Topaz InFocus released

MarkR · November 22, 2010

I'm at work so I haven't tested this yet, but it looks cool.

http://www.topazlabs.com/infocus/

I am a big fan of Topaz's tools. They work well and are reasonably priced.

pathfinder · November 22, 2010

I just got the email as well.

I agree, it does look promising for $29.99

MarkR · November 22, 2010

Of course, it was Andy Finkel who said, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indestinguishable from a rigged demo."

I think the real problem is going to be finding blurred images to try it on. I always gave up on them as unsalvagable and deleted them ...

Sam · November 22, 2010

I would be interested to see any comments on this product.

On my PC I had a simple little plug-in called focus magic. This really added to my ability to process sharp images. Unfortunately they don't have a Mac version, and are not going to develop one.

If this works as well as Focus Magic, I will buy it immediately.

PS: I really don't like trial versions of anything, but I may just give this one whirl.

Sam

TheCheesehead · November 22, 2010

Do you think this is sharpening software as well, ie sharpen a raw file, or more for fixing bad shots?

MarkR · November 22, 2010

Sam, this does seem to be Focus Magic-like.

Cheesehead-- this can be used as a basic sharpener, but it's real strength appears to be in fixing mild blur. It's certainly not going to work miracles, however.

Here's a real quick before (screenshot @ 100% zoom of a 14 MP image)

... and After.

Notice not only is the boat and the figures in it sharper, but so is the wooden railing at the side.

Sam · November 23, 2010

I went to another forum, (don't hate me

) and got a lot of mixed reviews. Topaz also seems to have another sharpening plug-in called Topaz detail. The product description and examples look very similar. Very confusing.

Ia m going to e-mail Topaz and see if I can get some clarification.

Sam

MarkR · November 23, 2010

Sam, I think Topaz beat you to it: http://www.topazlabs.com/blog/whats-the-difference-between-topaz-detail-and-the-new-topaz-infocus/

In a nutshell: InFocus for deconvoluting blur caused by motion, misfocus, whathaveyou. Detail is for enhancing detail in an already sharp image.

My initial ham-handed efforts with InFocus were a disaster. After I stopped and watched the videos on this page I felt I had a better understanding of how to approach it. It is definitely a "game of inches"-- and not every image responds equally well to InFocus.

.

I am strongly leaning toward "buy." I doubt this will be an often-used tool, but it's worth it's weight if it can rescue an occassional treasured image from the discard pile.

Sam · November 23, 2010

I went ahead and bought In Focus. I haven't had enough time to ply with it a lot, but on first look I think the results may be some what subtle, but worth using on some images.

It does seem to be able to deliver different results than other contrast enhancement, and sharpening tools.

When I have more information I will post back.

Sam

TheCheesehead · November 23, 2010

I bought it as well, I'll let you know how it goes in a couple days. By the way, anyone have the Adjust software, if so is it any good? I have the denoise software and love it.

MarkR · November 24, 2010

TheCheesehead wrote: »

I bought it as well, I'll let you know how it goes in a couple days. By the way, anyone have the Adjust software, if so is it any good? I have the denoise software and love it.

Adjust is a fun plugin and well worth the money. It does require a light touch if you want to keep your images within the realm of the "realistic." See http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=177681 for some examples (pictures 2a and 4a.)

My absolute favorite Topaz plugin is "Detail," but that's just me.

Sam · November 24, 2010

Mark,

Can you articulate what you find so compelling about detail?

Sam

MarkR · November 24, 2010

Well, there are my initial ruminations, which are here: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=145470&highlight=topaz+detail.
Since I posted that, Detail has gotten much much faster.

I like being able to do small, medium, and large radius sharpening without worrying about halos. I certainly don't use Detail for every image-- LR3 capture sharpening is usually fine, but when sharpness counts, I look to Detail.

This image was processed through detail: positive values on the left, negative values on the right. http://dgrin.smugmug.com/Dgrin-Challenges/Dgrin-Sharp-Shooters-Entries/DSS-41/10769874_pX2pz#753823162_eNePy.

Here's another example of Topaz Detail using a light touch to try to bring out the eyes and some of the details in the sweater: http://dgrin.smugmug.com/Dgrin-Challenges/Dgrin-Sharp-Shooters-Entries/Mega-Challenge-7/11443343_D7RSG#811665976_b8RFZ

And finally, Topaz's plugins are ridiculously low-priced-- $40 for Detail, $200 for the entire suite of Topaz products, (before coupons!)

As slick as I think plugins from OnOne, NikSoftware, and AlienSkin are, they are often $200 or more per plugin. I have to watch my budget carefully, and Topaz gives me a tremendous bang for my buck.

Sam · November 24, 2010

Thanks,

I may have to look at another Topaz plug-in.

Sam

ablichter · November 24, 2010

MarkR wrote: »

[...]
And finally, Topaz's plugins are ridiculously low-priced--

Also not to forget the free updates they offer for all their plug-ins from the very beginning... F.e. from Adjust V2.6 (or earlier, not sure anymore) until the recent version 4.

ablichter · November 24, 2010

TheCheesehead wrote: »

I bought it as well, I'll let you know how it goes in a couple days. By the way, anyone have the Adjust software, if so is it any good?

I don't say yes or no - its a matter of taste. There are people which use it on any image they do, just to pop them up a bit and others to archieve a look they believe is like HDR ;-)
But give it a try and make up your mind - all Topaz plug-ins run as a 30 days trial.

pathfinder · November 24, 2010

Their DeNoise 5 works pretty good, and I have been using it some, since I do not have NoiseWear for a 64 bit mode of CS5. I still use CS4 frequently, and one of the reasons is NoiseWear, but DeNoise 5 comes pretty close.

TheCheesehead · November 24, 2010

First impressions of InFocus...not impressed, but still early. Seems like it has a limited use. Like the earlier poster stated, anything OOF gets tosses anyway. May be more geared to amateurs...? Doesn't seem like it works on anything higher than iso 200, creates too much noise. After I run that through DeNoise, I'm pretty much back to my original image.

MarkR · November 27, 2010

Well, I was able to rescue two images in my catalog that I was fond of but which had focus issues-- one was literally a snapshot of a fleeting event, and had camera movement & possible focal issue blur. The other was a picture of my niece, where I somehow slightly front focused, so that her eyes had some small blur to them. I was able to get both back into "acceptable focus."

And I just did a handheld HDR using Timothy Arnes LR/Enfuse plugin. It did a great job of auto-aligning the images, but there was still a little blur, and InFocus was able to bring it back, again, into "acceptable focus."

So, it may not be the plugin that gets used the most, but I feel I've gotten my money's worth already.

Topaz InFocus released

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