MIX is an Android app from the creators of the Camera360 app that’s all about filters for your photos. However, unlike apps such as Instagram and co, MIX is all about the science of the perfect photo filter. It’s a place to share your photos with other users interested in filters and great photography all around. There are 40+ different textures, 10+ professional adjustment tools and well over 100 different filters. More than just filters however, MIX offers dSLR-like depth-of-field and all sorts of other tools in a professional-feeling app to make sure you do your photo justice, rather than turn it into something completely different. You can share both the original and tweaked photo through MIX and offer your recipe to other users to try out for themselves. Read on to see what we thought of the app.
To get started with MIX, you’ll need to download it from the Play Store, and then you’ll be introduced to some key features of the app.
From here, you’re given two choices; to edit a photo or head to the Filter Plaza, a place that showcases excellent photos and filter recipes from users all over the world. I want to change a photo I took last winter, so I’m going to choose to edit a photo.
You can choose from anywhere on your device, so long as the photo is actually on your device.
I’ve chosen to touch up this neat little winter scene I took last Christmas.
You can go through and adjust things with simple sliders, like the aperture for instance, or the exposure, shadows and that sort of thing. I’ve made a few adjustments here.
After taking a look at all the brilliant filters – of which there are well over a hundred – I decide on one of the sky filters, and I tweaked the amount and applied it.
I can then share this image and get a look at the before and after. Clearly, I have made a big change, but I’m happy with the results. I’ve given the water more depth by adding more shadow and the filter helps bring a lot of warmth to the scene and looks like a perfect summer’s evening, even though I took it over Christmas.
If you sign up for an account, you can share your filter formula and image with others online, along with a name, category for your images and some comments.
This will then end up in the Filter Plaza, where I found excellent photos like these. Here you can see the before and after shot side by side. Tapping on the image will reveal the original.
The before image is on the left. As we can see, there are some great changes made here, and you can download this filter to use whenever you like or just study his changes.
I really took to MIX, I didn’t think that I would because I’m generally not keen on filters. However, the way that MIX handles them makes me feel like I’m dealing with a photo editor, rather than a simple filter app. The adjustments you make are all easily applied and you can change all sorts of different things. Regardless of whether you’re trying to create a different image or make subtle adjustments like I am, MIX basically does it all. The Filter Plaza is my new favorite thing as well, seeing what people have done with already very good photos is fascinating and it makes the use of filters and adjustments more of a science than a pot luck sort of thing. Overall, I’m very impressed with MIX, and I can see myself spending a lot more time with it in the future.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – Everything runs nice and speedily in MIX, making it easier to make something quickly.
- Features (5/5) – With over a hundred excellent filters, lots of fine adjustments and more all available at your fingertips, there’s a lot to like about MIX, and the Filter Plaza is a great way of sharing your images with others that genuinely care about photography.
- Theme (4/5) – The selection of filters and user interface all look good and the app feels more like a professional photo editor than it does anything else.
- Overall (4/5) – As apps that add filters to photos go, MIX is one of the less intrusive, more professional apps I’ve come across. It’s more about making sure that the photos you’ve taken are shown off to their best and you make the most of that memory.
Pros
- With over 100 filters, 10 professional adjustments and over 40 different textures there’s more than enough on offer here.
- Filter Plaza makes it fun to connect with other budding photographers and you could definitely learn something about the adjustments they make and the filters they choose.
- User interface looks good and is easy to use, with a professional look and feel.
- Saves an HD copy to your photo album without touching the original file and it’s easy to share to Facebook and Twitter.
Cons
- Reversing the effects of one filter isn’t all that easy and forces you to remove all filter changes.
- Filter Plaza has to approve your images before they are shown to others, which is nice, but I can’t help feeling many photos get through just to show off the filters and such.
All-in-all, MIX is an excellent app that I’m sure many budding photographers will come to love. It’s easy to use, has a professional look and feel to it and there’s no reason why you wouldn’t want to try this sort of thing. Especially if you’re fed up of throwaway filters and are interested in what others do with their images. The Filter Plaza is great for seeing what you can do with a photo and it’s a near-infinite source of filters, too.