Loupedeck is a photo-editing console for fans of knob-twiddling

Hey – a mixing desk! UNCH! UNCH! UNCH! UNCH!

Calm down. This one’s for photographers, not people with a fetish for blinking lights, stomach-churning bass, and pretending you’re playing live at a gig when you’re in fact running your entire set from a PC.

But it’s got buttons and dials…

That’s because company founder Mikko Kesti – a keen photographer and one-time stealer of his dad’s cameras – reckons although taking photos is enjoyable, editing them is very much not.

Frankly, we have a tendency to agree. Even the best photo-editing software can be fiddly and horribly dull to the point you wish there was a ‘make everything perfect’ button. No wonder so many people just give up, slather everything in a horrible filter, and upload the result to Instagram.

So how is Loupedeck different?

You plug it into your Mac or PC, and at that point have a photographer’s mixing desk of sorts for controlling Adobe Lightroom. You can prod keys to assign ratings, activate tools, undo and redo, and navigate. There are twiddly knobs for adjusting contrast, exposure, vignette, highlights, and more. And there are inset dials for adjusting color channels.

It all looks very tactile, fun, and instrument-like, rather than having you hunch over a boring keyboard and mouse, wishing the ground would swallow you up when you accidentally click on the wrong tiny button and find your masterpiece suddenly looks like a still from a deranged 1970s Eastern European animation.

And the ‘make everything perfect’ button?

Missing, alas.

Well, we won’t hold that against them.

Indeed. And nor will we gripe that many of the brains behind this operation are ex-Nokia.

Nokia? So does Loupedeck come with Snake?

Another missed opportunity, we fear – and the massive Crop dial would have been a great controller a hungry legless reptile, too. You’ll have to console yourself with a Snake-less Loupedeck that will bring back a bit of fun to photo editing.

It’ll set you back €229 from Indiegogo. And as the campaign’s already funded, you should only have to wait until June to find out whether it’ll “unleash your inner artist” as the creators claim.