Could Photo fx from the makers of Tiffen photographic filters be the best photo enhancing app for the iPhone? Well read on and find out.

Photo fx, the low down

Launch Photo fx and after the splash screen you are presented with three options, Load Photo, Take Photo and Options.
Options: Selecting the options menu gives you the choice of setting the size of your photos when saving them after you have finished applying the filters. Also in this menu you can turn on (or off) the option to save photo's taken with the camera from with in the app, so you have the original unfiltered photo available should you need it.

Take Photo: As with all apps that offer this option, this simply takes you to the camera interface.

Load Photo: Select Load Photo and as you would expect you are taken to the iPhone Photo Album where you can select an existing photo to load and edit. Once selected, your chosen photo is loaded in to the app, where you have 26 adjustable filters at your disposal, comprising of, Black and White, Black Pro-Mist®, Center Spot, Color-Grad® , Color Spot, Day for Night, Enhancer, Fog, Glow, Halo, High Contrast, Infrared, Looks, Night Vision, Old Photo, Polarizer, Pro-Mist®, Reflector, Star, Soft/FX®, Tint, Two Strip, Three Strip, Ultra Contrast and Vignette.

To simplify things these 26 filters are organised into 5 different filter groups, Face fx, Outer fx, Fun fx, Classic fx and Wild fx. With in these groups you will find various options, from the simple slider or sliders that allow you to make adjustment to brightness etc. to presets and effect positioning. All these options depend very much on the effect being used, for example if you choose Color Grad, then not only can you adjust the colour of the graduation, but you can also adjust the horizontal position of the graduation effect, and if you choose Vignette, you can adjust the amount of vignetting applied.
If you want to apply quick and easy effects, then look no further than Looks. Found under Fun fx, here you will find 27 predefined filters/effects, yes 27 predefined filters/effects! from a grainy 8mm effect to a sunset as well as various colour and mono effects.
When you have finished tweaking and adjusting you pic, it's time to save your master piece to the camera roll, and this is done simply by tapping the floppy disk image in the bottom right hand corner of the apps screen, where you will be asked if you want to "Save the image?", select Save, and that's it you're done. If you are working in low res mode, then the save will be quick, but if you are working with full size images then the save with take a few seconds.

Photo fx in action

So just how well does Photo fx perform? Well I can tell you very very well. Unlike feedback we've seen on this blog about Darkroom! Photo fx did not crash on me once. With any app this is important, but more so on a photo editing app, as the last thing you want after spending time tweaking your photo, is to loose your work to a crash.

To push this app to its limits I applied a range of 8 effects to my test photo using the low res output settings, and then applied the same effects using high res, and at no point did I experience any problems with this app. In actual fact loading photos from the album was quick, processing the selected effect was quick and even saving the end result was quick (in low res anyway).
Above: Original photoAbove: Polarizer effectAbove: Color-Grad effectAbove: Infrared effectAbove: Black and White effect (basic)Above: Dreany effect (one of Looks presets)So what did I think?

Photo fx has such a vast range of filtration options, that this review has not really done it justice. Some of these options are tucked away under categories like Black and White, where if you go inside you will find additional filter effects like Red, Yellow and Orange, and this is common with some of the other categories. In the short time I have been using Photo fx I have been impressed, no, I've been very impressed, and in my opinion this app is well worth the price tag of £1.79 ($2.99), and I can not recommend it enough. In actual fact it is these array of options that for me makes this app stand out from all other photo apps, and I believe Tiffen has set the bar on photo manipulation/filtering apps for the iPhone with this app, but don't take my word for it, go get yourself a copy now, you won't be disappointed.

Price: £1.79 ($2.99)