Choose film-look software by the piece you want to finish. A single treated photo, a cover whose words stay readable, a measured film-stock profile, a plugin inside another editor, and a photo library are different jobs. Artfkt runs on Apple Silicon Macs and on 64-bit Windows PCs.

Your task Starting point
Treat one photo and export it Artfkt’s free demo, or another browser camera filter.
Keep a title readable on a film-look cover Artfkt: a Cameras look and desktop Film effects on the picture, with editable text and a saved project.
Match measured film stocks and develop RAW DxO FilmPack: a perpetual film-emulation app for Mac and Windows.
Grade a film look inside a photo or video host Dehancer: plugins for photo editors and video apps.
Organize a library and apply presets Lightroom: a subscription photo catalog for desktop, mobile, and web.

Disclosure: Artfkt wrote this guide. The three pictures are real Artfkt renders. DxO FilmPack, Dehancer, and Lightroom were read from their official pages on 1 November 2026, and were not installed or tested hands-on. Prices are in US dollars as those pages listed them. This is a workflow comparison, not a speed test, a fidelity test, or a ranking. The Cameras and Film treatments here are authored looks, not calibrated copies of a camera or a film stock.

Let the picture age and keep the words intact

The useful test is whether you can give the image a film look and still change the title later. These stills use one original 1200 × 1200 drawing: a night facade, warm windows, and three bright lamps. The type is Inter.

In the first picture, the words are part of the image. Kodak FunSaver, Halation, and Light Leak therefore warm, soften, and halo CONTACT 24 along with the windows.

Amber windows and three lamps. The words CONTACT 24 share the same warmth, softness, and orange halo as the picture.

Flat pass — Kodak FunSaver, Halation, and Light Leak applied to the artwork and the lettering together.

In the second picture, those letters sit on their own text layer. The image layer carries the camera look, then the halo around the bright lamps, then the warm leak at the corner. The headline stays sharp because the film stack never touches it.

The same amber windows and lamp halos, while the cream headline CONTACT 24 and the label NIGHT WINDOW stay sharp.

Layered pass — the same settings on the artwork only. This is the cover.

The third picture is that layered composition saved as an Artfkt project, opened from the project file, and edited. The headline became LATE EDITION, and Light Leak Strength went from 0.70 to 0.28. The other settings stayed.

The same night windows with a lighter corner leak, and a sharp headline that now reads LATE EDITION.

Revised project — Light Leak Strength 0.28 and new wording. The windows and halos remain.

Settings, with animation off and Mix at 100%:

  • Kodak FunSaver: Snapshot Contrast 0.82, Exposure 0.15 EV, Flash Punch 0.55, Print Warmth 0.28, Lens Softness 0.18, Falloff 0.42, Grain 0.40, Seed 37, Variation rate 0.
  • Halation: Spread 0.024, Tail 0.62, Strength 1.35, Highlight threshold 0.55.
  • Light Leak: Edge fog 0.50, Strength 0.70 (0.28 in the revision), Position 0.06 and 0.08, Spread 0.90, Streak 0.30, Falloff 1.35, Drift 0.

Playback is at the start. Flash Punch shapes the tones already in the drawing. It does not relight a scene. Halation is a red-orange film-base halo, not a second bloom. Drift 0 holds the leak where it was placed.

You can try the Kodak FunSaver portion in the free demo. Halation and Light Leak are in the desktop Film collection.

Artfkt: stack the film look, then revise the cover

Artfkt fits when the image is the project: a cover, a poster, a contact-sheet study, or a series you will reopen. Put the camera look on the picture. Leave the title on an editable text layer. Add desktop Film effects when the picture should also carry a halo or a leak.

The desktop app includes 46 collections and 361 effects, including Cameras and the Film collection. Film has fourteen instruments, among them Film Grain, Halation, Light Leak, Bleach Bypass, Faded Film, Film Dust, and Film Scratches. You can save the project, reopen it, and keep reusable effect stacks. Content and effects masks can limit a treatment to part of a layer; these stills use a separate text layer instead of a mask. Atmosphere and a soundtrack or live audio are also desktop capabilities. These stills do not demonstrate grain plates, haze, masks, or audio.

