Illumination Video vs Dark Studio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Illumination Video
Transform your photos into dazzling illumination videos with customizable lighting effects. Easily import images from your camera, camera roll, or other apps. Share your creations as videos or still images on social media.
- Automatic photo to illumination video conversion
- Customizable illumination types and effects
- Adjustable lighting interval, size, and background darkness
- Import photos from camera, camera roll, or web
- Output as video or still images
- Share directly to social media
Read full descriptionHide full description
● You can automatically convert your favorite photos to 'beautiful shining' illumination videos. ● You can freely edit the type of illumination, lighting interval, size, darkness of the background, etc. ● Please use it during the Christmas season, winter season, and the year-end and New Year holidays. It supports output to video and still images and sharing on SNS. Not only photos saved on your smartphone, but also photos taken with a camera are supported. An uninteresting and monotonous photo can be transformed into a fresh one just by adding an illumination effect. [Material] - Camera shooting: Photograph - Camera roll: Import photos - Image paste: Copy and paste web images, etc. - File sharing: Import images from other apps [Settings] - Types of illumination -Outlines strength (reflected in automatic illumination addition) - density - size - Angle of light - Duration - Darkness of the background - Video length - Saved resolution: 20-100% of the original resolution [output] - Save to camera roll: videos, photos - Sharing videos and photos: AirDrop, LINE, Facebook, Dropbox, Instagram, ...
Dark Studio
This app offers a vast collection of dark and color filters for photos and videos. Enhance your media with tinted glass effects, saturation correction, and unique gradients. Create personalized filters and export in high resolution with a premium subscription.
- Extensive dark and color filter library
- Saturation correction for time/weather changes
- Customizable filter creation and saving
- High-resolution video export (up to 4K)
- Duotone and glow effects
- Pixelation and movement effects
Read full descriptionHide full description
Explore the largest collection of dark filters. Access a unique library of color filters right on your device. Add a tinted glass effect by setting bright colors. Experiment with multi-colored blanks. Saturation correction allows you to completely change the time of day, temperature, or weather in your photo. Choose from a dozen blue effects to achieve twilight or cloudy weather. Choose a sunny orange preset to make your video look like it was shot at sunset or golden hour. The application contains both natural colors that perfectly imitate cloudy weather, a sandstorm and even the underwater world, and neon gradients that will replace the colors in your photos with ultraviolet or sci-fi disco, illuminate light bulbs with a different color or change the color of the moon. Use for photos and videos. Easily process high-quality media content. With a premium subscription, you can export your video masterpieces in their original format, up to 4K resolution. Apply duotone effect to make your video unique and create a retro graphic design. Immerse yourself in a dark atmosphere, like a dark room, with colored lights. Great for night shots. Create your own unique style. Extensive settings allow you to create personalized filters and remember your own collection, adding custom filters to your favorites to use your original colors in any other project. Imagine using sunglasses, become a master of customization, creating unusual dark filters, set any colors, without restrictions. Use the built-in effects, glow - blurs the bright elements in the image to get a fade, like a film camera. Pixelation, movement in a photo or zoom, to give the effect of speed. https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Dark Studio at Free against Illumination Video's $0.99. Dark Studio also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 20 months). Illumination Video's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On review sentiment, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Dark Studio is free to download; Illumination Video costs $0.99 up front. Dark Studio sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Illumination Video asks for nothing beyond the download.
Illumination Video ships an update every 20 months, Dark Studio every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Illumination Video | Dark Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | — | 4.9 (11 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 11 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 20 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Freemium — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 35 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Masanori Katsuta | Anatoly Lapshin |
Customer experience
Illumination Video
Dark Studio
In-app purchases
Illumination Video
No in-app purchases
Dark Studio
- 1-month Premium Access$4.991 Month
- 1-year Premium Access$19.991 Year
- Premium Access3 Days trial$24.991 Year
Questions
Is Illumination Video free?
Is Dark Studio free?
Do Illumination Video or Dark Studio have ads?
Which is updated more often, Illumination Video or Dark Studio?
Other comparisons















