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Photo Mate R3 brings improved Raw editing on Android

Lars Rehm | Published: Feb 1, 2016 at 20:02 UTC

Photo Mate, arguably the most comprehensive Raw image editing app for Android, has received a substantial update. Version R3 comes with an all-new rendering engine for both Raw & JPEG editing. This includes improvements to all the important adjustments, such as contrast, shadows, highlights and exposure. With the engine overhaul comes a redesigned user interface, including new gestures for resetting edits, displaying current values and the option to toggle individual editing groups on or off. The latter allows you to better visualize the effect of those editing groups on the image result.

New editing features include Split-Toning, a selective sharpening tool and a new watermark function that lets you create watermarks using text, png-files and some Exif-data. It's now also possible to create several virtual copies of an image and edit them separately. This allows you to compare the results of the different editing processes and pick your favorite. In addition, version R3 brings 50 new lens profiles and Italian and French language support. The latter is still in beta status.

Photo Mate R3 is now available for $8.09 for new users in the Google Play Store. Users of the previous version R2 can purchase an upgrade at a reduced rate, depending on when you first bought the app. More information on the update is available on the Photo Mate website or in the video below. You can also read our full review of the previous version R2 to get a better idea of how the app works.

@larsrehm

Comments

Total comments: 8

For non-critical work have found Photo Mate R2 more useful in the field on a reasonably accurate Android tablet display (a Lenovo in my case) than Lightroom on a similar sized calibrated Windows tablet.

I expected the Lenovo/R2 combo to die by the wayside after buying the Windows machine but not so; Lr is great on a "proper" PC but Photo Mate is far more user friendly on a 10" tablet.

I'll be looking a R3 in due course, and I don't expect I'll be disappointed.

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every raw editing software should be accompanied with a key mapping feature, if the feature is missing the software is useless for pro work.

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Looks good.

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I respectfully disagree with FastGlassLover -I don't need calibration on tablets, but I definitely appreciate being able to use the full scale range of my raw files, rather than jpegs, and this on the field, with just the cam and a tablet 10 times lighter than a PC.
That's different, but definitely worth, specially given the cost.

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PPing on a non-calibrated viewing device serves only your viewing pleasure and *will * fail you for printing or when viewed by others on devices other than your own. Unless of course you have low standards and don't care for accuracy, then hey, rock on and screw your images up in ways you aren't even aware of! :)

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When you can calubrate your android phone's screen (isnthere an option I don't knownof?), raw converters on phones could be useful. Until then, it is a waste of time and money.

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As the developer, I can tell you, there are actually hardware-based solutions like from X-Rite. However, there is no System-Wide calibration, which means every app needs to integrate it. However, we disagree with their sdk-policies which unfortunately makes it impossible.
R3 still offers a manual display calibration, though.

Regards Torsten

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That still adds up to no guarantee of reasonable accuracy, which continues to restrict mobile raw conversion to casual use. Not something I would trust to printing, and nobody on my Instagram feed is going to care about my accurate skintones or well handled shadows.

This is no criticism of your product, just pointing out it has no solid ground to stand on currently. And sadly. Until there is decent hardware calibration for mobile devices, mobile raw conversion will continue to be disregarded by photographers of even modest standards. I hope that changes. I would love to beam raws to my android phone, convert and share them with confidence.

If I can not trust accurate results, I can continue to use my in camera raw conversion for modest images when I am impatient. Bring the hardware based accuracy, and then I will be interested.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

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Total comments: 8

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