While Instagram’s soaring popularity would have you believe it’s God’s gift to photography, there are plenty of other options available for iOS. Narrowing that ever-increasing list down to something truly great — especially for the iPad — is another story entirely.
Available in three flavors for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, or iPad, MacPhun’s FX Photo Studio has long been one of the better choices available. With support for iOS 6, iPad mini and Retina Display, in one fell swoop FX Photo Studio HD 5.0 breathes new life into one of the most powerful methods for editing photos you’ll find on the iPad.
The landscape-only UI makes great use of the tablet display, with tools across the top; when one is in use, additional options appear at bottom. With an almost overwhelming number of 194 effects included, users can search by category or see them all at once from a menu at right; tapping on the star next to each effect saves it to a Favorites tab for quick access later on.
Our biggest complaint with most iOS image editing apps is they tend to get in the way when we’re in a hurry. This isn’t a problem here, with the increased performance and better image processing of FX Photo Studio HD 5.0 apparent after only a few minutes of use.
Novice or pro, photo editors can also mix effects and create their own unique combinations, applying filters to entire images or only specific areas thanks to the app’s powerful masking features. Text labels also make it simple to add watermarks, word balloons or signatures to your masterpieces.
FX Photo Studio HD is also no slouch when it comes to sharing, as long as you don’t need to sync images to a cloud storage service (there’s no Dropbox or iCloud sync). In addition to saving images to your Camera Roll, a built-in documents folder or clipboard, photos can be printed or sent via email or one of five social networks. Users can also send full-color 4x6 postcards anywhere in the world starting at 99 cents each with a free Sincerely account.
While the app itself is user-friendly, MacPhun indulges in a couple of unwelcome App Store tricks here. The decision to separate iPhone/iPod touch and iPad versions appears motivated more by finance than engineering, for example. In addition to the included effects, another 58 options are available with five different in-app purchases, adding another five bucks to the overall purchase price for many users.
The bottom line. Although we’re not fans of paying twice to have the same app on our iPhone and iPad and we typically frown on in-app purchases, FX Photo Studio HD offers more than enough value to overlook such limitations. It’s fast and loaded with so many great features and effects, you’ll never want to send a plain, boring photo ever again.
of 6
iPad running iOS 5.0 or later
Clean, well-designed user interface. Loaded with easy, one-tap “looks” for instant photo gratification. Super-fast, full-resolution image processing on third-generation iPad. Wide variety of sharing options.
$5 worth of in-app purchases needed to unlock all filters. Separate purchase required for iPhone/iPod touch version. No built-in cloud storage options.
