Popular iPhone camera app Halide just introduced a new feature in its latest update. With Process Zero, your photos will no longer use computational photography, artificial intelligence, or machine learning—you’ll just get a beautiful, film-like natural photo.
Interestingly enough, this announcement comes a day after the Made By Google event, where the company highlighted more ways to use AI in photos, so you can tweak almost anything in every shot you take with artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, Halide’s new feature turns your iPhone into a classic camera. The developers say this mode “produces photos with more detail and allows the photographer greater control over lighting and exposure,” as it develops photos at the raw, sensor-data level instead of applying a filter.
To make the process even more realistic, Process Zero photos come with digital negatives, giving users control over exposure after the fact. Halide says this camera mode works best in the daytime or with mixed lighting rather than at night.
Lastly, this new feature is available to every iPhone that runs Halide on iOS 17, which means you don’t need an iPhone 15 Pro Max to take advantage of it. The developers say Process Zero is a new choice in addition to the standard iPhone photo processing system in Halide, so users can choose between the best shots depending on the situation.
In a blog post, Halide developers explain that this feature was created because users want “control over algorithms.” Instead of taking several shots to create an image, Process Zero offers a single-shot process. This is why, if parts of your image aren’t properly exposed, the app doesn’t have any algorithms to fix that.
According to the developers, Process Zero results in a single 12-megapixel shot that is less saturated, softer, grainier, and quite different from what people see on most digital phones. Each shot also includes a true Bayer RAW file.
For the rest of this week, Halide is offering memberships for $11.99 per year. Prices will go up to $19.99 next week. You can find it on the App Store here.
