Photo editing service provider Phixer developed an agent-focused photography app that connects agents’ photo libraries with its team of professional editors.
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Phixer Mobile is a photography app by Phixer that connects agents with professional editing and image enhancements.
Platforms: iOS
Ideal for: All agents
Top selling points:
- Developed by professional photographers
- Automatic bracketing
- 8-hour turnaround time (with money)
- Object removal
- Custom TV and fireplace edits
Top concerns:
The app is designed primarily for the iPhone 11 and Pro and for agents comfortable taking their own listing photos when needed.
What you should know
The need for professional photography will never leave the real estate industry because there are far too many unique, historic and compelling examples of residential architecture out there that demand the eye of a pro.
But there’s no doubt that the reliance on professional photographers is waning, or least shifting toward a technology-driven middle ground. The alternative to not hiring a pro was always obvious and, to savvy agents, unthinkable. Dark pictures. Poor angles. Clutter.
It’s not hard to imagine that as mobile phone cameras continue advancing and stand-alone editing services proliferate, paying pros to capture cookie-cutter suburban floor plans with HOA-approved curb appeal might quickly fall out of favor with agents who are comfortable wielding all that mobile horsepower.
And apps like Phixer will be ready for them.
A camera and professional editing app, Phixer Mobile is currently only for Apple’s iOS, and agents can use it when they consider themselves capable enough to at least get the correct angles. If they happen to screw up something else, well, that’s why they use apps like this.
Photos taken with the app are uploaded directly to Phixer’s editing team. Before you send them off, you can select twilight edits, have objects removed, or ask to improve a dog-stained yard by tapping the appropriate icon beneath each image as you swipe.
A 24-hour turnaround time is included, but a 12-hour return will cost you 50 cents — one half a credit — and if you want them back in 8 hours, it’s a dollar, or one credit.
Also included are custom television edits, meaning editors will add imagery to any TVs in a listing photo. If the home has a fireplace, Phixer inserts a fire. Pretty cool.
The app’s developers openly admit they are pro-photographer, but they know that not every agent can afford one and that there are instances where one isn’t needed.
Phixer is also best used with the most up-to-date phone camera. Or you can use an attachable lens from Moment to help capture wider angles.
We should also note that it’s not just the photos that stand out. I found using the camera to be very intuitive, and creating a new project or listing is as easy as typing in the name.
The camera interface offers a list of tips before you start shooting, such as the importance of shooting at multiple angles, avoiding using the digital zoom and holding your phone upright.
Users can also upload photos from their phone library in case you snapped something outside of Phixer. Thus, your projects are not limited to using its camera interface.
The company’s app roadmap includes virtual staging tools and a series of classes on how to be a better real estate photographer.
All said, for being the first consumer app built by Phixer, it’s pretty damn sharp. And like other such services in this category, it can save agents quite a bit of money.
Lastly, know that the packaging of this service into an app sets an intriguing precedent for its competitors.
After all, we’re moving toward the intersection of pocket-sized super computers, the normalization of virtual home tours and fully digital home closings.
This is an Apple and Samsung world now. Oh, and Sony because, the Xperia 1 II.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
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