Hydra 2 › AI Camera (RAW/HDR) Reviews

by MBSreviewsApps

I figured I would try the free trial of Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR as it seemed interesting and said it would take 110 megapixel photos (instead of 48 which is the max on my iPhone 14 pro). Unfortunately, I don’t see a difference in the quality of any of the photos taken by various different modes offered by Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR vs. the pre installed camera app. The image processing is very slightly different and photos come out a little brighter but that is not a deal-making feature for me. I would recommend using the default camera app alongside the built in editor or Darkroom, Snapseed, or Adobe Lightroom to enhance your photos.

by JFW Cook

Crashes more often than it functions.

by Fxdcbunihuygfctv;gfm(bnjnv

This is junk, can’t tell what it’s supposed to do. All I can get out of it is, “an unexpected error occurred, please try again later.” I think these people are trying too hard to be clever with their app. Meanwhile, can’t get enough of a demonstration to make an informed decision. Completely underwhelmed, think I’ll pass.

by PJ1389

Doesn’t add any value to your iPhone camera. I would say it actually makes quality much worse!

by D7mtg

Seriously unacceptable

by TomA2

I did some low light photos with both Hydra 2 and the standard Apple camera. The Apple camera produced noticeably sharper photos. Next I did some indoor photos under artificial light with Hydra 2 set in 48 MP mode. Even then, the Apple Camera took a noticeably sharper photo. There is no reason to go to 48MP unless you are going to get a sharper image and this failed to do that.

That said, I like the interface. I just wish it took better photos than Apple’s free app. It doesn’t.

by MarkNance

The old app worked so much better. This new one opens and crashes and when it decides to work it does not work well. I can rarely hold it steady enough to take a photo. I never had an issue with the old version. To think I paid for this is frustrating. I am eager for the developer to get this working for us.

by MattB_2692273833

Was excited to try the new app, but was disappointed to find Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR regularly took unusually dark or grainy photos that varied greatly from what was visible in the viewfinder, in the same lighting/conditions as the previous app took a perfect shot. I also found that Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR crashes when trying to take 110MP hi res photos. Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR was also slow in general, especially if trying to open photos after taking them.

Maybe it’s just because I’m on an iPhone X, but I’ll be waiting to try Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR again later once bugs have been resolved and/or I have a more capable phone.

by Renateaux

Bought Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR full price some years ago and it was pretty fun, iPhones caught up a little bit but it still had some nice features. Didn’t use it for a while then boom new update calls it “2” and wants me to pay for it all over again to remove the watermark from an app I PAYED for already. This is not ok at all. The old app removes doesnt work anymore. This tells me they will do it again and again. This is terrible business orqtice but unfortunately pretty common now. Nope, no way I’m paying for it again. Byeeee.

by Vj889

Why would u take that away ?

by Ekholbrook

Can’t compare to a real zoom and higher megapixel sensor like in the s22 and to be honest testing right now at extreme zoom, the built in camera app gets a clearer shot at the 16x digital zoom than anything I could get in Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR.

by Jdashca

The idea that I’m going to stand there with my phone and edit each photo in real time rather than later after I take them is silly, and effectively renders Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR near useless.

by Wajef61

I downloaded Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR because I’m an advanced amateur photographer. It was featured in the Apple App Store and caught my attention. In 10 minutes of experimenting, it crashed four times on my iPhone 12. That’s a hard no for me.

by Eyeperture

Just want to be fair, I updated Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR and tried low-light again. Failed as usual, the UI is still waste of screen space, I hope a professional photographer could be included in the design team to rescue Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR. You need a clear aim for Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR’s potential users and offer the simple but customizable UI that convincing paid subscribers. Sorry to so harsh, in my last comment I’ve made suggestions on how to improve the design, I wish someone will truly listen to your users instead saying “this is the free version … the Pro version… “ No! Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR need a major overhaul.

by Calix2000

Theres nothing in Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR that warrants a subscription. There’s more and more of a trend, because of rising costs of living that people are getting fed up with apps doing subscriptions, to steer away from them. Furthermore, there are two types of apps in my opinion. Someone that make a really good app because they want to build something they’re proud of. Those people will offer a quality app for a base price.

Then there’s those that only make apps because they are greedy and are money first types of people. Those are the ones that want subscriptions. The apps are never as good as the former.

Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR falls in the latter category. Not offering a lot to separate it from the crowd, and certainly not offering anything to warrant a subscription.

