Testing photo editing apps: "Darkroom for iOS”

"Darkroom – Photo Editor" is available free of charge for iOS - for the iPhone and the iPad. With 12 filters, the free version offers relatively few editing options for users. A one-time fee of € 10.99 is charged to unlock all filters and additional tools. However, both the filters and the premium tools can be booked separately for € 8.99 - but this is not worthwhile because of the small difference to the complete price.

In addition to the pre-programmed filters, the app can especially score with the many tools for color correction and optimization. The standard tools for changes regarding the brightness or saturation of an image are joined by the fade effect or the vignette, for example. In addition, the perspectives can be adjusted, which can give the photos a completely new look.

Darkroom manufacturer Bergen Co. updated the app earlier this year with major under-the-hood-performance improvements ­– including a rebuilt depth engine, RAW editing and zoom improvements. With the newly added features, users are able to for instance sport check small regions of their images efficiently. The interface also became more responsive and does not slow down as it did when we last tested it.

As mentioned at the beginning, the choice of the free version is quite limited. But for photo professionals, the paid version is relatively cheap and offers a larger selection of filters as well as a high-quality color and curve tool.

 

Top 3 Pros:

- Paid version offers great editing tools

- Clear user interface

- No advertising in the free version

 

Top 3 cons:

- Only 46 filters in the pro version

- Tool for the determination of the location of the recording partly works inaccurately

- App crashes on the iPhone sometimes

 

Price: free App for iOS, Full version for iOS: € 10.99

Manufacturer: Bergen Co.