Mac Creative > All Reviews > Software > Creativity > Consumer creative software > XnView Retro review

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 XnView Retro review

Bring retro effects to your photography with XnView Retro

Duncan Evans

Manufacturer: Pierre Raybaut
Manufacturer: Pierre Raybaut
Pros: Some good border effects and the light leaks are striking, the retro toning effects are well done, the app is dirt cheap and easy to use
Cons: Interface is a little bland, the light leaks and retro effects lack any kind of control or variation making them very repetitive very quickly, not quite up there with the other cheap retro packages
Price: 69p
We rate this 3 out of 5.Star rating:

Everyone loves a retro app but if you’re approaching this market now you either have to offer something really new or make your apps as cheap as possible.

That’s the route that Xn View Retro has taken, offering 12 colour effects, 11 light leak effects, 19 borders and frames, contrast and brightness adjustment, vignetting and parameters to adjust, all for £0.69. Mind you, paying attention to the little details would be appreciated, starting with being able to rotate an image once loaded. Unfortunately you can’t. Instead, click on Retro, Light or Frame to add those effects and use Brightness, Contrast, Exposure, Saturation, Colour Balance and Vignetting to add over-riding global adjustments.

There’s also a tick box to make the photo square, which simply crops the long sides off. The frames cover the usual formats and are nicely done and while the light leaks are equally as striking, they lack variety and opacity control. So, many won’t suit the image and they start to look very repetitive very quickly with no randomising element.

The colour retro effects are nicely done, but possibly could be better while the general adjustments are just that, general without any precise control.

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