LensLight
Version 1.0
Price: $0.99
Bottom Line: The light leaks alone are worth a dollar and there are many more great effects here that make this app a worthwhile purchase.
LensLight is the newest app from BrainFeverMedia for adding a variety of light effects to your photos. It uses the same UI and engine that’s in their previous app, LensFlare, which means that the kinks have already been worked out for this very slick, very stable 1.0 release.
LensLight is not a replacement for LensFlare. Both apps complement each other. While combining the features of both would make one killer lens app, having both lets iPhoneographers add or augment cool lens effects that aren’t in the original image.
LensLight features a variety of lens light effects including light Leaks, bokeh, spot lights, and surface glare. There are even a few lens flare effects added in. There are some crossover effects, but not many, including a few similar (not identical) spikes and streaks. LensLight is more about external light effects than its sibling.
Effects are previewed in real time. The ability to easily position and zoom effects adds nicely to the versatility of both apps. For instance, there are 8 base light leak effects which vary by shape, position in the frame, and color. But the ability to move and zoom all of the effects makes for infinite variations. There are other apps that apply “random” light leaks, but not with the variations that are possible with LensLight.
All lighting effect render extremely well. If you don’t go crazy with them, they look very natural. You can also render effects in app to apply multiple light effects.
Tip from the Developer: When adding multiple flares, lower the brightness of each one since the total brightness adds up.
Fewer of the effects have the really cool aberrations which which change relative to the light source position like they do in LensFlare, which is missed here and a really cool effect of the other app. Not all of the spots behave the same. The three “spot effects” all aim for the center of the photo, creating great variation and subtle aberrations. The cones and rays, though, are overlays that don’t change as your reposition them.
Of the new effects in LensLight, the ones I like the best are the spots, the excellent light leaks, and the bokeh effects. The two new Chroma effects are gorgeous and much better than the chroma effect in LensFlare. And Hysterium-X is a great-looking lens flare on steroids. It reminds me of the lens flares in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie.
Because of its rendering engine, LensLight (and LensFlare) save to a maximum of 2048 x 2048 pixels on an iPhone 4 and 1024 x 1024 on older devices. The 2048 resolution is not full, but definitely usable. Owners of older iPhones may not like the lower 1 MP resolution on thier devices, though. I rated the app based on the performance on my iPhone 4.
Not all photographers like lens flares, which should make LensLight more appealing. There are plenty of other, great light effects here.
While the app has some effects that are much less usable than others, for a dollar there’s still plenty of great stuff here. The light leaks alone are worth a dollar and there are many more great effects here that make this app a worthwhile purchase.
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. It’s old iPhone friendly and runs in iOS 3.2 or later.
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