Customer Reviews

Tiffen Dfx Essentials Creative Digital Effects Software

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Note: This review is for the Mac version of the Tiffen Dfc Essentials product. I am an avid novice photographer and I shoot a Canon 40D, using Aperture for most of my post-capture photo refinement. I shoot about 200 to 600 photos a week, and manage them all in an Aperture catalog, which stores all the EXIF and other meta data as well.

I do not use Photoshop or other "heavy duty" image editing applications, so I was hopeful that Dfx Essentials would be a nice addition to my basic Aperture workflow. If it was offered as a set of Aperture plug-ins, I think that the Tiffen Dfx Essentials tools would rate four or five stars. The filters and effects are extremely flexible and can easily achieve some very nice effects that are either not possible or much more difficult with Aperture. Some of the effects are just plain goofy, but for the most part the filters work very well and are very useful for portrait and still life photography (e.g. blurring, halos, highlighting, color enhancements, b&w effects and filters, etc.)

However, the Mac version of the application suffers from a very poorly designed user interface in my opinion. I'm not sure what the engineers were thinking, but they may have been trying to emulate the Mac experience without ever having actually used a Mac before. The colors are dark gray, and the file browsing menus are a weird cross between Windows and Mac, but are more confusing than either.

This interface causes the workflow to be much more difficult that it should be, in my opinion. For example, to edit an image in Tiffen Dfx that you are looking at in Aperture (my starting point for workflow), I have to save off a version of the file somewhere easy to find (like in a folder on my desktop) and then open Dfx up, use the terrible file browser to find and select the image (which must be done by memorizing the file name because it lacks thumbnail images), and then conduct the editing in Dfx. Once the image is finalized in Dfx, it must be imported BACK into Aperture as a separate file from the original master (thereby breaking the association to the original file).

After a couple of weeks of using Dfx, I found this process to be more of a hassle than I was willing to deal with for all but the most specific types of projects which Dfx does particularly well (like black & white effects and blurring backgrounds)

Overall, I believe it is a nice tool for those "special" photos that you want to retouch before having them printed, but the clumsy user interface (on a Mac) make it just too unpleasant to use frequently.

I have looked high and low for a program like this, one that can manipulate digital photographs the same way a photographer would use filters over the lens, and function exactly as we think. Only Tiffen, one of the better photographic filter manufacturers, could come up with a piece of software like this.

The broad brushstroke overview. The software reviewed is called Essentials (Version 1) as described on the Tiffen website. This is a fairly simple standalone photo editing and enhancing program. You load a digital image into the program (there is no organizer or chooser, you have to know where your files are), then apply filter effects one at a time. It's incredibly intuitive after the second or third try, you sort of screw on a new filter for each effect. The central image view can show either the end product preview, or side by side comparison to the original. I've posted a screen shot for clarity. Once you've applied all the filters you want, save the file out to your hard drive and you are finished. It's all pretty darn simple and intuitive.

There are around 40 different filter types to choose from - ganged in general effect categories: Film Lab, HFX Diffusion, HFX Grad/Tints, Image, Lens, Light, and Special Effects. Each category has their own set of presets, like the HFX series has a number range up to 6 for more intense effects. There is also the possibility to adjust the parameters for each filter. The split filters are a great example, you can change the rotation of the split field and tons of other things.

The software is also a fairly decent photo editor. Crop, rotate (90 and precise degrees), etc. It does significantly lack much ability to control printed output. The software isn't exactly as fully featured as other photoediting software, like Adobe Photoshop Elements (any version from 1 to 7 are all much fuller programs). However, there are some tools very deeply buried - not at all intuitive to find (a tech support call pointed me in this direction). There is the ability to PAINT, like other photo programs - paint a color, paint to fix red eye, and clone brush to clear up blemishes on a face or lint on a suit coat. The menu happens to be buried in the "Image" filter, and then you click on the "Paint" filter. Voila, up above brushes, selections and the like all appear at the top of the screen. This is counterintuitive in this software - all filters are adjusted in the right panel with presets or parameters. Paint works totally differently, you adjust in the toolbar at the top.