Subscriptions should give you something that you can get anywhere else. It’s the only reason Photoshop subscriptions work. And it became a trend on Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR Store. But it’s falling out of favor people.

by Monsterchewy

Loved my pics and didn’t realize I hadn’t upgraded to take pics without watermarks. From what I understood, subscribing would remove the watermarks but I can’t get them off of the photos I’ve taken. I’m assuming they’ll be off future ones? But I’m pretty devastated my pics aren’t salvageable as far as I can tell. Tips?

by Studio1219

If you want good pictures you have to pay money to remove the watermark. otherwise they will end up worse than if you took them on your regular camera. I get you have to make money some how but if you aren’t planning on spending money on it don’t get it

by Eigebmeat

Long time owner of the original and purchaser of version 2. Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR is now much more modern and customizable. Great improvement in usability. However, Image quality is no better than the default iphone 13 pro camera app in most modes except maybe HDR in some situations. Despite all the neural wizardry, high res and zoom mode is worse than hydra 1. High res mode has less effective resolution than 1 single well process raw/proraw capture. Perhaps the dev should look into a Capture->ProRaw->JPG pipeline like NOMO Raw 2 for improved image quality. Sorry for being harsh on image the image quality front, but I really want Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR to get better as a long time fan.

by Frustratedfg

Longtime user of original.
While I appreciate power features there was a flow state in original letting one focus on capturing great moments. The update loses some of that and is a little jittery. That is taking a picture goes to editor but had to learn how best to get to other controls. Also the image seems to tile in inconsistently. Do like having control of amount of compression. Taking a photo in hdr seems faster but then spends more time processing. Finally I consistently crash in zoom and sometimes macro. Happy to revise rating when issues are resolved. Til then will continue using legacy version for expediency. Also sad to lose hdr video.

by 3 Rd Best Game Ever

After taking several pictures with my phone I noticed the the photo quality was worse than the camera app, the macro feature was pretty impressive tho but you can achieve the same results with the standard camera app and a little more patience, I wouldn’t recommend it, sorry

by Toucan395

Unless you have photography as a hobby / job etc., I would not recommend Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR. I have an iPhone 13 pro — I got the 13 pro because I liked the idea of being able to take really high quality photos with my phone. I am by no means even an entry level photographer / have 0 photography background. I am an outdoorsman, among other things & wanted the convenience of taking nice photos with my phone, but am unlikely to buy a ‘nice’ camera outside of whatever my phone can do. I downloaded Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR on a whim specifically to take some off road shots of my vehicle, & felt like the standard camera app had been lackluster recently. Needless to say, Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR is going to get my $11 bc I took a bunch of photos with it, & did not realize they had a huge water mark on them, if you only have the free version. All of that being said, unless you have a photography background Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR has a lot of features that a ‘rookie’ would not be aware of (ie., myself) — hence, I only see Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR being worth the money if you ~really~ know what you’re doing, then I’m sure it could be useful. Overall it is not an ‘intuitive’ learn as you go type camera, & that’s my opinion as a ‘gen Z college student’.

by Sylarchang

Could NOT save ProRAW files to the album

by Jamelo2122

I love Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR . I have one question, how to take off the watermark on the older photos I captured with your app before I purchased the subscription. I thought after I purchased the subscription, the watermark will come off my older photos. Is there a way to take the watermark off?

by 749172930

So I keep trying to take a photo of the star and have it set for maximum light capturing. But Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR keeps say “excessive camera movement”. But I have my phone mounted and I’m not even touching it. Please Devs make some way to bypass this even if it means the photos might be blurry.

by The Real King Julian

When I have my phone on tripod and app set to Manual, Hi-Res with a timer on, when it goes to capture after the timer, I notice the exposure changes to what I preset, and then it doesn’t take the picture due to “excess movement”, which I’m guessing is from Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR ’s live exposure adjustment, because the phone was still the whole time.

by Iimaginal

Tried different shots using different camera apps; stands out with the quality of the sharpness. AI results aren't smooth oil like others. Although it's not great for active pictures or moving positions, it compensates by shooting amazing still photos. Dropped a star because the time between photos can be terrible in some scenarios. The faster, the better

by GIULIO SCIORIO

Use Hydra if you’re wanting to squeeze every last bit of quality from your iPhone. Hydra delivers on everything promised, and then some. I love the new widgets especially for the lock screen. What would make them even better would be a golden hour lock screen, widget.

