‘Pixelmator‘ and ‘Pixelmator Photo‘ are two different apps from the same company. Previously Pixelmator Photo was only on the iPad.
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Pixelmator Photo Now Available on iPhone
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What icon are you seeing?
They are separate apps. The one on the right is ‘Pixelmator Photo’ which is only now available on the iPhone.
You don’t - just go through the motions and you’ll get a pop up saying you’re not charged.
Nope. It’s good, but it’s not lightroom.
Yep.
Wow. Broke now after 3.49? Anyway. You obviously hadn’t previously bought the iPad version of Pixelmator Photo. If you did then contact Apple because it’s not a separate purchase.
Probably a different version. This is pixelmator photo and until today was only available on the iPad. Not to be confused with pixelmator pro.
What’s the difference between the Pixelmator and Pixelmator Photo app?
The two biggest differences I’ve noted are the library integration and local adjustments. Lightroom uses its own library separate from the Photos app - you can import from and export to the Photos app but otherwise the two libraries are separate. I personally prefer to have my raw files from my camera separate from my library of phone photos, so this works in my favor but others might prefer to have everything in the Photos app.
Local adjustments seem to be the big missing feature in Pixelmator. Lightroom has a pretty sophisticated local adjustment toolset, and it just got a recent upgrade with really impressive subject and sky isolation. I really like using my Apple Pencil to paint adjustment areas in Lightroom on my iPad.
It’s a similar difference that exists between lightroom and Photoshop - they’re for different things really.
Since I already own Pixelmator, I followed the advice given on this thread and tried to go through the buying process. No pop-up happened for me and I was charged $3.99. Oh well, I am sure it is good app, but be forewarned...it may not be a free upgrade as advertised above!
Unless you own pixelmator PHOTO, on the iPad, then you’re talking about a different app.
Just bought it - the ML is really good at color correction- had a picture in poor light of a pink glitter wall that looked brown / yellow- it totally nailed the correction!!! ( picture taken on iPhone 12 Pro Max)
Also the “Super resolution “ is working REALLY well !! ( the picture is a 1000x zoom on a picture of a mushroom - iPhone 12 Pro Max )
Also the “Super resolution “ is working REALLY well !! ( the picture is a 1000x zoom on a picture of a mushroom - iPhone 12 Pro Max )
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So there is Pixelmator and Pixelmator Photo: Pro Editor which is cheaper. Whats the difference? You would think Pro Editor would contain everything, but its cheaper.
Pixelmator : Photoshop :: Pixelmator Photo : Lightroom
What? How is that in reply to my question? My question was the difference between the 2 apps.
A very good app is now on iPhone. Many new users will now be purchasing it.
That is the difference between the two apps. One is an app similar to lightroom. The other is similar to Photoshop.
Most people who are interested in these types of apps understand these basic differences between the equivalent industry standard apps from Adobe.
If you do not, then:
Lightroom/pixelmator photo: raw editor, DAM.
Photoshop/pixelmator pro: layers based image and graphics creation and image manipulation etc
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I think it has to do with it being a different version of the app as opposed to an updated version? Shazam had this issue before with their free & paid versions, and then later renamed one ‘Encore’ that ended up getting lumped into the free version. But in their case I think there’s technically still two versions of Shazam (I have two in my list of purchased apps). I think Devs have more options now in regards to merging apps and things like that.
I’m surprised then that if this detection is possible, that they can’t work it so that a developer can release a brand new version of an app and make it, say, $9.99 to buy, but if it detects a previous version then it’s only $1.99 to “upgrade”.
As others have said, Pixelmator Photo is more comparable to apps like Lightroom, Luminar, CaptureOne, DxO Photolab, etc. It’s focus is on raw development, imaging cataloging. Most have powerful adjustment features like exposure, contrast, highlight/shadow recovery, noise reduction, lens distortion correction, etc, but only have basic editing features like red-eye removal and healing brush tools. These programs are geared almost exclusively towards digital photography as opposed to digital art in general.
Pixelmator Pro is more akin to Photoshop or Affinity Photo. These programs tend to be more focused on one image at a time and their offerings focus more on image editing and creation tools rather than photography adjustments. These include layers, effect and distortion filters, more advanced text and vector drawing tools, painting tools, and such. The tools offered extend to full on digital content creation, not just photography. The down side is that their raw development tools might not be as advanced as an app like Lightroom.
Most users will use both apps in conjunction with one another. For example most users will start in Lightroom or a similar app to catalog images, do the initial raw processing and adjustments. Often they can do everything they need in Lightroom and not need to send the image to Photoshop for further processing, but if they want to go further from there they can send the developed raw file to Photoshop to edit more extensively. A similar workflow would exist between Pixelmator Photo and Pixelmator Pro.