In use, I started by cleaning up my photographs in Photoshop Elements 7. Remove blemishes, custom rotate to make verticals vertical, adjust contrast, crop, clean up the backgrounds, etc. This is all pretty easy to do, straightforward. In principle, I could do all the same things in Dfx Essentials. What Photoshop doesn't do well and requires a ton of flick this switch, apply this thing, do that, etc. is what traditional photographers have done for years - add filters to the lens to adapt the photograph to the circumstances. For example, HFX filters to soften skin, use differnt ASA film for that particular grain and color balance effect, use warming or cooling filters, and a whole host of other simple techniques; that are just so darn complicated in Photoshop. Yes many will argue you can do all these things in Elements - but you have to first master Layers, then master how much to tweak which effect, etc. All this is in non-photographic terms. In the Tiffen product, want to soften a picture for glamour effect - click on HFX, select 1, 2, 3, 4 up to 6 for intensity of the effect. This is exactly like a bag full of add on filters.

This software thinks like a photographer, not a person sitting in front of a computer trying to tweak things and learn a whole new language. Don't like an effect, click on a button to remove that filter from the stack. Want to add another effect in addition, click the add button and choose your filters. Don't like the exact effect from a preset, tweak it with parameters. The names and settings are all Tiffen and photographer standards - not Adobe's idea of what we should do.

Do I love this program, you betcha! I've already spent a solid day working up graduation pictures with this lovely program.

Now what do I dislike? Small things:

Installation:
It is not the least bit intuitive. For XP and Vista 32 bit - yes it will install from the fabulous, beautiful flashmedia intro program. So you will be very happy. According to tech support, Vista 64 bit is supposed to install like any other OS. In my case, the installer did not work. I had to work my way through the folders on the CD to find the installer and it worked perfectly. By the way, this was accomplished as a web live support call by an excellent support person at Tiffen. They actually made sure I had properly installed the program.

The Bait and maybe you want to spend more money?:
There are in fact three programs on this disc. You purchase a license for only one of those programs - the version 1 or Essentials program. However, they include the version 2 program that has something like 100 different filters with a vast array of presets and tweaks. You can install this program for a 15 day trial, fairly easy to do. But if you want to keep these additional filters, along with a slightly enhanced version of the editor, you will have to pay more money. Frankly, it's probably well worth the expense, the additional filters are amazing.

The Third program is all these filters as a Plug-In for various photoediting programs, like Adobe Photoshop (officially CS4, and Photoshop Elements). This is actually the best way to go with this software. Use the standard Photoshop base to deliver photo editing, and have this vast array of fabulous Tiffen filters to apply like a photographer would.

The worst part - there are no real live minimum computer requirements listed anywhere. That problem might be resolved once the program becomes officially available. I am reviewing a pre-publication edition of this software.
April 29, 2009 update - There are no PC requirements listed because, well it will run on virtually any computer. I just installed this program on an Acer Aspire One Netbook - this is the lowliest of the low for processor speed, graphics and memory. Guess what, the program works perfectly! It's actually faster to load than Microsoft Paint. All the filters work. Editing works. Preview snap up immediately every time a filter is chosen. Oh this is so wonderful. I've just found the perfect portable photo editor!

My test bed for this software (it worked flawlessly). Quad core Q9550 2.85 GHz processor; Nvidia (EVGA) GTX260 / 219 core 890Mb graphics card; 8 Gb of memory; 22 inch LG monitor; and Vista 64 Bit. This is a very light computer use program - I run folding at home on all four cores (100% usage) and the graphics card simultaneously; had Photoshop Elements 7 running; and Internet Explorer 8 with about 12 tabs open. Dfx ran very quickly, never crashed once, and responded very fast to every single filter choice and command. Remember, I have a fairly heavy duty system.

This is an outstanding program. It responds exactly the way a photographer would want it to work. I love this software. Want more - step up to this program with a ton more filters and more controls within the software: Tiffen DFXCMPV2 Dfx Digital Filter Software V2 Stand-alone Version - Windows XP, VISTA or Macintosh v10.4.6 and higher. The only significant difference between these two - more filters and more control over those filter effects.

April 27 update - I had some difficulties with installation and understanding what the software could really do. An email to tech support yielded a phone call back during business hours. Every single question I had was answered. Tech support seems to be extremely competent.

