprise!

    Previous owners get this update at no cost.
    I had the old app and I am getting the sign up screen with restore purchase doing nothing. ߤ䦬t;/div>

    There's a bug in the new version that stops users restoring their purchase from Halide1 to get a free upgrade to Halide 2.
    Developers are aware of the issue.
    edited October 2020 gregoriusmnapoleon_phoneapartwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 10
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Seems good. Just saw an interview with the developer. He seems excited by the promise of the new cameras and RAW format. I’ve got the older app, but rarely use it. In the interview he says what I’ve been saying for some time, which is that Apple’s processing and final jpeg, and particularly the 10 bit HEIF, is better than the standard RAW they’ve been offering. Totally true. So true, that after having tried the RAW, in comparison, I stopped shooting it.

    apple’s new RAW offers so much more, it’s a breakthrough, even though it isn’t really. RAW for may, what with all the images shot, and the processing. But RAW isn’t what it used to be from the camera companies these days either. 

    But I don’t really want a subscription. It’s unclear if the “free” app updates with the sub are also going to be available for the $36 one time version. And what’s this about the price increasing every time they add features? I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t predatory pricing.
    edited October 2020
  • Reply 5 of 10
    godofbiscuitsgodofbiscuits Posts: 249member
    melgross said:

    But I don’t really want a subscription. It’s unclear if the “free” app updates with the sub are also going to be available for the $36 one time version. And what’s this about the price increasing every time they add features? I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t predatory pricing.
    When you work at your job, do you just get paid for the first year and then work for free for the rest of your life?  
    fastasleep
  • Reply 6 of 10
    djfriardjfriar Posts: 27member
    melgross said:
    But I don’t really want a subscription. It’s unclear if the “free” app updates with the sub are also going to be available for the $36 one time version. And what’s this about the price increasing every time they add features? I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t predatory pricing.
    The $36 is for new users if they don't want a sub but do want to unlock all the core features. Since you already have Halide 1, the $36 doesn't actually apply to you as you get the. core features just by updating the app. Optionally, you can sign up for a subscription to get the custom icon and some sort of new feature set yet to be announced. You can wait until there is a valid feature you want to sign up for a subscription, but if you take the leap today you will lock in a $9.99/year price.

    As for increasing the price as features get added being predatory pricing, you are kinda nuts there. Adobe Lightroom Essentials is cheaper than Lightroom Pro, and the only difference are some features. There isn't anything predatory about charging more as you add features. Nor is it predatory to add a feature that has a separate cost for it. As long as you aren't promised something for one price, then get charged anyway, it isn't predatory (or even wrong).
  • Reply 7 of 10
    citpekscitpeks Posts: 246member
    melgross said:

    But I don’t really want a subscription. It’s unclear if the “free” app updates with the sub are also going to be available for the $36 one time version. And what’s this about the price increasing every time they add features? I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t predatory pricing.

    No need to wonder, it's not.  Predatory pricing is the intent to price a product below cost to undercut competitors, drive them out of the market, then raise them again to recoup losses once a dominant market position has been achieved.

    The term has no other meaning in a business context, and does not apply to this situation.

    In fact, the developer is going in quite the opposite direction, by pricing the new version magnitudes higher than the first version, as well as most "pro" camera apps on the market, usually less than $10.  It has also pulled the first version from sale, so there is no other option.



    firelockfastasleep
  • Reply 8 of 10
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    godofbiscuits said:
    melgross said:

    But I don’t really want a subscription. It’s unclear if the “free” app updates with the sub are also going to be available for the $36 one time version. And what’s this about the price increasing every time they add features? I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t predatory pricing.
    When you work at your job, do you just get paid for the first year and then work for free for the rest of your life?  
    The way apps have worked on iOS and elsewhere for 12 years is that the developer gives updates for free. If they want more money for a major upgrade, they come out with a new app, as they’ve done here. It’s not for free. For the Mac and Windows, most app updates are also free, unless it’s major, then we can choose to get it or not. Right now, they’re being a little bit hazy as to whether they’ll continue to support the old app in any way. By that, I don’t even mean feature updates, but updates to allow it to work in future iOS devices. Additionally, the $36 is a major boost in price. I have no problem with that, but $10 a year on top of it makes it very expensive for an iOS app. And this is a subscription. What happens if you decide you don’t use it enough to pay $10 every year, but like it enough to want to keep it? Will it work after the 12 months expire? So far, we don’t really know.

    don’t compare it to a job. They’re getting sales all the time. Money is coming in. If the app is good, a lot of money comes in. If it’s not, then a little comes in, or stops. You forget that while ios apps are cheap, compared to desktop apps, developers sell far more of them than desktop apps. 

    How many people here love that both Adobe and Microsoft have their major apps as subscription? Not many. And don’t talk about how you hate one company or the other, because it isn’t relevant. This is the same thing for a vastly smaller, and simpler app.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    djfriar said:
    melgross said:
    But I don’t really want a subscription. It’s unclear if the “free” app updates with the sub are also going to be available for the $36 one time version. And what’s this about the price increasing every time they add features? I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t predatory pricing.
    The $36 is for new users if they don't want a sub but do want to unlock all the core features. Since you already have Halide 1, the $36 doesn't actually apply to you as you get the. core features just by updating the app. Optionally, you can sign up for a subscription to get the custom icon and some sort of new feature set yet to be announced. You can wait until there is a valid feature you want to sign up for a subscription, but if you take the leap today you will lock in a $9.99/year price.

    As for increasing the price as features get added being predatory pricing, you are kinda nuts there. Adobe Lightroom Essentials is cheaper than Lightroom Pro, and the only difference are some features. There isn't anything predatory about charging more as you add features. Nor is it predatory to add a feature that has a separate cost for it. As long as you aren't promised something for one price, then get charged anyway, it isn't predatory (or even wrong).
    Forget that I have the app. Most people don’t, so they won’t get the upgrade, they’ll have to pay the full $36. But it’s not the $36 that’s the problem, I dont mind that. I think a number of apps are too cheap now for what they do. I didnt mean that the initial price was predatory, I meant that the subscription is. it’s the fact that if you want to get the updates, you have to pay the $10 every year. And once you sign up for the subscription, what happens if you stop it? I’ve seen a couple of interviews, and they’ve been cagey about whether the app will function after the 12 months are up when you have the subscription. Either they haven’t decided that yet, or it won’t work, and they don’t want to say that now.

    That’s what I’m concerned about.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    citpeks said:
    melgross said:

    But I don’t really want a subscription. It’s unclear if the “free” app updates with the sub are also going to be available for the $36 one time version. And what’s this about the price increasing every time they add features? I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t predatory pricing.

    No need to wonder, it's not.  Predatory pricing is the intent to price a product below cost to undercut competitors, drive them out of the market, then raise them again to recoup losses once a dominant market position has been achieved.

    The term has no other meaning in a business context, and does not apply to this situation.

    In fact, the developer is going in quite the opposite direction, by pricing the new version magnitudes higher than the first version, as well as most "pro" camera apps on the market, usually less than $10.  It has also pulled the first version from sale, so there is no other option.



    Predatory pricing is also charging as much as you think you can, because you believe they’re no imminent completion to your product.
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