LUT Lab vs Obscura
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LUT Lab
Visualize, apply, and export LUTs for photos and videos. This tool supports common formats like .CUBE and HALD, offering a split viewer for before/after comparisons and conversion between formats. It's designed for photographers and videographers seeking a powerful color grading companion.
- Interactive 3D LUT visualizer
- Before/After split viewer
- Export to .CUBE and HALD formats
- Convert between .CUBE and HALD
- Supports drag & drop and keyboard shortcuts
- Minimal interface with multiple color themes
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A LUT (Look Up Table) is a simple file that lets you change the colors, tone, and contrast of photos/videos - like a universal color preset, compatible between different apps. LUT Lab is a handy tool that lets you visualize LUTs, use them to process any photo of your choice, and export to/from the most common LUT formats: .CUBE and HALD. It is a nifty companion tool for photographers and videographers, featuring: - Minimal and information dense interface - Full, interactive 3D cube visualizer - Before/After photo split viewer; load your own photos, export a LUT-processed version at native resolution. - Support for .CUBE (any size on input, up to 65×65×65 export) and HALD (TIFF/PNG, any rank) formats - Convert from .CUBE to HALD and from HALD to .CUBE; optionally resample .CUBE files for maximum compatibility with other apps - Supports desktop class features on iPad + Mac: multiple windows, drag & drop, keyboard shortcuts, open .CUBE files into LUT Lab straight from Finder/Files, etc. - Multiple color themes (one time in-app purchase required) - Extremely small app size: tons of functionality packed into only a couple megabytes. - Respects your privacy: no 3rd party libraries or tracking. Uses the latest iOS APIs so you only have to give minimal permissions for loading & saving files. If you have any questions, suggestions, need support, or for anything else, don't hesitate to reach out! contact@heliographe.net
Obscura
This app offers a powerful yet intuitive photo editing experience. It provides a range of pre-set filters and advanced tools for creative adjustments. Unlock full functionality to save and export your masterpieces.
- Gorgeous pre-set filters
- Custom filter creation
- Pro editing tools
- Exposure, curves, white balance
- Grain and vignette adjustments
- Hue/saturation/lightness controls
- Edits saved between sessions
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Obscura Studio is a brand new image editor that’s intuitive to use, but allows for a lot of creativity. Obscura Studio evolved from working on Obscura, an award-winning, pro camera app. Now Obscura and Obscura Studio are deeply integrated, sharing edits and filters between them. This means that you can edit a photo, save your edits as a custom filter, and then use that filter in Obscura’s camera. Library Obscura Studio integrates with the system Photo Library, so you have access to all your images. It has smart filters to help reduce the clutter and by default, just shows you the photos you care about. You can browse all your albums too, for easy organisation and navigation. Organisation Obscura Studio lets you rate images with star ratings, or mark them as flagged or rejected, to help you stay organised. Editing Obscura Studio has a variety of pro editing tools that let you bring your own taste to your photos. Everything from the basics like Exposure and Contrast, to a Curves Editor, HSL tools, and so much more. Filters In addition to the range of built in filters, you can save any edits as a custom filter if you want to reuse it regularly. Custom Filters are shared with Obscura so you can use them live in-camera. ———— Privacy: https://benricemccarthy.com/apps/obscura-studio/privacy.html Terms: https://benricemccarthy.com/apps/obscura-studio/terms.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: LUT Lab at 100% against Obscura's 0%. LUT Lab also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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
Both are free to download. LUT Lab sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Obscura sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
LUT Lab holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 5 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of LUT Lab's written reviews are positive against 0% of Obscura's.
LUT Lab ships an update every 3 weeks, Obscura every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LUT Lab | Obscura |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.8 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 5 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 108 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Héliographe, Inc | Ben McCarthy |
Customer experience
LUT Lab
Obscura
In-app purchases
LUT Lab
- LUT Lab: Friendly Tip$4.99
- LUT Lab: Royal Tip$19.99
Obscura
- Obscura Studio+ Monthly3 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Obscura Ultra - One Month7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Obscura Studio+ Annual7 Days trial$11.991 Year
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- Obscura Ultra - Annual7 Days trial$24.991 Year
- Obscura Ultra - One Time$64.99