May 9 update - Tried another computer running Vista 64 bit - the flash installer did not work on that computer either. You will have to dig in the folders to do your install in 64-bit, tech support was flat out wrong about this.
Posted a screenshot of the software. Please take a look, the interface is clean and simple to use.

If you are hitting a creative wall in your photography you may want to start trying filter effects. However, all that glass in all those different sizes adds up. Or, you may have a point and shoot camera that doesn't take filters. Here's the solution. Digital filter effects by Tiffen is a fun way to add a touch of art or fun or drama to your digital photos.


Pros

For the price of about 1 good filter you get the use of dozens

Relatively ease to use, but not the easiest program

Cons

Most basic point and shoots probably aren't interested in filters

There are great free programs that do much of the same thing and even easier to use (Opanda's PhotoFilter).

Overall, not a bad program, it needs some tweaking. For the money, I would probably go with the available freeware.

I bought this application but was not able to activate it on my Windows 7 machine. So I emailed Tiffen for some help.

After 2 or 3 emails worth of back-and-forth with Tiffen Tech Support to figure out what the problem was, here is the final reply I got from them:

Subject: [#SAA-657-20539]: Activation help
DFX Tiffen Support [...]
Sent: Tue 11/15/2011 8:14 AM

Hello *****,

You may not be able to activate due to having an outdated program with a new OS.

Essentials is a 5 year old program and was not designed to work with the latest Microsoft operating system.
You may want to consider upgrading to version 3 of Dfx.

You can read more here: [...]

Kind Regards,
Michael

Check out Dfx on Facebook!
[...]

Ticket Details
________________________________________
Ticket ID: SAA-657-20539
Department: General (Import)
Type: Issue
Status: Open
Priority: Low

Support Center: [...]
Just a word of caution for those considering purchase.

This is a second tier effects package that quickly makes you wish you had sprung for the full set instead. The effects are ok, but overall its as if all the "good" stuff was left to the expensive version and the second rate effects dropped here. As a budget package its still rather expensive, there are better deals to be found.

This is a dual platform application. I am using the Mac version, but I am certain that all functionality is the same for Windows users, save comments about user interface issues.

This application contains a sub-set of Tiffen's more expensive DFX software, which emulates many film processing, optical and special effects. For the most part, the filters do an admirable job of doing just that.

This is not a general purpose image manipulation tool, such as photoshop, iPhoto, etc. It is a stand alone application that you feed single images into, apply effects, and save. There are 7 broad categories of filters (Film Lab, Lens, Light, etc). that contain 4-7 effects each. Inside of each filter, there are several pre-made versions of the settings for each, which you can modify and save as a preset.

As you add effects, you can stack more by adding a layer. Each layer can be adjusted for intensity, so you can dial in that combination of filters that gets you what you want (like a lomo camera effect, for instance). That combination can be saved and reused later. The filter combinations you create can be toggled on and off, dragged and reordered, and previews are all in near real time.

There are certainly issues. The file requester is non-Mac standard, and this is for the worse. No access to shortcuts, no way to visually browse for your images. The UI itself uses a dark gray color scheme that reflects Apple's "Pro" applications. It works well enough, things (such as dragging filters) work as you would expect. Many of the filters have drag points that give you some control over where they operate, but multiple points on them (like a pen tool) would have been great.

If you are using Photoshop right now, you will likely be disappointed with this application. It doesn't integrate into your workflow, there are going to be things that you will find annoying (lack of precision control and flexibility). In all fairness, the effects all have manual controls, and these can be saved as presets. At the end of the day, though, do you really want to quit out of photoshop to run a Star Filter effect? Tiffen would rather you buy their more expensive version that will work as a plugin.

It comes down to utility. For someone who wants a simple tool to apply photographic effects to images, this is as simple as it gets, and some of the effects are of very high quality (almost idiot proof as well). Some of these effects are tweakable enough that it won't have that "I have a NEW PHOTOSHOP PLUGIN" look (ie something out of the can), but other effects are doomed to be cheesy no matter how much you tweak them (Night Vision).

Essentially, those that are used to the power and flexibility of Photoshop should look elsewhere. Understand, though, that to get the Photoshop Plugin set version of the FUll DFX set is $300.00 (look it up on Amazon). This application feels like a host application for Tiffen's plugins, but at a much more affordable price than the plugin set itself. An "Essential" version of the Photoshop plugin set would be nice, and would probably make more sense for many people.

