iPhone App Review: FilterFX for Free

I'm not a fan of the free apps from developer "Free the Apps!", but maybe this one could be different!!

Description from the AppStore: Filter FX is an application that allows the user to enhance their photos using different filter effects. You will love this app if you like using the filters on photoshop, lightroom, camerabag, etc.

Want to give those shots a little more spunk? Try the vivid filter. Get the airbrush effect of those portrait photos by using the soften filter. Go old school with the vintage filter. Its like having photoshop in your pocket! Make studio quality pictures from your iPhone camera!

The App

Launch the app and after the VERY VERY annoying intro sound and splash screen you are presented with a very simple and pleasant app screen with a "Choose Picture" button in the centre. Tap this and you are taken to your Photo Albums to choose a photo to load. After loading your photo you will see across the top of the screen , the second annoying feature of this app, and that is a small ad banner (this is the same on all their apps). Across the bottom of the screen however you will see 5 icons:

• Images - tap this to load a new photo
• Undo - as the name suggests this undoes the filter effect applied
• Filter - this load the filter selection menu
• Save - does what it says
• Free Apps! - more advertising

Once you have loaded your photo you can choose and apply one of the 9 filters listed below, and then either undo to apply a different filter or just save, and that's it.

1. Vivid
2. Cool
3. Warm
4. Vignette Black
5. Vignette White
6. Black & White
7. Sepia
8. Vintage
9. Soften

What do I think of this FREE app?

If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you will know I do not like these "Free the Apps!" apps, but for a change I am quite impressed. OK, I hate the ads and annoying start-up sounds, but get past these and the end results are not bad at all, and on my iPhone 3G the photos are saved at full resolution, something that some of the more recent paid for apps can not achieve!!

Above: The original photo with no filters appliedAbove: The same photo shown with the 9 different FilterFX effects appliedFinal word

If you haven't got a filter effects app for you iPhone, and you don't mind the above mentioned annoyances, then this app is worth a look and gets my thumbs up.

AppStore Link: FilterFX for Free

Comments

[Jim C]

I like the fact that this app - and the free HDR app - allow you to see preview thumbnails before actually applying the filter.

Re: the ads. They could watermark your photos. Just a thought.

-Jim

[Paul Miller]

I can't help but notice there is a lot of noise on some of the filters. Don't know if that was caused by the upload/compression or the app, but it's distracting.

Looks like a blatant rip-off of Photo fx or Cool fx, but with 1/100th the number of filters and no parameters.