The new Halide camera app launches with film looks and an upgraded photo editor
Halide Mark III adds film-style Looks, a new editor, and RAW support for imported photos from major camera brands.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
Lux Optics has released Halide Mark III for iPhone and iPad, adding five film-inspired Looks and a redesigned photo editor called Photo Lab. The app also expands support for editing RAW files from other cameras and gives longtime users a way to keep the older interface.
Halide is a camera app for iPhones and iPads. The new version adds special photo styles that can make pictures look like film, plus a stronger editor for fixing photos after they are taken.
It is a bit like giving a painter new brushes and a better workbench. Some tools are for quick changes, and others help with bigger fixes like color, cropping, and dark or bright spots.
It can also work with special photo files from other big cameras. That means the app is trying to help people both take pictures and clean them up in one place.
Analysis
What changed
Lux Optics has shipped Halide Mark III after first announcing it in December 2024. The new version focuses on two big areas: more stylized shooting with film-inspired Looks, and a more capable editing workflow.
The app adds five Looks that can be applied as photos are taken: Valencia, Rembrandt, Nova, Zephyr, and Chroma Noir. Lux says the looks were co-developed with Cullen Kelly, described in the article as a Hollywood colorist, and are tuned for different subjects such as landscapes, portraits, city scenes, and black-and-white images with added grain.
A bigger editor
Mark III also introduces Photo Lab, which the company describes as a streamlined editor. It starts with Quick Edit tools for Looks, HDR toggles, and exposure changes, then opens up more controls for cropping, aspect ratio, white balance, and a Tone Fusion tool designed to recover detail in shadows and highlights.
The update goes beyond iPhone photos. For the first time, Halide can process RAW files imported from Sony, Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm, Hasselblad, and Leica cameras. The article notes that Lux currently treats that feature as beta.
Pricing and compatibility
Halide Mark III is available now in the App Store for $59.99 as a one-time purchase or $19.99 per year through subscription. Existing Halide Mark II buyers get the upgrade for free. The app runs on iPhones with iOS 18 or later and iPads with iPadOS 18 or later.
Lux also redesigned the interface to keep core controls close at hand while moving advanced options into an iOS three-dot menu. Users who prefer the older layout can switch back to the Halide Mark II interface at any time.
Key points
- Halide Mark III adds five film-style Looks for shooting photos with a more polished style.
- The new Photo Lab editor includes quick edits plus deeper controls for crop, color, HDR, and tone recovery.
- The app can now process RAW files imported from several camera brands, though the feature is described as beta.
- Halide Mark III costs $59.99 outright or $19.99 per year, with free upgrades for Halide Mark II owners.
- Users can switch back to the Halide Mark II interface if they prefer the old layout.
