The developers of Halide and Spectre ‘s powerful iPhone camera apps have announced their latest project: Halide Mark II. This is an all-new photography app for iPhones that takes Halide and Spectre technology and integrates it with its own collection of new features.
A completely new interface integrating powerful features with intuitive gestures and a focus on ease of use is included in Halide Mark II. Plus, for those who paid for version 1. of Halide, it is free.
One of the Halide Mark II’s tentpole features is a new coverage feature that allows users to take photos with Deep Fusion and Smart HDR processing features from Apple, while also taking a RAW image in case you want to perform more post-processing:
Mark II is the first camera to capture both classic RAWs and computational photos in one burst with a feature we call Coverage. Now you can take amazing photos that leverage all the advanced photography of the latest iPhones, while having a RAW in your back pocket in case you think you can do better.
We built Coverage through software-based bracketing, which unfortunately leaves a split-second delay between the RAW and processed images. Since this might confuse casual photographers, we leave Coverage off by default. You can enable it in “Capture Settings.”
Halide Mark II also adds a new feature called Instant RAW, which makes it easier to edit the correct levels of RAW images. A 17-step process is used by Instant RAW to develop the file intelligently. “For various iPhones, it’s optimized differently; it improves detail and color; and it’s neutral, above all,” Halide says.
Instant RAW can work as a midpoint between a completely unedited RAW and a totally processed JPEG. In a world where the-built in camera has its own filters, Instant RAW is a “No Filter” module. You are free to use and share the result directly, or use it as a starting point for editing, just like ProRAW.
The announcement of Halide Mark II with new RAW features comes after Apple revealed its iPhone 12 Pro image ProRAW format. The Halide developers say they are “really excited” about what they’ve learned so far about ProRAW, and that they’re going to “embrace it as soon as it’s available.” However, in the meantime, Halide Mark II gives all iPhone users RAW support.
Elsewhere, Halide Mark II provides new tools to assist with focus and exposure, as well as Waveform ‘s revolutionary addition, which scans the image horizontally to display which color channels are clipped. A new Zebra Stripes tool is also available to show when parts of your images are clipped or below a certain noise threshold.
Finally, a new XDR Analysis feature is included in Halide Mark II, making it the “first and only camera app that visualizes the full 14-bit RAW data in real time.”
Up to now, every image visualization tool you’ve used, on every camera, has lied. You think that the data you see in the image represents what will recaptured by your camera. In fact, every camera shows you post-processed, 8-bit result. They’re close, but if you’re trying to get the absolute best results, close doesn’t cut it.
The zebras, waveform, and histogram data are based on the actual sensor data when RAW Streaming is allowed, Halide explains.
We’re not going to lie, this took a lot of shenanigans to get working. For performance and battery life, we only enable RAW streaming when interactively adjusting ISO or shutter speed. You’ll notice the moment it engages, as your exposure tools will suddenly shift to reveal the honest truth.
In Halide Mark II, on the Halide website, you will get the full details of all that is new. There are a lot of great changes and features.
For a $9.99 per year subscription, Halide Mark II is available on the App Store, or you can buy it as a $29.99 one-time purchase.
When you become a member of Halide, you will get benefits, such as exclusive icons, above and above the core Halide experience. After launch, the yearly subscription price will rise to $11.99, while the one-time purchase price will rise to $36.
Notably, someone who has already paid for Halide 1 receives both a year of updates and Mark II for free. The price for new members will increase as new features are introduced, but existing members will remain locked-in at whatever price they have started.
After 18 months of work, we're excited to launch Halide Mark II.
— Halide (@halidecamera) October 22, 2020
Not just Halide's biggest update yet, but a whole new app.
If you're an existing user, this all-new app is... free. What?! Yep. Keep reading:https://t.co/9ul5384wyp pic.twitter.com/MMPEHKpcHV