Keep up the good work, a happy subscriber

by PhelineCat

I had the first Hydra, liked it and *really* liked The Great Leap Forward. (Huge apologies to everyone effected by it. If you don’t know what I mean, do everyone a favor and find out) Now there’s this- bigger improvement, more money and I hate, hate, hate subscriptions. (

by Evanblackhere

iPhone 13 mini, iOS 15.4.1. It crashes when I take HDR or high resolution pictures.

by LuckyLuyckx

This review is based on using Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR on a 13 pro Max. Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR has some very nice features. I love the Hi-Res mode. Beside the obvious processing to get to the resolution, photos do not look as over processed as it may happen in native app. One little are of improvement would be low-light. I have encountered a few cases where the low-light (equivalent to night mode as far as I can tell) would not capture a photo while the native night move would in similar conditions. I am not sure if this has to do with low light conditions as it was in every case involving extremely dark scenes. I like the simplicity of the macro mode compared to native app. Just pick the mode. Great! No wondering whether it’s “on” or not. One of my favorite feature is the ability to save in .dng I can now skip the so-so camera app in Lightroom, use this superior app instead and still have my DNGs in Lightroom. I do recommend Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR.

by Trex Nootan

I have some high end camera gear and some good low end gear. I had Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR hanging in my iPhone 12 mini for a few years but rarely used it. At a recent event I had no camera so I decided to use my phone. Instead of Pro Camera app I used Hydra. WOW!! I took some of the most amazing pictures of flowers. I take a lot of pictures but these where the best ever taken. I went to LR before printing but didn’t need to make adjustments. I printed 13 x 18” without any noise. It even looked better blown up. Went to get them framed and people walking by thought I was a professional. “Why yes I am”. Since then I tested Hydra with my Sony A7iii
And Ricoh GRiiix. Hydra was the best clarity and color. I have money to buy more expensive camera gear but having discovered Hydra I am rethinking it. I can’t believe the quality.
Trust that this is my first review ever for a product. Wish you had this program in a mirror less camera.

by Stevearcher

I've owned this camera app forever but, because I'm an avid iPhone photographer, I didn't get around to properly testing this version. If you like to capture interesting images, this is for you! It's hdr mode is simply the best. Zoom is also great. HI-RES, with either a tripod or very steady hand, makes iPhone sensor limitations almost disappear. Clever app!

by AaliahMZ

This is got to be the absolute most best camera app I have ever used for iPhone. I cannot stand the iPhone because of the camera, and for what I use it, for. It just never works for me and I cannot stand the ability to not be able to customize or change the settings. I have used almost every camera app and never been satisfied and thought it was just a camera on iPhone, but Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR is hands-down the best one I’ve used, and I come out with such clear pictures, and the ability to customize so many different options is incredible! Round of applause!

by David247

I had previously used the original hydra with my iPhone for quite some time. A few years. I must say that Hydro 2 is an impressive improvement over the original. Not only will I continue to use it when it’s appropriate, but I suspect I will be using it a lot more in many different situations. Thanks for this wonderful update. A big improvement over what was a previously a very good and usable app.

by Matthew.ly

I have been using Hydra since a couple of days to capture RAW photo data and it's amazing. Clever and clean user interface. I particularly like the manual mode. Keep it up, I can't wait to see how Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR evolves.

by Wevmaster

Powerful. Intuitive. Easy. Fun. Innovative. Imaginative. If you don’t have it. You’re missing out. Pricing and plans are super reasonable for what you get with Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR. It’s powerful software! You won’t regret it!

by JoshBetts

I took some HDR photos yesterday in bright sunlight and the results are so much better than iOS's built-in HDR mode on my iPhone 12 Pro. I particulary like the photo editor. Give it a try if you are an avid camera user.

by Scaldedchevy

Best $10 I ever spent on Hydra2AICameraRAWHDR Store. Incredible app, and produces some of the most astonishing pictures coupled with the iPhone 13 ProMax. The macro setting is insane.

by JoLeahr

Thanks so much for the program update today, 3-25-22. High resolution photos no longer crash. Problem completely resolved. Good work.

The Hi Resolution photo option keeps crashing. Had to download app again, but Hi Res crashed again. Wonderful photographs. Please fix the hi res option