I like “gadget” apps – utility photo apps that are inexpensive, but do one or two things very well without the clutter of a full-blown image editor. Crop Suey by cbh_mobile is a perfect example of this type of app – in, edit, save, fast.
White Balancer by 1stfancy Studio is a “quick and easy” white balance adjusting app. It claims to be the fastest, most accurate white balance adjusting app in the App Store. Instead, it’s pretty cranky, inaccurate and frustrating.
White balance (WB) is the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo. Read more on Cambridge in Colour.
I used PhotoForge (original) as a comparison. I think the original PhotoForge has one of the best auto white balance tools available. Compared to both the original and PhotoForge processed images, White Balancer made moves that were way too warm for my eye. It added a lot of red and yellow when it even worked at all.
The interface is easy, but the app is sticky and buggy. The Confirm (Save) button is sticky and I unknowingly saved seven copies of an image before the app crashed.
The latest update, White Balancer 1.1, now supports full resolution images on an iPhone 4 – a big improvement over the original 800×600 px maximum resolution. But I don’t recommend the app. For a time-saving utility, it’s awfully slow to use and frustrating. You’ll also need to run another white balance app to repair the color casts that this app adds or doesn’t fix. Why bother?
White Balancer is $1.99 in the App Store. Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.1 or later.
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Original image
Processed with White Balancer
Processed with PhotoForge
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