This product gives the user a great degree of flexibility and control of settings for applying the filters available. As such, it provides wonderful control of the final look of the image. Highly recommend it!

This package is a great stand alongside" solution for pro's who don't have the time or inclination to launch Photoshop, or for beginners who want rapid solutions with ease. Max 5 min install from opening the box and the package leads you through image updates with ease. It has sufficient presets to give great results to those new to image manipulation and re-touching as well as great configuration for those with more advanced skills who want to get their look just right.

Installation:
The program installed without a hitch on a Windows XP desktop; as the license allows installation on a 'back-up' computer, I also installed it on my Windows Vista laptop. Installation with Windows Vista was not as trouble-free. Once the disc is inserted, a window launches automatically and gives the option of watching a tutorial or specifying Windows or Mac installation - on XP the "Windows install" worked well and the installation proceeded. On the Vista machine, the link never worked. I had to go to "my computer", look through the disc, find the install and double-click it. OK, so not flawless, but not the end of the world, either, and it installed easily after that.

Using the Software:
Now for the software itself - the tutorial makes it easy to be up and running in a short period of time. The design is intuitive and controls easy to figure out. The filter options offered are numerous. There are seven categories of filter types (film lab, HFX Diffusion, HFX Grads/Tints, Image, Lens, Lights and Special Effects) Within each of those categories, there are anywhere from four to eight variations on that particular theme and then there are several available "levels" or presets for each of these. Here's an example: suppose you want to do a gradient effect (this takes a color and superimposes it over your picture in a gradient effect that adds more intense color at the top of the picture, with the effect lessening as it progresses down). You would first open the picture, then select HFX/Grad Tints from the sliding menu bar below the picture, then choose the type of tints/gradient (in this example: gradient), then choose the "level" and type of gradient. This choice has more selections than most - you choose the color and the intensity and there are over 70 combinations to choose from. The effect can be fun to watch and the inclination is to sit a play with this software when you first get it installed. For someone doing a lot of portraits, the softening effects may be just the thing, the vignetting makes pictures of young children charming and some of the special effects are just plain fun...try "x-ray" and you'll see what I mean.

Cost-Benefit:
I like this software and I've had some fun playing with pictures and the effects, so why only three stars? Cost-benefit ratio. Is it really worth it to me to spend $60 to be able to get a cranberry gradient on a picture of leaves? Sure, it looks artsy, but what am I going to do with this? For folks out there who are doing the artsy thing with their digital pics and doing it seriously (as in hanging in galleries kind of seriously), they're likely to have more powerful and sophisticated software tools at hand. For us amateur photogs, there are only so many prints you're likely to want to "doctor" up in these artsy kinds of ways. The folks who may find this worthwhile are those who want to do a lot of portrait shots and want to use the softening/haze filter and possibly the vignetting. If you look at it that way, the software costs about the same as a just one softening/haze/duto filter for your camera, so you may find it worthwhile if that's a purchase you're considering. Also, for those of you who want the look of "old pictures", there are some nice possibilities under that heading and you can end up with portrait shots that look like something from the forties. I especially like the "silver gelatin" setting.

Bottom Line:
Only you can decide if spending the money for this software will be worth it to you...think about what kind of pictures you take, what uses you put them to once taken (do you just load them on your computer and then look at them occasionally or do you have tons of them printed out and photo frames adorning every flat surface in your home?), how much time you want to spend "doctoring" your images and whether the kind of effects this software can achieve are likely to be the ones you will want to do. If you're seriously thinking about getting a haze/diffusion filter, the cost may be justified and it may be easier for you to manipulate the image digitally than to put on and take off a filter as you're using your camera. You may also have a point-and-shoot that can't take filters that are readily available for digital SLRs.

The Tiffen Dfx Essentials is an excellent entry level introduction to a whole family of digital fx products for everyone from the hobbyist all the way to professional photographers and filmmakers. This is a great product for people who don't want to carry a gadget bag full of filters. With this fx software all you really need for your camera lenses are daylight/UV and polarizing filters for your lenses.
This is a stand-alone product you can use for images that need minimal adjusting. Since installing Tiffen Dfx Essentials, I've not fired up good ol' Photoshop as much.