Artfkt runs on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 13 or later, and on 64-bit Windows 10 (22H2) or Windows 11 PCs. Windows guidance is a DirectX 12 graphics card. The purchase is US$39 once, or US$29 with the launch code LAUNCH, for use on your own computers. It includes the current release and Artfkt 1.x updates. Future major upgrades are excluded. Check the license terms and the system requirements. The button below uses the current checkout offer. These stills were rendered in the production renderer; that capture is not a Windows hardware test.

The free demo includes Glitch, Pixel, Cameras, Halftone, Drawing, Refraction, Color, Light, Collage, and Hypnosis. A composition can use image, text, video, or effect layers without a layer count limit. Export of the current result is included in the demo. Saved projects, Halation, Light Leak, and the rest of the catalog are the reasons to use the desktop app. See what Cameras contributes inside the full library.

DxO FilmPack: measured film profiles

DxO FilmPack 8 is a Windows and macOS app with a perpetual license. The product page describes film-stock renderings, grain, vignetting, textures, light leaks, a Time Machine for photographic history, and integration with DxO PhotoLab 9, Photoshop, and Lightroom. It presents those renderings as measured film response, which is a different claim from Artfkt’s authored looks.

On 1 November 2026 the shop listed $149.99, and an upgrade price from $89.99. The same page lists Windows 10 version 22H2 or Windows 11 version 22H2 (64-bit) as the minimum, macOS 14.7 (Sonoma) with 16 GB of RAM as the Mac minimum, activation on 3 computers, and an internet connection for activation.

FilmPack is a strong place to look when matching a named film stock, or developing RAW inside a DxO, Photoshop, or Lightroom workflow, is the job. Confirm the current price and requirements on DxO’s site before you buy.

Dehancer: a plugin inside another app

Dehancer’s individual plans are subscriptions. On 1 November 2026 the page listed Mobile at $6 per month, billed $72 per year; Photo at $13 per month, billed $156 per year; and Video & Photo at $29 per month, billed $348 per year. The plans auto-renew. The Photo plan lists Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture One, and Affinity Photo plugins, plus Dehancer Desktop and Dehancer Online. Video & Photo adds DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, Vegas Pro, and Adobe Premiere and After Effects. Other Dehancer pages list separate lifetime prices. This guide does not fold those into the subscription figures.

Dehancer fits when you already edit in one of those hosts and want the film look to stay inside that app. It is a plugin workflow, not a standalone poster you save and reopen as its own project.

Lightroom: a library and a preset workflow

Lightroom is Adobe’s photo editor and organizer for desktop, mobile, and web. On 1 November 2026 the product page listed plans starting at US$9.99 per month for Lightroom, US$19.99 per month for the Photography plan with Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Photoshop, and US$59.99 per month for Creative Cloud All Apps. Those are subscription prices.

Adobe’s system requirements, updated 12 October 2026, name Windows 10 version 22H2 or Windows 11 version 23H2 or later, and macOS Sonoma 14 or later. Activation uses an internet connection. This guide did not open a catalog in Lightroom.

Lightroom fits when the library, RAW development, and presets lead the work, and a film look is one preset among the rest of the catalog.

Try one image before you pay

  1. Open Kodak FunSaver in the free demo and add an image you care about. Set Snapshot Contrast to 0.82, Exposure to 0.15, Flash Punch to 0.55, and Print Warmth to 0.28. Turn Animate off.
  2. Set Lens Softness to 0.18, Falloff to 0.42, Grain to 0.40, Seed to 37, and Variation rate to 0. Leave Mix at 100%.
  3. Add a text layer for any words that must stay readable. The demo has no layer or FX count limits.
  4. Export and look at the file at the size you will actually use. If the next step is a halo, a light leak, a saved project, or the rest of the library, that is the desktop app.

Still choosing between apps? The buyer’s guide covers creative control and exports, and the subscription-free comparison lists one-time-purchase options. For other looks, see the guides to glitch art software and pixel sorting software.

Artfkt’s production renderer made the stills on the WebGPU backend. Rendering can vary by device.